My name is Scott Ralston and I graduated from Jacksonville University, Florida with degrees in Social Studies and Physical Education along with multiple Florida State Championships in the sport of rowing. Throughout college I worked as a concrete construction worker and held other part time jobs.  After graduation I got a job as one of two teachers at a private high school that served students with special needs who had been expelled from Duval County Public Schools. I taught Reading, History, Physical Education, and Health for eighth to twelfth grade students.

Then I joined the United States Peace Corps and served in Mongolia for two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer where I taught English as a Second Language to students of all grade levels. I also wrote grant proposals and received funding for small business development in the Gobi Altai province.

I spent another 2 years in Mongolia working on a World Bank/United Nations Development Project aimed at providing clean water to very rural areas. My time was spent capping wells, pouring concrete foundations, and teaching people living in the most remote parts of the Gobi Desert how to better use and store water, dispose of wastewater, and provide access to a healthier lifestyle.

Returning to America I worked for PriceWaterhouseCoopers Ltd. as a Staff Auditor. In this role I monitored compliance of a master audit plan between the United States Post Office and Emory Worldwide Airlines.  During my time there, I received and took an offer to become the schoolteacher for the Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus. 

I taught 25 children, aged Kindergarten to twelfth grade, in a one room schoolhouse setting that I had to put together at every stop the circus made in arenas across America while they performed around me. I went to 77 cities in two years and saw two students receive High School diplomas as well as several students learn to read.

After that I joined a Peace Corps Fellowship Program and received a Masters degree in Elementary Education from Northern Arizona University while teaching fourth grade on the White River Apache Indian Reservation at an English Language Immersion school.  This led to another Peace Corps stint in the Kingdom of Tonga.

In Tonga I was assigned to work with the Ministry of Education and taught teachers better ways to teach English as a Second Language. I wrote a curriculum guideline for teachers to use that focused on a communicative approach to learning English. 

I finally made it to Fairfax County in 2008 when my wife and I were invited to house sit for friend in the Alexandria area.  We had no plans to stay when we first arrived here.  Seventeen years later we are still here and added two children. Over this time, I have worked as a Special Education teacher for students with Enhanced Autism and other disabilities. I was a Lead Special Education and served as a Special Education Administrator at Churchill Road ES.

For the last nine years I have been an Assistant Principal; three years at Weyanoke ES and six years at Franklin Sherman ES. I have worked as an Extended School year Administrator supporting students with special needs for five summers in four different locations across FCPS.