Virginia Parker likes to call parents, just to let them know their children are doing a great job. As a way of getting to know parents in her first year as principal of Highland Park Elementary, she calls six students to the office each Friday, in order to celebrate their success and start their weekend right. 

“It’s fun to do on a Friday because it helps me end my week well, and it helps the families start their weekend on a positive note,” Parker said. “I just talk with the kids for a few minutes and then we call the parents together. We put the parents on speaker phone and the kids just light up. I tell the parents they’re here for a positive office referral and we’re so blessed to have them here.”

It’s a kind of positivity that comes naturally to Parker as she builds relationships, the kind that just comes from caring about people. She has brought more than 18 years of educational work experience to Highland Park, but her entire life has steered her trajectory toward this position.

Born in El Paso to a military dad and a German mom, Parker’s family moved to Germany when she was only 18 months old. At age 4, she was living in Germany with her mom and four siblings when her dad was killed in Vietnam. They remained in Germany for most of her school years, before her mother remarried, and they moved back to the United States, to Ohio, when she was 16. 

“I was that ESL student who could speak English, but was a little bit lost in the content,” Parker said. “I had learned German history, not American history. I do relate to those ESL students and the bilingual students.”

She completed her high school and college in Ohio before moving back to Germany as an adult. She met her own military husband there, and they moved about quite a bit before settling in San Antonio.

“When we came here with two children, I immediately felt like I was home,” she said.

She began teaching in Pleasanton and then moved to Northside ISD where she taught and rose into administration over the next 16 years with the district, before beginning with San Antonio ISD this year.

“I’m just so grateful for the opportunity that I’ve been given to lead this school and the chance that SAISD took on me,” she said. “This is a calling, and I was ready to take that call.”

As she spends this year learning and observing and meeting her community, she was immediately impressed by her staff. 

“We have amazing teachers here,” Parker said. “That’s the first thing I noticed, just the level of dedication.”

Overall, Parker says, she’s not trying to change much — she’s just trying to build upon the amazing foundation she inherited. 

“I knew coming here to Highland Park, I had big shoes to fill. Dr. Engelbrecht led this campus from a D to an A-rated campus in her time here,” she said. “She was and still is so well respected, and I want to make sure that I honor her and continue the great work that she did here.”

Parker makes it her goal to visit each classroom every day, walking the halls of the 107-year-old buildings, trying to make sure that the students are learning and getting what they need. She realizes, though, that this starts with making sure her teachers are getting what they need, during this extra stressful point in education during the pandemic. 

“Even though we want things to be normal, they’re not,” Parker said. “If the teachers’ social emotional needs are not met, they’re not going to be their best, and we really need them to be their best so that the kids can be their best.”

In fact, she and Tracy Monju, the school’s counselor, are planning a wellness room for teachers to help them practice self-care. 

Inspiring a family of educators — her husband, retired from the military, daughter, and daughter-in-law all teach — she says her motivation comes from her own school years; she wants to make the same difference for children now that her teachers made for her during a difficult time in her childhood.

“I didn’t always have it easy after my dad died and school was definitely my refuge,” Parker said. “I remember my teachers being the ones who believed in me and my abilities; they pushed me to do more, to learn more, and to continue my education. I want to be that positive influence for my students. I want them to look back on their time at Highland Park and know that Mrs. Parker believed in them and made them believe in themselves.”