After 6 1/2 years, Cathy Pullar’s compassion, hard work and commitment to her students have made her more than a typical administrator at Forestdale Elementary School. She lovingly calls them her “children,” serving as not only their assistant principal, but as another shoulder to lean on, another set of ears to listen and perhaps most importantly, another voice of encouragement and belief.

On Friday, Oct, 30, however, Pullar’s “children” and peers were bid a bittersweet farewell to Pullar, as she accepted the assistant principal position at Pembroke Meadows Elementary School in Virginia Beach, effective Monday, Nov. 2.

“Cathy was an exceptional assistant principal who will be dearly missed,” said Special Education Teacher Donna Murphy. “Her dedication to the Forestdale community over the past seven years surpassed all expectations and responsibilities of an assistant principal. Her cheerful smile and warm welcome to all every morning will be sorely missed.”

Pullar is taking the position in Virginia Beach due to her engagement, as her fiancée lives in the Hampton Roads area. When she got engaged last February, Pullar said that she and her fiancée agreed that she would relocate. Though she had originally hoped to move in July after the wedding so that she would not have to leave Forestdale during the school year, the position that she applied to required her to move immediately.

“It was the plan [when we got engaged] that I would relocate,” Pullar said. “I had hoped to move after the school year, but this position came open, and I applied and ended up getting the position, so I had to leave, but I will miss the warm environment of the school and the community. It will always be my home and they will always be my family.”

Pullar, a New York native, began her career in education immediately following her graduation from Green Mountain College in Vermont. She taught preschool at a school in New York for three years, but then moved to the Northern Virginia area when she applied for, and got a position as a preschool teacher in Prince George’s County, on the border on Southeast Washington, D.C. While there, the school’s principal, whom Pullar called a “mentor,” encouraged her to go back to school and get an administrative degree, so Pullar heeded the advice and enrolled at George Mason University.

After receiving her degree and following a short stint as a teacher at Franconia Elementary, Pullar was chosen by Fairfax County Public Schools to join their Learning, Empowering, Assessing and Developing (LEAD) program, which cultivates administrators for the school system. As part of the program, Pullar was given a one-year administrative internship at Woodburn Elementary School, where she served as an assistant principal, as Woodburn did not have one at the time. When the internship was completed, she returned to Franconia Elementary, but was quickly hired as assistant principal at Forestdale.

“Since Cathy and I started at Forestdale the same year, it’s been particularly hard to see her leave,” said Sixth-grade teacher Mike MacIver. “To me, she has embodied the Forestdale spirit of friendliness and caring that our school exemplifies.”

Though Pullar said that the staff and students at Forestdale will always be her family, she has a brand new one waiting for her with open arms at Pembroke Meadows. Pullar began her tenure there Monday, Nov. 2, and said that her main priority to is continue the work she did at Forestdale, which was building strong relationships with her new students and their families to ensure that each student reaches the highest level of achievement possible.

“It’s all about building relationships with teachers and student right now, so that we can truly become part of one family,” Pullar said. “Everyone needs to be vested in the children’s education.”