Donato Cuadrado Retires After 36 Years as an Educator

Donato Cuadrado, the Department of Defense Education Activity Mid-Atlantic District superintendent, will retire Dec. 31, after working as an educator for 36 years, 33 of them in service to military children.

Serving military-connected students has been the center of my life throughout my career. It has been an enormous privilege and truly a gift from God to serve the children of our heroes through 9-11, devastating hurricanes and now a worldwide pandemic, said Cuadrado. The best advice I can give anyone is to ensure that every decision DoDEA makes is in the best interest of our military kids.

Cuadrado has been a teacher's aide, teacher, instructional program supervisor, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, community supervisor and district superintendent.

Dr. Donato Cuadrado's service over the last 30+ years to his Puerto Rico community, to his Mid-Atlantic District and to DoDEA Americas has been exemplary. He truly is a servant leader, always working to do what's best for our military-connected students. His commitment to support excellence in education for every student, every day, everywhere is reason for our advancement as One DoDEA: One Americas. I will most definitely miss this incredible, dynamic, caring educational leader, said Judith A. Minor, Americas Director for Student Excellence.

Praise for his Service

Cuadrado's recognitions include:

• DoDEA Teacher of the Year;
• District teacher of the year for three times;
• U.S. Presidential Scholars Program Teacher Recognition Awardee;
• Special Congressional Recognition for Outstanding and Invaluable Service to the Community;
• DoDEA Special Act Award for his leadership during the recovery operations after several devastating hurricanes that impacted the Puerto Rico and Camp Lejeune military communities; and
• Keynote speaker at the Military Family Readiness Council on disaster response, which was held at the Pentagon after Hurricane Maria.

About Donato Cuadrado

Cuadrado retires as the Mid-Atlantic District superintendent. In that role, he oversaw the educational program for more than 10,000 military-connected students, including students at West Point, Quantico, Dahlgren, Ft. Bragg, Camp Lejeune, Puerto Rico and Guantanamo, Cuba.

Cuadrado earned his bachelors in elementary and secondary education and his masters in linguistics from the University of Puerto Rico. He earned his doctorate in educational administration in 2004 from the InterAmerican University in Puerto Rico. He lives in Fort Bragg, North Carolina with his wife, Oly.

On behalf of everyone at DoDEA Americas, we congratulate Cuadrado on his retirement and wish him much happiness.