This 24-25 school year brings new faces to the district. Following the retirement and exit of many of Dover’s beloved teachers and staff. With the departure of former assistant principal Michael Kromka, new assistant principal Dawn Strickland joins the administrative team.
Strickland has had a varied career in education in Maryland since the 90s and has lived in Pennsylvania for the past three years. “I was a music teacher, a vocal music teacher from 1994 until 2016, at which time I became a principal; and I’ve been in administration ever since.”
Coming from a city-centered experience in Baltimore, Dover’s tight-knit community has been a change, one she welcomes with open arms. “It’s such a small community, folks know each other. Their parents went here, their grandparents went here. I love roots like that and traditions, and teachers went here. So I’ve enjoyed being a part of that,” she said.
Strickland has taken a proactive role to influencing students to be the best they can be, using her experience in education to push students forward. “Show up every day, show up in my authenticity and be who I am every day. I’ve spent most of my adult life around people in their teens and early 20s; What I know about you guys is that you watch more than you listen, so my goal is that I walk the walk, and somebody will catch it.”
These efforts have not gone unnoticed; building principal Jennifer Fasick has made note of Strickland’s effect on both students and teachers since her arrival. “She, since day one, has stepped right in, made herself known to students and has been a resource here for them as well as teachers,” Fasick said.
Strickland’s perspective and experience are even influencing her colleagues, Fasick says, “Mrs. Strickland brings to us a plethora of knowledge from her years in Baltimore City schools, teaching and administration. She also brings to us, not only that curriculum piece from being a music teacher herself, which Mr. Deal and I did not have. She gives us that outside lens of what other schools can look like and how we can challenge ourselves to do better.”
Strickland wants to make her mark on Dover, leaving behind a legacy of positivity. “For myself personally, I have a vision of leaving a legacy of ‘that lady cared about us, ’ and it was an action word. She cared about us, she showed us, she’d hold us, that’s gonna be different for every kid; even if it’s a smile hello, to some kids it’s bringing them food and clothing, just quietly right. That’s my vision, that I can impact kids and my colleagues in a way that causes them to pay it forward and just be a better human being,” she said.