Sandra Lindsay-Brown will begin as the new principal of Bryant Montessori School July 1. She comes to Tacoma Public Schools as a principal experienced in leading a public Montessori school.
In her most recent position, Lindsay-Brown served as the principal of a K-3 through fifth grade urban public Montessori School of Choice elementary school in the Rock Hill School District 3 in Rock Hill, S.C.
In her six years at The Children’s School at Sylvia Circle from 2006 to 2012, the student population increased from 290 at the beginning of her tenure to close to 400 today. The school also was recognized for making the highest gains of all 17 elementary schools in the Rock Hill District 3.
Prior to serving in the public Montessori, Lindsay-Brown was the principal of Chester Park Elementary School of Inquiry in Chester County School District in Chester, S.C., from 2003 to 2006. Chester Park is urban school of choice for parents in Chester County with 560 students and 60 staff members.
From 1997 to 2003, Lindsay-Brown served as an assistant principal at Great Falls Elementary School in the Chester County School District.
Lindsay-Brown taught second grade from 1994 to 1997 in the S. Kilbourne Elementary School in Richland One School District in Columbia, S.C.
She earned her B.A, in sociology at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, S.C., in 1981. Lindsay-Brown completed a master in education in educational administration at the University of South Carolina in 1997. In 2007, she received her Ed.S. in superintendency at South Carolina State University, in Orangeburg, S.C. , and her Ed. D in educational leadership from South Carolina State University in 2010.
Lindsay-Brown studied for her certification in Montessori School Management at the Center for Montessori Education, College of New Rochelle, New York, from 2007 to 2008.
“She is clearly an outstanding principal,” said Elementary Education Director Patrick Johnson who was a member of the hiring committee, which consisted of Bryant parents, the current substitute principal, representatives from all three houses at Bryant, classified staff, Human Resources staff and Johnson.
“We heard from her colleagues that she is a very good listener and great with the community,” Johnson said. “Sandra has worked wonders in her schools in South Carolina, increasing the student population and achievement.”
She met Tacoma Public Schools staff on a trolley when attending a Montessori convention in California earlier this year. When her husband took a new job in Tacoma, she applied for positions in Tacoma.
Bryant Principal Sandra Lindsay-Brown