Fischer Welcomes New Assistant Principal

Fischer Families,

Starting next school year, we have added a third Assistant Principal to our faculty/staff.  Margaret Darnell was approved last night at the Board of Education meeting.

Mrs. Darnell is a proven, experienced, and respected leader.  She balances the "Kids First" educational philosophy of our founding father, Greg Fischer, with a relationship-based approach to teacher-centeredness and family engagement.

Mrs. Darnell currently serves in the role of Assistant Principal at Oswego East High School and has done so for the last eleven years.  Oswego East is a large high school, nearly 3,000 in student enrollment and approximately 600,000 in square footage.

During that eleven-year time span, Mrs. Darnell has extensive administrative experiences in a wide range of important responsibilities:  Attendance/Discipline, Safety/Crisis Plan Development, Instructional Leadership, Staff Evaluation, Teacher Mentoring, Professional Development, Program Development, Family Outreach, Budget Management, and Building Operations (Maintenance/Grounds and Calendars/Facilities).

Mrs. Darnell also held the following positions in her career path:

• Dean of Students (first at Plainfield East High School and then at Oswego East) responsible for attendance, discipline, and social/emotional learning of the whole child.
• Department Head of Fine Arts and World Languages at Plainfield East.
• High school Spanish teacher at Oak Lawn.

Mrs. Darnell is known for being a person of character and a leader with character:  Trustworthy, Professional, Responsible, Fair, and Caring.  In addition, as part of the interview process, she was described by credible sources as a detail-oriented team player and hard worker.  Specifically, regarding her work ethic, I heard from others, descriptive words or phrases such as "workhorse", "extremely hard worker", and "works tirelessly."

Please join me in welcoming Mrs. Darnell to the AFOOFA spirit and Falcon Pride of Fischer Middle School.  Be Safe, Be Kind, Be Ready, Be ONE!

Proud to be your Principal,

Mr. Schnable