Audra F. Sydnor,
Fairfax County Public Schools, is the principal of Liberty Middle School. She began her career in education as an English teacher in 1966. She joined the Fairfax County Public Schools system in 1983 as an English teacher at Thomas A. Edison High School in Alexandria, Va., until 1986. The following four years, she taught English at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Va. She joined the administration office of Fairfax County Public Schools in 1990, as a peer observer and curriculum specialist for Area IV. From 1993 to 1994, Ms. Sydnor continued in administration as a minority student achievement monitor and coordinator of secondary programs for Area IV. In 1994, she left the administrative ranks to serve as assistant principal at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Va., a position she held for three years. In 1997, she was promoted to principal of Lanier Middle School in Fairfax, Va. Ms. Sydnor assumed her present position in 2002. She holds a BA degree from Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md., and an MA degree from Columbia University in New York, N.Y.