Burning Tree Elementary School Welcomes New Principal

When Joshua Starr for their first day at Burning Tree Elementary School Aug. 29, they won’t be the only newcomers to Beech Tree Road. As mothers and fathers send their kids off to class at 9:05 a.m., a new principal will be at the door to welcome the 515 students in Kindergarten through fifth grade.

While she’s isn’t a native to the Bethesda area, principal Judy Lewis is by no means new to the education community. Formerly a principal at Wheaton Woods and Kensington Parkwood Elementary School, as well as several schools in Virginia, Lewis comes to Burning Tree with a plethora of experience both in and outside of the classroom.

Even though she’s taught students in second grade through graduate school, Lewis has almost always found herself back in the elementary school environment. As a child, she remembers herself as a “talkative, very social A/B student” who loved to read. At Burning Tree, Lewis plans to involve herself in every aspect of the school’s calendar, from international night to field day.

Although she’s met with about a third of the school’s staff so far, Lewis said she is determined to get to know as many members of the community as possible. Bethesda Patch sat with Lewis to talk about her goals for Burning Tree.  

Burning Tree is known as one of the best elementary schools in the county. What will you do as principal to maintain that reputation?

I hope to continue to create a really strong, positive learning environment where everyone is happy to be here and wants to come to work and wants to come to school. I’m hoping to watch and learn to see what makes Burning Tree so wonderful and hopefully contribute from some of my other experiences to keep us moving right along.

I’ve been lucky enough to work in a variety of school settings, some much like Burning Tree, some very different. In each case we’ve developed a strong learning community that resulted in improved student achievement and retention of families. I think I’ll bring some of that to an already wonderful school.

Some principals focus on interacting with students during the school day while others prioritize their relationships with parents. What type of principal do you hope to be next year?

I think I’m both. I’m in classrooms every day, even if it’s just for two or three minutes at a time. I’m at the door to greet families and kids in the morning and say goodbye in the afternoon. I go to everything. I try to be as close to them as I can, but the actual work of the school is in the classroom with the teachers so a large focus of mine is working with the teachers.

What do you hope to gain from your first year as Burning Tree principal?

I hope to get a thorough knowledge of the community. I hope to get a great idea of individual teachers’ strengths. I hope to establish a collaborative leadership environment; I’m a big fan of what we call distributive leadership. I think the people who are on the line should be contributing to all decisions that are made.