School Board members have voted to extend Superintendent Francisco Durán’s contract by four years, to June 30, 2030.
“Thank you for your trust, your partnership and your steadfast commitment to our students,” Durán said in remarks directed to School Board members yesterday (Tuesday). “Public education is built on that collaboration.”‘
He received praise from outgoing School Board chair Bethany Zecher Sutton.
The superintendent has been “a terrific partner,” she said.
Durán has headed the school division since mid-2020, when he was recruited while serving in a leadership position at Fairfax County Public Schools.
He began work in June 2020, just as the pandemic was beginning to force major changes, including a switch to virtual learning to start the 2020-21 school year.
In remarks at the July 7 meeting, Durán expressed appreciation to the 2020 School Board members Tannia Talento, Monique O’Grady, Barbara Kanninen, Reid Golstein and Nancy Van Doren, who selected him for the position.
“Thank you to the five of them that believed in me,” he said.
Durán was reappointed to a second term in 2023. Typically, contracts for Arlington superintendents run for four-year terms, but then are extended in the third year.
Clerk of the Circuit Court Paul Ferguson administered a ceremonial oath of office during the School Board’s July 7 organizational meeting.
