Oakton Elementary Teacher Retires After 32 Years

After a 32-year run, Michigan native Ned Stapleton is retiring from teaching.

One of 364 teachers retiring from Fairfax County Public Schools this year, the advanced academic resource teacher at Oakton Elementary sang "King of the Road" at his retirement party in appreciation of his coworkers.

“Because they made me feel like a King, and I’m hitting the road,” Stapleton said, smiling.

Before Stapleton spent more than three decades as a teacher, he and a buddy traveled across the U.S. in a homemade RV. It was 1972, and he had just graduated with a two-year degree from Ferris State College.

He assures his RV was not a hippie bus: “We kept our hair short." They supported themselves by working in restaurants, going from town to town as the spirit moved them. 

He landed in in Northern Virginia, where he enrolled at George Mason University to study elementary education, a program he found valuable for its insistence on creating well-rounded teachers.

“I learned methods, instructional techniques and they schooled us in every subject area — even music and P.E,” he said.  

While studying at George Mason, Stapleton worked three jobs to support himself.  He expresses particular gratitude to the Virginia “ABC” Store that had a program to employ college students with support for a very flexible work schedule. He managed an apartment building so he had a place to bunk.

In 1979, even with an oversupply of teachers, Stapleton landed his first full-time classroom job at Bucknell Elementary School in south Fairfax County followed by a stint at Franconia.

His dream was to work in his community school, which he did at Shrevewood Elementary School until 1989. In his last year as a classroom teacher, Stapleton had 35 kids in his class. He started that year taking the group on a three-day camping adventure in Shenandoah to forge team spirit. His enthusiasm produced a successful year that left him, he admits, “exhausted.”

In 1989, Stapleton attended the University of Virginia for training to become a Gifted and Talented Resource Teacher, now referred to as Advanced Academic Resource Teacher. 

“At the time, FCPS had 131 elementary schools and there were 30 resource teachers in the program," he said. “Five days in the week meant five different schools to visit,” which is why he guesses he worked with “thousands” of kids and “hundreds” of teachers in more than 20 different schools. 

Ned Stapleton’s enthusiasm for teaching and kids pours out of him.

"The ‘gifted and talented’ kids ‘get it’ the first time they hear it.  And then they want more. They need more,” he said. "They are unique thinkers.”

He vividly remembers the kindergartner fascinated with the concept of time.

“And I don’t mean clocks,” he said wryly. 

Stapleton had to bone up on that topic before engaging the 6-year-old.

"I really get to do the fun stuff," he said.  

Like many Fairfax County teachers, Stapleton pursued more education. He returned to George Mason University in 2004 and received his master's in education, a program custom-fit for the FCPS school year.

Carol V. Horn, coordinator of FCPS’ Advanced Academic Program, says Stapleton is a devoted and extraordinary teacher with a wonderful sense of humor and a love for creativity and challenge. 

“Whether he is working with students, communicating with parents, or collaborating with other teachers, Ned lives and models a respect for others and a desire to learn that are an inspiration for all who know him and who have the opportunity to work with him,” Horn said.

Most recently he shared his creativity with kids by starting an Affinity Club for students to research and display projects of their own passion. The school hosts an annual Affinity Fair for the entire community to enjoy the wide range of topics: candy, soccer, butterflies, the Titanic, Pluto, duct tape creations, Japan, neutrinos, stop-action movies and explosions.

But now his time as a teacher is coming to an end. Looking forward, Stapleton plans to spend “at least a year” working on the house he built in Falls Church that has lain fallow because of his busy schedule. And because his son and daughter, attend Marshall High School and Oakton Elementary, Stapleton will still have his foot in FCPS' door. 

And who knows? Perhaps he might return someday.