Mary L. Walker,
Prince George’s County Public Schools, is principal of Beacon Heights Elementary School. Ms. Walker has been an educator since 1969, where she began as a classroom teacher with the North Little Rock Public Schools system in Arkansas. After a 17-year tenure in Arkansas, she headed east and joined the Prince George’s County Public Schools system as a third grade teacher at John E. Howard Elementary School in Capitol Heights, Md., where she remained for four years. In 1990, Ms. Walker became a resource teacher and project coordinator at Capitol Heights Elementary School until 1992 when she assumed the position of education specialist for the county. Later that year, she became assistant principal at Woodmore Elementary School in Bowie, Md., until 1997, when she assumed her current position. Under her leadership, Beacon Heights received a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award, a Maryland State Blue Ribbon School of Excellence Award, and the National Title I Distinguished School Award all in 2004. Ms. Walker holds a BA degree in elementary education from the University of Arkansas in Pine Bluff and an MEd degree in administration and supervision from Quachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark.