Superintendent Alvin L. Crawley announced that Liza Burrell-Aldana, current assistant principal at Mount Vernon Community School, has been appointed as the new principal.
Burrell-Aldana, who is bilingual in Spanish and English, will lead the full dual language program school when current principal Peter Balas transfers to be principal of T.C. Williams High School in July.
“We are excited to see Ms. Burrell-Aldana take on this new role. She is a highly skilled and experienced bilingual school administrator who we are confident will be a good fit for the Mount Vernon community. We are deeply committed to the growth and development of our staff at ACPS and delighted that we were able to hire home-grown talent for this position,” said Superintendent Crawley.
Burrell-Aldana has been assistant principal at Mount Vernon Community School since July 2014. During her time there she has been responsible for the evaluation of the dual language program, developed an instructional budget to target funding of dual language needs and helped develop instructional strategies to support the curriculum. She was summer school principal for Mount Vernon in 2016 and has wide ranging experience from her work at multiple other public and private schools across Northern Virginia.
“I believe in ensuring that instruction is provided in a caring, safe and healthy learning environment where the needs of all learners are addressed and met with integrity and a thorough evaluation of student success. Collaboration between schools and families is essential to benefit our students’ academic achievement. I will aim to develop strong and lasting relationships with all members of the school community to ensure that every student can fulfill their potential and knows success,” said Burrell-Aldana.
Burrell-Aldana cites one of the highlights of her career as leading the Summer School Language Academy for John Adams Elementary School and Mount Vernon Community School students. She helped offer a rich science-based curriculum focused on promoting the dual language model. She has also lead the staff development needed to successfully implement the dual language curriculum and facilitated the efficient implementation of the Multi-Tiered System of Support framework at Mount Vernon Community School.
Burrell-Aldana studied at Universidad del Valle in Colombia and has two Masters degrees – one in teaching English and Spanish as second languages, and one in educational leadership from George Mason University.
She starts in the role on July 1.