Longtime leader and his family have served Dallas ISD for 87 years
Lieutenant Colonel Frederick J. Holland knew exactly what he wanted to do when he retired from the Army: “I wanted to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps and make a difference in the lives of Dallas ISD students,” said the longtime military leader who is currently the JROTC director of Army instruction (DAI) for Dallas ISD, one of only 56 DAI’s in the country.
As director, he leads, manages, and supports all 21 high school Army JROTC programs and 22 middle school Leadership Cadet Corps programs. Colonel Holland has over 38 years of leadership, management, and instructor experience in a wide range of diverse and complex organizations.
Born and raised in Dallas, he was educated in Dallas ISD and spent four years in the JROTC program at Skyline High School, where he graduated in 1980. He received his military commission in 1983 from Prairie View A&M University and graduated in just three years as a designated Distinguished Military Graduate.
Dallas ISD has always been home to the Holland family, and they have always considered Dallas ISD faculty and staff as part of their family.
“This is my 17th year as a teacher and central staff employee, and the combined number of years for my entire family’s service to Dallas ISD is approximately 87 years,” the colonel said.
“My grandfather, Dr. Herman I. Holland, was a coach and administrator in Dallas ISD for over 44 years, including 10 years as principal of Lincoln High School,” he said. “The H.I. Holland Elementary School at Lisbon was named in my grandfather’s honor in 2011.”
The colonel’s sister, Sharon Holland Cornell, is a magnet school coordinator at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and has held several positions during her 26 years in Dallas ISD.
In the military, Colonel Holland’s assignments included field artillery executive officer for Charlie Battery, 1st Battalion 15th Field Artillery, Regiment, Camp Stanley, South Korea. He served a three-year tour at Fort Hood and then was assigned as commander of Charlie Battery, a 155mm self-propelled howitzer unit, during combat operations for Desert Shield/Desert Storm. He later served as a fire support observer controller at the Combat Maneuver Training Center, Hohenfels, Germany.
Following his five-year tour in Germany, the colonel was reassigned to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, as a member of an Operational Readiness Evaluation Team and later as aide de camp to the commander, 5th U.S. Army. (A, 3-Star general). [PEY1] His next assignment was director of Human Resources for the Inter-American Defense Board and College, Fort McNair, Military District of Washington. And he later served as an Army leadership instructor at the Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama, before retiring from the Army in 2006 after nearly 23 years of active-duty military service.
After retirement, Lieutenant Colonel Holland accepted the challenge of teaching as the JROTC senior Army instructor at Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas, where he served the students for 10 years. In 2012, he was named Thomas Jefferson High School’s “Teacher of the Year,” and in 2015, he was promoted to JROTC deputy director of Army instruction.
“It is the privilege of a lifetime to share my leadership experience and to serve the students, parents and community of Dallas,” he said. “I am both humbled and honored to be able to lead and serve as the Dallas ISD Army JROTC director.”
