As a high-schooler, Sallie Burch thought of becoming a nurse like her mother. But given her enjoyment of working with children – whether babysitting, working at daycares or doing summer camps – she switched to a career in education.
“Teaching really is magical because you get to see student growth,” said Burch, who in early August became the new principal at Westbriar Elementary School in Vienna. “There’s just nothing like it.”
Burch already is planning plenty of student and staff recognitions to enhance the school’s atmosphere and culture this fall. Among them will be “High-Five Fridays,” during which staff – outfitted with festive foam hands like those seen at sporting events – will greet students with high-fives at the school’s entrance and in the hallways.
The new principal also has been working with the school system’s operations and maintenance personnel to spruce up Westbriar’s facilities and has ordered some display cases to make the building feel more welcoming.
Such things “help the students remember that their effort matters and that we care about them and want them to be successful,” Burch said.
Westbriar is strong academically, being ranked this year as the No. 11 elementary school in Virginia by U.S. News & World Report. Burch said she hopes to boost students’ Standards of Learning (SOL) scores by being “laser-focused” on pupils’ individual strengths and needs.
“You can’t just look at students as a cohort group,” she said. “You have to use data to drive your instruction and look at individual students’ data to determine where the student is performing” and then continually monitor their students’ progress.
“My educational philosophy is, keep the main thing the main thing,” she said. “To me, that’s students and student achievement. Every decision we make should be with students in mind.”
Burch advises teachers not to make snap decisions and instead rely on input from the team of educators around them.
“Approaching things with a problem-solving attitude, but seeking the input and lens of others, is really an important tool,” Burch said.
Interacting with children is more difficult for administrators, but Burch makes time each day to do so and this keeps her motivated.
“My goal is to be very visible,” she said. “We have some mobile desks that we’ll be using this year as administrators, so that we can be visible and be in the hallways.”
Growing up in southwest Virginia, Burch did her undergraduate work at Randolph-Macon University, then obtained an administrative degree from George Washington University and master’s and doctoral degrees from Liberty University. She previously worked in school districts in Henrico, Hanover, Prince William and Stafford counties, and was an administrator in schools just outside Detroit.
Before coming to Westbriar, she spent 12.5 years at Falmouth Elementary School in Stafford County, first serving as assistant principal and then as principal for nine years.
Between October 2019 and December 2023, Burch also was an adjunct instructor at Mary Washington University and has mentored student teachers at Longwood University.
Burch switched from Falmouth to Westbriar because of organizational differences between the two school systems. Stafford County Public Schools has only 17 elementary schools, while Fairfax County has 141.
“The opportunities as an administrator are vastly different,” she said. “I like the progressiveness of Fairfax County and the fact it seems to be at the precipice of really being welcoming to all.”
Burch enjoys spending time with her family. One daughter, is graduating this summer with a master’s degree in archaeological sciences from Oxford University and will go to Boston University to finish her Ph.D. Her other daughter is a rising high-school senior in Stafford County and plans to play lacrosse in college while majoring in political science.
Burch continues to live in Stafford County while daughter Virginia completes high school, and said the 40-minute commute to Westbriar isn’t too daunting.
Burch has a rescue dog and cat and enjoys doing home improvements, traveling and reading a mix of fiction and leadership books. She also likes gardening and landscaping.
“I love to see things grow, both with students and with my garden,” she said.
