Dr. Julie Jailall, an author, University instructor, and an international education leader, was bestowed by the Governor of the State of North Carolina, USA with that state’s highest honour – “The Order of the Long Leaf Pine” – for excellence in education leadership and service. It is believed Dr. Jailall might be the only Guyanese to have received an American state’s highest state honour. Dr. Jailall has responded to the call for Diasporans to return to Guyana and serve, and is currently Director of the Cyril Potter College of Education and its 20 satellite centers across Guyana.
In a recent North Carolina publication featuring Dr. Jailall’s award, it stated: “Dr. Julie Jailall, who recently retired as the Education Superintendent for the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC), has returned to her homeland of Guyana after an illustrious career in North Carolina. Dr. Jailall’s journey in education spans decades, from her beginnings as an educator in Guyana to earning her Doctorate in Education from the North Carolina State University. During her tenure across the State of North Carolina, Dr. Jailall held various pivotal roles, including teacher, assistant principal, principal, and executive director for public and charter schools across the state. Her leadership and vision as the Superintendent of Prison Education Services were instrumental in creating new positions within NCDAC Education Services and advocating tirelessly for offender education across 54 correctional institutions.
Dr. Jailall’s dedication and contributions to education in North Carolina have been recognized with numerous accolades, including the prestigious Order of the Long Leaf Pine award. Since 1963, this award has been reserved by North Carolina governors to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the state and their communities through exemplary service and exceptional accomplishments. The Order of the Long Leaf Pine Society, of which Dr. Jailall is now a member, stands as the state’s highest honorary society…promoting the ideals of civic leadership, service, and accomplishment.
As Dr. Jailall transitions back to Guyana, her legacy of educational leadership and commitment to enhancing the lives of others through education will continue to inspire generations. Her impact on North Carolina’s educational landscape and her advocacy for offender education leave a lasting imprint on the state’s educational and correctional systems.”
Dr. Jailall has worked at all levels of education from kindergarten to university levels. She worked in various schools in Guyana in the 1970s – Blake Primary School, St. Lawrence Primary School, Parika-Salem Primary, and Greenwich Park Primary. She also worked at Cummings Lodge Secondary School as an English teacher. She moved to Grand Bahama, Bahamas where she worked as an English teacher at the Hawksbill High School, Bahamas Ministry of Education. Her next assignment was in North Carolina, USA where she worked at all levels of education in four different counties as an English Teacher, and a Special Education teacher working with students with learning disabilities and students who were described as behaviorally and emotionally handicapped. Dr. Jailall was a teacher with passion and deep empathy. Although she was licensed to teach regular education, she instead took the challenge to teach special education at a time when her school district couldn’t find candidates for special needs students. Her approach was “to teach students with special needs as though they were gifted!” She helped each student to find their gift and then she celebrated them as “blossoms of the school!” Due to her service to students with special needs, she won several grants especially to serve disadvantaged students. It was no surprise when Dr. Jailall received the flagship, prestigious “Flame for Learning” Award from Johnston County Schools, North Carolina (NC), for her dedication and passion as an educator for the neediest of students.
Dr. Jailall also worked in NC as a school principal for several elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. Dr. Jailall’s experience included that of Executive Director of two large Charter Schools, and Assistant Director of a “Montessori” School. She also served as a College Instructor at the Brunswick County Community College in Washington, NC, USA, and at the Berbice Campus of the University of Guyana. Additionally, she served as the Education Consultant as the Learning Disabilities specialist at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
Dr. Julie Jailall and her husband Dr. Jerry Jailall then moved to Abu Dhabi (near Dubai) in the United Arab Emirates where she taught at an all-girls public School in Al Mafraq, and she also taught in the Masters in Education program at the Abu Dhabi University.
Apart from a wealth of work experience, Dr. Jailall has completed five fully accredited face-to-face degrees – a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Visual Art and a postgraduate Diploma in Education from the University of Guyana; a Master of Arts degree in Education Leadership and Curriculum Studies and a post-graduate Certificate of Advanced Studies in creative writing and English as Second Language from the East Carolina University; and a Doctor of Education Degree in Education Leadership and Policy Studies from the North Carolina State University. Dr Jailall obtained state certifications in six areas including special education, Principal/school administration, curriculum supervision/curriculum specialist, high school English and School Superintendent. She is a trainer for Professional Learning Communities, “a program that trains teams of professional educators who examine student data, share ideas and best practices to enhance their teaching practice and create a learning environment where all students can reach their fullest potential.”
Dr. Jailall published her first book, “Sharda” in 2009, and then later co-authored a bestselling book used in school districts and colleges around the world, “The Principal as Curriculum Leader: Shaping What is Taught and Tested” published by the international Corwin Press.
Dr. Jailall is an award-winning school transformation and reform expert who has been successful in turning around low-performing schools into high performing schools. Her service as a transformational school leader for decades, included being a driving force for change and transformation for two elementary schools. During her leadership, both of these schools made tremendous jumps in exemplary student achievement in a short time. Cooper Elementary School was the most featured school in the local newspaper. Transformational leadership is her trademark and that was why she was recruited as a Superintendent of Schools for the North Carolina Prison System in the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) where she had education programs in 54 state prisons for adults and 4 special schools for inmates under 18 years old. She partnered with 7 universities and 41 community colleges to strengthen education programs in the prison schools. Under her leadership, each inmate was provided a digital tablet to access education services. Inmates complete special programs, microcredentials and certifications, and can obtain associate and Bachelor’s degrees while in prison.
Dr. Jailall hails originally from Hague Backdam (West Coast Demerara), then her family moved to Unity Village in the Hubu, East Bank Essequibo area (EBE). This era of her life is reflected in her book, “Sharda: A World Caribbean-Guyana literature series.” She attended the Hague backdam Nursery School (WCD) and Blake Primary and because there was no high school in her village she was the only student continuing in the “primary top.” After passing the Preliminary Examination and CP (College of Preceptors exam) at age 13, Dr. Jailall earned a place to Zeeburg High School but her mom did not want to send “a girl child to high school.” Dr. Jailall, however, was determined to go on to high school. She later enrolled in a private school called Uitvlugt College, which, unfortunately, closed after a year. Dr. Jailall, then, persisted through many hunger strikes until her mother relented and later sent her to Tutorial High for one and a half years where she passed enough GCEs (London University General Certificate of Education Exams) qualifying her for enrollment at the University of Guyana. It took a lot more persuasion than mere “hunger strikes” to convince her mother to finally send her to UG. Dr. Jailall was the first and the only child of her 10 siblings to earn a college degree, or more accurately, five accredited college degrees.
Dr. Jailall said “my family farmed rice and cash crops and on Saturdays, my mother would sell our produce at the Leonora Market.” She said on the other hand her father loved to teach. He spent a lot of his time teaching children from their village Hindi and English. She said “he would often tell us ‘education is greater than gold.’ This resonated with me as a child.”
Ironically, Dr. Jailall recalled that her father did not see the need for his “girl child” to achieve the highest level of education.” She said “I really had to beg them to continue to go to school because we were a staunch Hindu family and culturally, this is just not something that was a norm at that time.”
Dr Jailall credits her teacher – the late Henry Rahaman as the person who influenced her the most and was her inspiration towards excellence. Mr. Rahaman, who later became Principal of St. Roses High, recognized Dr. Jailall’s potentials as a gifted child and he introduced her to her first book, Kidnapped by RL Stevenson borrowed from the Salem Public Library located in the Parika area on the East Bank of Essequibo. Dr. Jailall, the voracious reader that she was, ended up reading every book in her school’s library!!
In their nomination of Dr. Jailall for the “Order of the Long Leaf Pine,” the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction wrote, “It is with great delight that we nominate Dr. Julie Jailall, former Superintendent of Education, North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (NCDAC) for The Order of The Long Leaf Pine Award for her exceptional accomplishments and exemplary service to the State of North Carolina…She was a deeply committed, hard-working, enthusiastic and transformative leader who made significant and positive changes within the agency for the rehabilitation of offenders through education. Dr. Jailall’s legacy as a change agent within the agency and her long history of exemplary service in education in several counties – Brunswick, Beaufort, Johnston, Alamance-Burlington, and Wake – makes her a deserving candidate for the Order of the Long Leaf Pine award.”
Dr. Jailall has three sons (Robert, Ron and Steve) and two grandchildren – Sophia and Everett. Her hobbies include gardening, traveling, visual art and badminton. For all these accomplishments and the historic award of the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, Dr. Julie Jailall is truly an outstanding Indo-Caribbean woman of excellence. We salute Dr. Jailall!
