The first message that new Highland Elementary principal Julie Norris plans to communicate to her new faculty is one of gratitude.
She may be the new leader of one of the oldest elementary schools in the district, but it is Norris who is grateful to be in the building filled with history and high character.
I don’t view myself as, ‘I’m your principal. I’m your boss,’” Norris said. “I view it as I want to thank them for allowing me to be a part of their team, not that they are coming to join mine. They just have such a great, supportive culture all around.”
Norris started her educational career at Highland Elementary nearly 20 years ago as a substitute teacher when her youngest son became school-age. When she looks back at her career, she is also thankful for everyone who paved the way for her to return to Highland, this time as principal.
While earning her alternative certification in teaching, Vance Smith, then principal at George Welch, hired Norris to do a year-long internship, which turned into 10 years teaching at the elementary school.
“In our culture, we have so many fantastic teachers, who are already certified that he could have put in that classroom,” Norris said. “He gave me the opportunity and was willing to invest time in me to help me.”
Norris taught second, third and fifth grade throughout her 10 years in the classroom and then transitioned into the role of Reading Interventionist. She split time between George Welch and Crosley working with struggling readers and students who have been identified with dyslexic characteristics.
Sharon Sanders succeeded Smith as principal at George Welch, and again, it was another person put in Norris’ path to guide her a step closer to administration. Sanders encouraged her to get her Master’s in Educational Leadership.
“She gave me a lot of opportunities, because my schedule was more flexible, to be able to participate in things like 504 Coordinator and some other leadership-type roles in the school system,” Norris said.
Norris spent the past three years as a Reading Interventionist at Kiroli and Lenwil Elementary, where the principals – Carolyn Norris and Whitney Futch – were just as supportive of her move into administration.
“I’ve been really lucky because I have had some really good mentors,” Norris said.
If you can’t tell, Norris doesn’t like talking about herself very much. She likes to give credit to others for her career journey. However, she does admit she was selfish when it came to her interest in the Highland principal job.
“I don’t really know that I thought about what I could bring to Highland. I was probably more selfish in what Highland could do for me, because it’s such a fantastic school,” Norris said. “I was probably thinking more about, ‘I want to be a leader for those people so I can be a part of that genuine, authentic culture and that love they have for each other. I haven’t even been here in years, but that’s the feel you get when you walk into the school.”
Norris’ days substituting at Highland is just the start of the ties to the school. Her mother-in-law went to Highland. Her husband went to Highland, and her sons went to Highland.
“I have always said it’s the best-kept secret in Ouachita Parish even when I wasn’t here,” Norris said. “I have always recruited people to move to the Highland school zone. There’s just something about it. I feel drawn to it.”
Like her principal peers in the Ouachita Parish School System, one of Norris’ top goals is getting the community back involved and into the school since COVID. Other goals include deepening the science of reading and maintaining the math success the school has had in recent years. Most importantly, though, Norris wants to be an inviting support system to her faculty.
“I’m the type of person I research a lot, and I want to understand why something is the way it is,” Norris said. “I feel like I can help them through that path so that it makes them develop a more effective style of teaching, so they’re not just walking into the classroom and opening a book and teaching word for word.
“That they understand, and it becomes theirs, and they develop that deeper understanding of why things are, and that makes them a better teacher in the long run.”
THE NORRIS FILE
2009-2019 – George Welch Elementary
2019-2023 – Reading Interventionist (George Welch, Crosley, Lenwil & Kiroli Elementary)
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