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McKenna L. Lewis, Ed.D., Principal | mckenna.lewis@pgcps.org
12605 Heming Lane, Bowie, MD 20716| 301-805-2730
www.pgcps.org/heatherhills

Greetings Heather Hills Families,

I would like to warmly welcome new and old families alike to Heather Hills Elementary School. I am honored to have been appointed as the Principal and Lead Learner. I am looking forward to meeting the members of this amazing community and I am ready to roll up my sleeves to serve.

While I am new to Heather Hills, I am not new to Prince George's County or the principalship. Most recently, I served as principal of James H. Harrison Elementary, in Laurel, for four years. While there the school team and I were able to increase student achievement. As a team, we improved the instructional program through the use of a systematic process for improvement, prioritized professional development for teachers, tracked instructional improvement, and developed a strong and impactful relationship with our parent community.

Upon my arrival at Heather Hills, I will apply a similar process to observe, collect and analyze data, while listening to stakeholders’ groups in the community. Together, we will begin school improvement efforts at Heather Hills! As we focus on the future, our theme this year; “Reconnect, Reimagine & Rebuild: Onward & Upward.” We will make a difference together!

Reconnect

No great learning takes place in the absence of relationships. As some of the COVID restrictions have relaxed, we will begin to identify opportunities to reconnect with one another, our families, community partners and most importantly our students. Teaching and learning are processes deeply rooted in human connection and prioritizing relationships will be an important part of our future success.

Reimagine

We are in a unique position. While many people crave “normal,” our scholars are relying on us to be innovative in order to meet their academic and social-emotional needs because they are not “normal” or typical learners. We will spend time this year thinking about what and who we need to be to meet the needs of our current scholars and future scholars.

Rebuild

We will leverage key gifted instructional strategies, utilize technology to enhance the instructional program, identify experiential learning opportunities to extend learning beyond the walls of classrooms and ensure we prioritize social emotional learning opportunities. I assure you that it is important to me to honor and preserve the traditions and practices that make Heather Hills an amazing place to teach and learn, while identifying innovative ways to educate gifted learners.

It is more important than ever that we partner to ensure our children maximize every learning opportunity this school year. We need our families to monitor and support their child’s progress by monitoring Schoolmax, making sure students are completing homework and preparing for regular quizzes, assessments and projects. I also encourage regular communication with teachers. School and parent communication will be critical to ensuring we all stay connected and we are moving to Class Dojo to provide opportunities for two-way communication and to share with you the wonderful things that are happening in the school community. We will commit to providing high quality and data driven instruction daily. As a home and school team, we will be able to create a positive learning environment for all of our scholars.

Respectfully,
Ms. McKenna Lewis, Ed. D.
Proud Principal and Lead Learner