New Leadership

NEW LEADERSHIP AT FXW

Abby Acuna, Assistant Principal of Early Childhood, OSP

Abby Acuna is the new Assistant Principal of Early Childhood at FXW. Most recently, Abby served as the Early Childhood Coordinator at Catherine Cook School, and brings a wealth of expertise and experience in early childhood education, development, and curriculum. She comes to us with more than eight years of teaching and two years of administrative experience in early childhood. As a highly respected educator and administrator, her standout accomplishments at Catherine Cook include: updating the early childhood progress reports to enable teachers to effectively portray and articulate the development of the child to parents; collaborating with the admissions team to give families an opportunity to understand and invest in the school’s approach to teaching and learning; coordinating teacher leadership teams so that equitable and cohesive lessons are taught across grade levels, teachers share valuable knowledge, and students get the best of every teacher’s strengths. Abby received her bachelor's in speech and hearing science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds two master’s degrees, one from the Erikson Institute in early childhood education and another in educational leadership from North Park University. Abby places a huge focus on character development, creativity, hands-on learning, critical thinking, social-emotional learning, and social justice so children reach their full potential.

Marian Dowling, Assistant Principal of Learning and Logistics, OSP

Marian Dowling is the new Assistant Principal of Learning and Logistics at FXW. Marian joins us from the Harvey School District, where she has spent the bulk of her teaching career. Marian earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Chicago State University and has been in education for 20 years as a classroom teacher where she primarily taught math for the intermediate grades. After 10 years in teaching, Marian went back to school and earned a master's in educational leadership from Governors State University. From there she went on to be a mentor, teacher leader and then principal designee for a K-5th Grade building. She later earned another master's in math education from National Louis University which led her to a district math coach position in the Harvey School District, in which she supported all staff, K-8th Grade teachers and administration. Marian feels she could not have accomplished all this without the support of her family, late husband and two wonderful daughters who are attending college at Alabama A&M and Emory University. Marian feels it is a privilege to be able to work in an environment that fosters a continued learning atmosphere. She looks forward to meeting everyone and being a part of the FXW community.