2008
Thomas L. Poore, 74, an educator for 36 years in public schools in the District and Montgomery County, died of pulmonary
fibrosis Feb. 18 at his home in Silver Spring.
Dr. Poore worked with Montgomery County Public Schools from 1971 to 1993 and was involved in opening a middle school,
coordinating the school system's desegregation efforts in 1975-1976 and assisting in the busing of students into Oakland
Terrace Elementary School in 1976.
He retired in 1993 as principal of Fairland Elementary School, where he had overseen the school's growth since 1985. He also
had been a special assistant to the Area I superintendent and a principal at Eastern, Brookview, Oakland Terrace and Burning
Tree elementary schools and Piney Branch Middle School.
He began his career as an educator in 1958 in the District, as a teacher at LaSalle Elementary School. From 1964 to 1967, he
was principal at Hayes and Ludlow elementary schools.
Dr. Poore was born in the District and graduated from Western High School in 1952 and D.C. Teacher's College (formerly
Wilson Teacher's College) in 1956.
While serving as a cryptographer in the Army in Texas from 1956 to 1958, he also taught junior high school in Killen, Tex.
He received a master's degree in education from the University of Maryland in 1961 and a doctorate in education from American
University in 1971.
He served as a principal instructor in elementary education for the Peace Corps in British Honduras during the summers from
1962 to 1964. He also was a visiting lecturer in psychology at D.C. Teachers College.
Dr. Poore consulted with educational groups and gave workshops on crisis prevention and intervention, the multicultural
aspects of education and middle school conversion.
Survivors include his wife, Margaret J. Poore of Silver Spring, whom he married in 1960; two children, Hillary J. Poore of
Highland and Benjamin L. Poore of Nashville; and four grandchildren.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb