Thank you for taking time to visit our school online. I am fortunate to have worked in the Chantilly/Centerville community for the past ten years. I believe that as you explore our web page you will discover, as I have, that Rocky Run Middle School is a wonderful place for students and staff. Our mission statement proclaims excellence in all endeavors… bringing every child to full potential. All of us at Rocky Run are committed to helping students produce their best everyday. We have established a climate of high expectations for student success and are dedicated to the concept of continuous improvement. Great schools don’t happen without great students and great teachers. We have it all!
I am honored to be the principal of an exceptional school like Rocky Run. My tenure as an educator includes more than ten years of classroom teaching experience and fifteen years as a school-based administrator. Teaching and learning have always been a passion for me. I am fortunate to have worked with many talented teachers, principals, and parents during my twenty-five years with Fairfax County Public Schools. I use this professional experience to help young people develop as independent thinkers and productive citizens.
On the personal side, I have a son and daughter at Robinson Secondary School and younger son at Terra Center Elementary. My wife, Erin, is a teacher at North Springfield Elementary. I guess schools run in the family! They all find ways to make me proud everyday and, best of all, they share a great sense of humor that never fails to make me laugh! I enjoy most outdoor pastimes, lose golf balls on a regular basis, still play rugby on rare occasion and can never find enough time to read all that I would like to.
Education
M.ED Public School Administration
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
B.S. Secondary Education
University of Tennessee, Honors
Philosophy of Education
"Think you can, think you can’t; either way, you’ll be right." - Henry Ford
I believe that our continued success as a nation will be determined in large part by our ability to instill a sense of confidence within our youth. The essential ingredients for a “can-do” attitude are constant encouragement and a solid foundation of academic skills. Therefore, I will work with the school community to provide the conditions needed to bring every child to full potential.
Cynthia Atiyeh has been an assistant principal at Rocky Run Middle School since August 2000. She received both a Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education/Special Education and a Master of Science degree in Special Education: Learning Disabilities/Emotional Disabilities from Radford University. She holds an additional Master of Education degree in Education Leadership from George Mason University.
Ms. Atiyeh started her teaching career in Montgomery County Public Schools, Virginia in 1978 as an elementary school special education teacher. She moved to the northern Virginia area in 1983 and began working for Fairfax County Public Schools. Ms. Atiyeh worked as a special education teacher at Poe Middle School, Whittier Intermediate School, and Glasgow Middle School. She also served as Special Education Department Chair at Glasgow and then Lanier Middle School. Ms. Atiyeh has thoroughly enjoyed every teaching experience she's been involved in. When asked recently what she likes most about working at Rocky Run, Ms. Atiyeh answered, "It's definitely the kids...It's the kids and the dedicated faculty...OK, it's the kids and the faculty and the truly supportive parents. Well, I guess I'd have to say that I like most everything about Rocky Run. Being in an environment where I have the opportunity to learn daily from the open minds of youth, tomorrow's leaders, is a privilege. I can't imagine myself in any other profession."
Dallas Washington currently serves as the eighth grade assistant principal at Rocky Run Middle School. He has been in this position since May of 1999. Mr. Washington received a Bachelor of Arts in Government from Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York. He holds two additional master’s degrees from Syracuse University in teacher education and another from State University of New York at Cortland in educational administration.
Mr. Washington served two years in the United States Army before deciding to become an educator. Mr. Washington is entering his nineteenth year as an educator. He began his career as a high school history teacher. Mr. Washington has been an administrator at the middle and high school grade level for a total of fourteen years.
Mr. Washington feels very privileged to work for Fairfax County Public Schools and to be a part of the Rocky Run administrative team. His overall educational philosophy is that every child can learn and succeed in school when all of the positive instructional elements are put together to create an environment that is nurturing for all children.
Jacquelin McKeown currently serves as the Director of Student Services at Rocky Run Middle School. She has been in this position since April of 2004. Ms. McKeown received a Bachelor of Arts in History from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and her teaching endorsement from George Mason University. She holds two additional master's degrees from Virginia Tech; one in Middle School Curriculum and Education in 1990, and another in 1995 in Counseling.
Ms. McKeown is entering her twentieth year in Fairfax County, following a career in business. She began her career as a high school history teacher at Robinson Secondary School, followed by eleven years of teaching history at the middle school level at Lake Braddock Secondary School. Ms, McKeown was part of the developmental stages of Fairfax County's initiative to institute the middle school teaming concept and block scheduling. Following her teaching experiences at Lake Braddock, she became the Lead Counselor and Test Coordinator at Glasgow Middle School from 1996 - 2000, and counselor at Franklin Middle School from 2000 through 2004. Her experiences have also included gifted education and mediation, and professional workshops in a variety of topics that pertain to adolescent development, parenting, teacher and counselor training and supervision, and academic/college planning.
Ms. McKeown has been part of the FCPS school system, not only as a counselor, educator, and administrator, but as a parent of two who have now begun their own careers. Ms. McKeown feels that the most important characteristic of a educator and child advocate is unconditional acceptance and communication with all who touch the daily life of an adolescent.
