School Board Appoints New Wakefield High School Principal

The School Board has appointed Peter Balas as Principal of Wakefield High School. Balas currently serves as Executive Principal of Alexandria City High School.

Following his graduation from Hofstra University with a bachelor’s degree in history and a minor in secondary education, he spent eight years in the classroom as a high school social studies teacher. While teaching, he earned two master’s degrees from George Mason University: one in Curriculum and Instruction and one in School Leadership.

Balas began his teaching career as a history and geography teacher at Northpoint High School and Middle School in New York in 2000. He first joined Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) in 2001, and in 2007, he became an assistant principal and executive associate principal at then-named TC Williams High School. In April 2012, Balas was appointed principal of Mount Vernon Community School where he served for five years. During these years, Balas worked collaboratively with staff and community to make Mount Vernon the school division’s first and only full school dual language program.

After his years as an elementary principal, Balas was named ACPS Principal of the Year 2017 before transitioning back to the high school to be principal. In his current role, Balas serves as the school leader to more than 4,500 students and 400 staff across four campuses in the only high school in the City of Alexandria, the largest and most populous high school in the Commonwealth.
At Alexandria City High School, Balas oversees the Graduation Task Force that monitors completion statuses and drop-out interventions. He also leads the educational transformation of tier one instruction with a focus on student engagement, providing training for the implementation of Kagan Cooperative Learning and Project-Based Learning. He led the school as it achieved the highest levels of student graduation and lowest levels of drop-out in the school’s history.

His appointment begins July 1