Westfield High Principal Anthony Copeland at his desk. Photo by Bonnie Hobbs.
Westfield High Principal Anthony Copeland has a wealth of experience as a leader, both in schools and in the military. Before taking over the reins at Westfield in September 2015, he was an assistant principal at Lake Braddock Secondary and North Stafford High and an Army field artillery officer who served 20 years in the military.
Born and raised in Atlanta, Ga., he was in JROTC in high school and, afterward, got accepted to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point’s prep school. “My mom couldn’t afford to send me to college,” he said. “But I knew, if I went into the Army, West Point could be my college.”
“I met great folks who exposed me to so many things and prominent people I couldn’t have known in Georgia,” continued Copeland, 55. “So the Academy gave me a different perspective on my life and the whole world.”
During his active duty, one of his jobs was as an instructor at Field Artillery School. “I really enjoyed it and the interactions with the other officers,” he said. “So I signed up for the federal Troops to Teachers program — two years at ODU — and, in 1999, got my master’s in education science while still in the Army.”
Copeland retired as a major in 2002 and, within a month, he got a job teaching math at North Stafford, which he did for three years. “I loved teaching, but I was learning how to teach adolescents instead of adults, plus getting used to a new career,” he said. “And every year afterward got better and better.” He also enjoyed getting two months’ vacation in the summer, but taught summer school to get more experience.
He was also looking ahead. While still in the Army, a colleague of Copeland’s told him he’d be a good leader and suggested he consider someday becoming a school administrator. So in 2002, before retiring, he started working on his Ph.D. to get his doctorate and administrative endorsement.
Then in 2005, he became an assistant principal at North Stafford. “I had good experiences and forged good relationships with the kids,” he said. “I also helped at-risk students get scholarships to college or go into the military, and I saw that [educators] can make a difference.”
After six years there, Copeland joined FCPS, moving to Lake Braddock in 2011 as an assistant principal there. He calls it “a good primer” for his duties at Westfield because Lake Braddock had almost 400 faculty and staff members, including 14 administrators.
“So there was a lot of natural working together and bouncing ideas off others, plus compromising and fighting for your time,” he said. And although Westfield’s not a secondary school, it has more than 300 faculty members and seven administrators under Copeland, including five subschool principals.
At Lake Braddock, he learned how FCPS functions and who to call for whatever assistance he needed. “I also met great colleagues,” he said. “People have always been very willing to help, so that made this county a really good place to work.”
Meanwhile, Westfield’s former principal, Tim Thomas, left to take the helm at Annandale High, and Copeland applied for his job. He was interviewed for it last August and, on Sept. 2, learned he got it. Eight days later, he started work at Westfield.
“I felt like, all of a sudden, a lot of responsibility had been placed on my shoulders, but I really wanted to be here,” he said. “But I also knew I’d spent four years at the premier leadership school in the nation, West Point. I’d spent 20 years leading adults and had been in education 13 years, so I knew I could do this — I’d been prepared.”
At Westfield, Copeland received an “incredibly welcoming” reception. “The families, kids, teachers and the whole community are always willing to step up and land a hand,” he said. “This is who they are — they really care about the school, teachers and students. There’s a strong mix of cultures that gets along, and that’s a beautiful thing, so it’s a special place.”
He said the students and teachers have “a lot of pride and wanted to know what I thought of everything here.” And he takes the job seriously. Copeland was one of six children and his father died when he was 12.
“So when I see the opportunity to provide kids with exposure to someone who’s been successful, overcome something or has words of wisdom to offer them, I want to do that,” he said. “As principal, I consider myself the ultimate helper, and I have a responsibility to the parents and children to run the best school possible.”
Noting that Westfield has 100 fewer students this year than last year, Copeland wants to increase enrollment from the current 2,600 students to possibly 2,800. “I want to show them this is truly a great school with great teachers, kids, faculty and staff,” he said. “We also have wonderful programs, both academic and extra-curricular.”
“I want to establish a stronger connection between the school and the community to make Westfield a focal point where graduates will come back and enjoy and appreciate the things we do here,” he continued. “We want people to want to be here because they know we have a quality program with teachers who provide great instruction and great opportunities for kids to learn.”
Copeland said his focus is on helping both students and teachers be the best they can. Leadership, he explained, is “the art of enabling others to do their very best, giving them confidence and putting them in the situations they need to be successful.”
He expects the hardest part of his job will be leaving it someday because “there’ll be no other experience like this. We’re graduating 97 percent of the kids out here, and the administrative team is incredibly experienced and competent at what it does.”
The best part, said Copeland, will be seeing the graduates in June. “That’s the end game – knowing that they’re well-prepared for life, we’ve given them the tools to be successful and they had a great education here.” And to the community, he said, “I appreciate the opportunity to be principal of this great school, and my faculty and staff are here to serve you and your kids.”