Administration Changes at Sawyer Road Elementary

The is making changes at .

Debbie Burley, assistant principal at Sawyer Road, was named  interim principal at the school. Burley replaces Jill Sims, who is the current principal and newly named director of Elementary Curriculum & Instruction, K-12 Programs.

Susan Graves, Title I Teacher/Coach, International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program Coordinator at Sawyer Road, was named interim assistant principal.

Graves, Burley and Simms officially assume their new posts May 1.

“Debbie has worked closely over the past five years alongside Principal Jill Sims to foster student achievement within the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program at Sawyer Road,” said Dr. Emily Lembeck, Marietta City Schools Superintendent, in a press release.

“As a veteran teacher/administrator with 37 years of service to the school district, she will help to ensure a seamless leadership transition at Sawyer Road.”

Sims has over 20 years education experience both as a teacher and as an administrator in an elementary school setting. "She brings recognized strengths in curriculum and instruction to the district leadership team,” Lembeck said in the release.

“She has also successfully increased student achievement within the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program at Sawyer Road, and she was instrumental in establishing the school as the 12th IB World School in Georgia offering IB PYP.”

Sims joined in 1994. She has worked as assistant principal at Lockheed Elementary (1997-2000), principal at (2000-2005) and principal at Sawyer Road (2005–present).

A graduate of Lincoln Memorial University, Burley earned a Specialist in Administration at that institute. She earned a Masters in Early Childhood Education at Georgia State University and Bachelors in Early Childhood Education at Baldwin Wallace College (Ohio).

In 2008, Graves (formerly Grigg) was one of two teachers named Georgia’s National Milken Educators of the Year.

"Susan along with newly named Interim Principal Debbie Burley will ensure a seamless leadership transition at Sawyer Road,” Lembeck said in the release.

A graduate of Kennesaw State University, Graves earned a Master in Education at that institute. She earned a Bachelor in Elementary Education from the University of New Orleans, and a Bachelor of Science in History from the University of Southern Mississippi.