Linda M. Ferrara,
Anne Arundel County Public Schools, is the principal of Shipley°s Choice Elementary School. Dr. Ferrara began her career in education in 1968 as a classroom teacher at Orchard Park Elementary School in Orchard Park, N.Y., where she taught for 10 years. From 1978 to 1980, she was assistant principal at East Aurora Elementary School in East Aurora, N.Y. In 1980, Dr. Ferrara was an instructor of gifted students at the Full Time Enrichment Program Magnet Center in Falls Church, Va. In 1982, she joined the private sector as a personnel counselor for West Personnel Company in Schaumburg, Ill. In 1983, Dr. Ferrara continued her career in education as a curriculum coordinator, gifted coordinator and instructor for the Roselle District 12 in Roselle, Ill. From 1984 to 1989, she was the supervisor of gifted and talented students and a secondary gifted consultant at Lancaster Lebanon Intermediate School in East Petersburg, Pa. In 1989, Dr. Ferrara was assistant to the superintendent for personnel and staff development in the Phoenixville Area School District in Phoenixville, Pa., a position she held for nine years. In 1997, she joined Anne Arundel County Public Schools as an administrative intern at Crofton Woods Elementary School in Crofton, Md., and was promoted to assistant principal in 1998. In 1999, Dr. Ferrara became principal of Crofton Meadows Elementary School in Crofton, Md., where she remained until 2003 when she assumed her present position. She holds BS and MS degrees in elementary education from the State University College at Buffalo in New York and an EdD degree in educational leadership from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pa.