Please note: Dallas ISD recently made it easier for staff and students to access Youtube for professional and academic purposes. Here is how to view the above Youtube video: Staff signed into YouTube with their Google login (district email and EAD password) will have unrestricted access to YouTube. Staff signed into Chrome browser or a Chrome device will not be required to enter credentials for YouTube again, but may need to click the sign in button in the top right corner of the YouTube page to gain unrestricted access.
Julie Singleton says working with children is among the most rewarding parts of her job as principal at H.I. Holland Elementary at Lisbon.
“As principals, we just really want to be working with the teachers, we want to be in the classrooms, we want to be with the students,” Singleton said. “That’s really what our main role is – to be the instructional leader.”
But, of course, there’s a catch. “But we do know on the other side is the management side,” she said. “Balancing that is probably the most difficult, challenging thing to do.”
Singleton has obviously figured out how to manage both roles. She is Dallas ISD’s Elementary Principal of the Year.
She credits Gabriella Williams-Hill, former principal at Richard Lagow Elementary, as an inspiration and mentor. At the time, Lagow went from a school that was struggling academically to an exemplary campus – much like the situation at Holland, where she credits her dedicated staff for the turnaround.
At home, she’s able to set aside the stresses of being a principal to focus on her family, including her husband and their 8-year-old son, who has Down Syndrome.
“I really just want to continue to make a difference,” Singleton said. “I want to make a difference in the lives of kids – but not just kids, adults, too. So I really just like to be that person that inspires others to be the best they can be.”
