Dr. James Fedderman ’98 knows what it’s like to grow up with two parents who cared about his education and insisted that he do his best. He also knows what it’s like to grow up with two parents with scant education themselves who earned what little income they had from selling drugs.

Remarkably, these experiences occurred in the same home with the same two parents. It’s a dichotomy that gives Fedderman—who eventually earned a Ph.D. and became a music educator—unusual insight into Virginia’s population of schoolchildren and the multiple challenges their teachers are currently facing.

He’ll be bringing all of that insight and experience to bear beginning Aug. 1 in his new role as president of the Virginia Education Association, a union of 40,000 teachers and school support professionals.

 “My mother and father were drug dealers, so I know what that life is like,” he said. “My father couldn’t read or write, but I didn’t know because he would always ask to see my homework at the end of the night. He would look it over and then tell me to go back and do it again—to stop cutting corners.”

When Fedderman told his mother, who had only an eighth-grade education, about his plans to attend college, she cashed in a life insurance policy to help pay his expenses.

Being anything less than successful was never an option. “My parents made it happen,” he said. “What they did for me was just amazing.”

Fedderman, who previously served four years as VEA vice president, has high hopes for what he will be able accomplish in his new job.

 “For me, it’s an opportunity to ensure the best for every child and educator in the commonwealth, regardless of their economic status or their background,” he said. “This is the opportunity to set the tone for what education should be for everyone.”

Fedderman is the first African-American male to lead the VEA, which describes its mission as “advancing quality instruction and curriculum, adequate funding and excellent working conditions for Virginia public employees.”

 “With the current tenor of the world, I think it’s very timely,” Fedderman said of his election as president. “I think it offers hope.”

He’ll need that optimistic outlook—along with his consensus-building skills and boots-on-the-ground wisdom—to deal with the challenges the Virginia educational system is facing this year.

What’s on every educator’s mind right now, of course, is how the school year will unfold in the face of the pandemic.

 “My first priority is to offer support and reassurance that we’re going to get through this. The health, safety and welfare of our students and educators is at the heart of all my decision making,” he said.

Beyond that, his top priorities are restoring funding for education, especially for salaries; addressing racial and social justice issues, including increasing the number of educators of color in the classroom; and supporting efforts of school personnel to establish collective bargaining units, which will be allowed thanks to legislation set to take effect in May 2021.

“Our work now is so critical to the success of all our students,” he said. “Whenever there is a crisis, education funding is the first to be cut and the last to be restored. This work for me is about doing what is right for children.

 “At Longwood, I learned that you can bring a group of diverse people together to promote a common goal,” Fedderman said. And his experience as a middle- and high-school choral director in the Accomack County schools also holds plenty of lessons for leading an organization representing a diverse membership with diverse interests.

 “Music educators are some of the best at corralling people and motivating them,” he said. “I’m always bringing things together. I’m always working to build a harmonious ensemble.”—Sabrina Brown