Administration & Staff

Who We Are

All staff hired at JPGMA go through a rigorous vetting process.  We strive to hire the best teachers in each area to work with the children at the Academy. Teaching is a vocation.  The ability to work with multi age groups is both a great gift and responsibility. Each staff member is required to have a background check and is approved by the Head of School, Advisory Board, and Board of Directors.

 

Dale, a native of Virginia, grew up in Fairfax County when it was still largely agricultural. He graduated from George Mason University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry.

Following several years working in various private laboratories in the Washington, DC metro area, he decided to pursue an advanced degree in Chemistry. He attended Georgetown University on a Teaching Fellowship that provided undergraduate teaching experience. After
completing sixty hours of graduate coursework, Dale was recruited and hired as a Forensic Chemist for the United States Postal Inspection Service (a federal law enforcement agency) in Washington, DC. While working full time, he completed his research into the chemistry of The Duquenois-Levine Color Test used by law enforcement to provide a component of probable cause for arrest or detention of a suspect. He defended his doctoral dissertation and obtained his Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1997.

During his thirty-four year career as a forensic chemist, Dr. Forrester taught many federal and local law enforcement officers about drugs of abuse and certified them in the use of chemically based field tests. He was also trained in crime scene processing including post-explosion crime scenes. Additionally, he tutored high school students in mathematics and chemistry for ten years and taught adult learners physical sciences and remedial mathematics part-time for Westwood College in Annandale, Virginia in the evenings for several years.

Dr. Forrester retired in the Spring of 2021 and is looking forward to helping guide upper school students in their discovery of chemistry’s role in the created order in which we currently live and move and have our being.

Dale and Teresa Forrester moved to Front Royal in 1987 to provide a rural and traditional environment in which to raise their children. They currently have six children and fourteen grandchildren.