On Jan. 9, approximately three months after Principal Ann Bonitatibus announced her departure from Jefferson and acceptance of her new job in the Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Department of Human Resources, FCPS announced Jefferson’s new principal. Michael Mukai, currently the principal of West Springfield High School (WSHS), will become Jefferson’s new principal starting the week of Jan. 20.
“Thank you again for all the well wishes and support as I have been transitioning to my new job,” Bonitatibus said in an email to students. “Next week I’ll wrap up a few things at [Jefferson], and then Mr. Mukai will be fully on board the week of January 20.”
Mukai is not unfamiliar to the grounds of Jefferson, being an alumnus of Jefferson’s Class of 1989—the very first graduating class after being established as a magnet high school. He is the first Jefferson student to become the principal of Jefferson.
“I do have a debt of gratitude to pay to a place that changed my life,” Mukai said in a video to the FCPS community. “For many of us that have been to [Jefferson], some of the greatest moments of challenge and the times when we found ourselves were in those halls.”
Mukai announced his departure to the WSHS community—where he served as principal for 10 years—in an email to parents.
“My journey here–as a chemistry teacher, math teacher, wrestling coach, assistant director of student activities, assistant principal, and principal–has shaped me into the educator I am today,” Mukai said in an email to the WSHS community. “While I am excited to serve my alma mater, I will always cherish my time here and the indelible mark West Springfield High School has left on my heart.”
Mukai remembers his first year at Jefferson, when the freshman class was the only class in the newly created STEM magnet school.
“At that moment in time we were at a tipping point for a computer age,” Mukai said in a video to the FCPS community. “In the 80s, we knew computers were going to be important, but we didn’t know how it was going to affect us and our society.”
Mukai reflects on this full circle moment as he returns to his alma mater approximately 36 years later, this time as a leader.
“For me to come back, it’s my greatest hope that I will be able to serve and be able to leave my sign and to leave my mark and to be able to show how much [Jefferson] has meant to me,” Mukai said.
Bonitatibus expressed her best wishes to Mukai’s leadership and the future of all Jefferson students.
“Be as amazing for him as you have been for me,” Bonitatibus said in an email to students. “And remember you are more than a GPA, and your GPS will have new pathways and journeys with Mr. Mukai.”