Get to Know Dr. Little, Walls' New Principal
A new year has dawned at Walls. Students and teachers file back into the building, warm summer days shift to cool autumn afternoons, and the community prepares for success in the 2026-2027 school year. Plenty has changed. For one, SWW jumped from #69 to #5 on the ranked list of public schools in the country! Additionally, the school has welcomed many new teachers this year, including the new interim principal, Dr. Little.
Dr. Little began her DCPS career in 2011, starting as a math coach at Barnard Elementary. Originally, she went to Georgia Southern University and majored in Mathematics with the hopes to become an engineer, but decided in college she wanted to be a teacher after tutoring students for a job. Her mother was a teacher as well, which became part of her inspiration for loving the occupation herself. Since then, she’s been in multiple leadership positions, with assistant principal jobs at Ballou High and McKinley Tech, where she had the opportunity to serve as the interim principal as well. After that, she took a role as the Deputy Chief, SEAD Siege Strategy at Central Services. There, she had the opportunity to examine students’ social, emotional and academic development, and focused intently on graduation success, athletics, transcript reviews and postsecondary planning.
Dr. Little also used to coach high school basketball, which she says connects to her love for sports. “I feel like I am a coach by heart,” she explained, representing her happiness for leadership positions over the years. She’s in her 25th year of education!
Outside of her love for education and her career, Dr. Little enjoys many hobbies as well. For example, she is an author and enjoys writing. She also loves going to concerts, listening to music and singing at church. “I’m heavy into sports, I’m a huge Kobe Bryant fan,” she also elaborated, stating she loved athletics and had run a 5K over the weekend! She has a family, including a daughter in her sophomore year and her husband, who she jokes was also a “Dr. Little,” whom she started a company with. Many photos and representations of her family, friends, and achievements are displayed in her spacious office.
“My mission as a school leader is to help us see ourselves,” Dr. Little stated. She also shared her hopes for the new year, which include making sure that students feel safe, they enjoy school, they feel connected to one another, and they feel like they belong in this building is of utmost importance.
She explained how her primary goal was to ensure the best experience for every student and staff member in the community. “I didn’t get so caught up in the ranking,” she mentioned while discussing Walls’ #5 spot. “I got caught up in other data points that kept me in my reflection, like our students feeling like they belong here.” She saw the boost in the charts as a chance to reflect on more, rather than a simple success. “It’s one thing to be ranked number five in the nation. It’s another thing if I have 100% of my students feeling like they belong in that number five.”
As for the Walls 26-27 school year, Little mentioned the importance of resilience, and looking to ensure the personal benefits of every student in the community, one step at a time. "What are our areas where we can do even better? How do we move from number five to number one? What are our possibilities for exploring this world even deeper with our students?” Dr. Little chooses to examine the past and aim for prosperity in the future - rooted in excellence, boundless in possibilities, of course. She can’t wait to make change and benefit the community this year.