In August, when so many Marylanders were swimming and boating, hiking, and camping, Patricia Donner could be found practically 24/7 at Gaithersburg High School, Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland, where she is the school business administrator. To prepare for the reopening of school in September, she was ordering supplies, sorting and preparing keys for new staff, replacing computers and other technical equipment, and ensuring the building was cleaned and repaired—and that’s to say nothing of overseeing finances.
As a high-powered financial analyst by profession, Patricia gets a kick out of dealing with the nitty-gritty of running a school. She laughs, “I think of myself as Mom.”
Few might imagine that she was once Vice President and Financial Controller at Citigroup Private Bank and Senior Financial Analyst at Arthur Andersen LLP and Citicorp Leasing.
Today, she is not only an experienced school administrator but also an equally seasoned union leader. She has logged a decade of service with the Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals (MCAAP), AFSA Local 146, and in 2025 won their top honor—the Edye Miller Distinguished Service Award. She is currently the Vice President of the Business and Operations Administrators Chapter.
Above all, she considers herself an advocate for all her business and operations colleagues in Montgomery County Public Schools. She has negotiated working conditions and equitable compensation for all union members, including principals and central services administrators.
“Advocacy is just good manners,” she says, explaining that her mother, Eileen Sajdak Castaldo, taught her and her brother to always say “please” and “thank you,” and to understand that what you put out is what you get back.
From a blue-collar family in Yonkers, NY, she was the first in her family to attend college. Her father, Vincent Castaldo, was a surveyor for the City of Yonkers, and her mother held various public service jobs before ending her career in payroll for the Yonkers school system.
“I was Gen X, and the world was our oyster,” Patricia says. “The expectation was that we’d go to college. We enjoyed all the privileges of the Equal Rights Movement.”
An outstanding mathematician with an interest in corporate life, she studied accounting at the State University of New York at Binghamton. After marrying classmate Gary Donner, she went straight into finance while he pursued a career in law. They moved from Staten Island to New Jersey to Maryland so Gary could realize his dream of becoming a federal prosecutor in the Environmental and Natural Resources Division. Even today, through all the political sturm und drang, he has held onto his position.
Starting in New Jersey and continuing in Maryland, Patricia stepped away from work to devote herself to raising her newborn daughter, Hannah, and two years later, Sarah. She was an at-home mother for 13 years.
“I’ve never regretted it,” she says. “My daughters are my greatest accomplishment.”
Hannah, 23, is at Harvard University, earning both her MD and Ph.D. At the moment, she aspires to be a researcher in pediatric oncology.
Sarah, 21, a rising senior at Washington University in St. Louis, already has a job lined up at Boeing, which has awarded her scholarships for the past two years. She is becoming a mechanical engineer specializing in improving airplane design.
When Sarah was ready for kindergarten, Patricia dipped her toes into school life through volunteer work on the playground, then as a paraeducator in the classroom. But once Sarah entered middle school, Patricia found a position as a school business administrator at the high school level. MCAAP’s current president—but then principal of Gaithersburg High School—Dr. Christine Handy hired her.
After her first year in the role, Patricia volunteered to be co-chair of the Business and Operations Chapter of MCAAP, beginning her journey into union advocacy. After five years of co-chairing, Dr. Handy, now MCAAP president, invited all the association’s co-chairs to join her at the negotiations table for impact bargaining related to COVID. Participating in those negotiations was a turning point—Patricia helped negotiate extra compensation for administrators and principals.
“The district’s resistance set a fire in me,” she says. “Aren’t we supposed to be on the same team? Having worked in the private sector, I realized that as educators, we were getting no respect. My mission became to advocate for my colleagues—and we succeeded.”
While many educators worked from home during COVID, she recalls that administrators came to school every day to distribute textbooks, computer equipment, and even food. She adds, “We had a lot to do in the building, including cleaning out lockers, bagging and holding onto belongings. After a year, we unpacked the bags and washed the clothing. I washed a lot of clothes. We collected these forgotten items and held a free giveaway for our Gaithersburg High School community.”
In her current position at Gaithersburg, Patricia manages all financial and procurement-related activities, is responsible for annual budgeting and analysis, and oversees facilities, plant operations, and food services.
“I love being in public education,” she says. “You’ve got to be crazy. But I’ve made the best of friends, and we’re all in it together.” Patricia acknowledges that very few financial specialists would switch to education mid-career, but for her, it was a perfect fit.
