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Born to Lead

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Leslie Jaslow Lipman

By Ann Marie Quill; photography by Marcy J. Levinson

It's no wonder that Leslie Jaslow Lipman has pursued a career in education.

"I come from a family of teachers," she says. "When I was growing up, I would ask my elementary school teacher for extra supplies so I could go home and play school."

By the time she reached college, Lipman knew she wanted to teach upper grades, and she earned her bachelor's degree in education from the University of Georgia in 1993.

Lipman taught sixth and eighth grades for seven years at Gwinnett County's Summerhour Middle School, where she earned the distinction Teacher of the Year.

"I was successful with kids in the classroom, but I wanted to branch out with other kids," Lipman says. So she left the classroom to become an administrative assistant at Beaver Ridge Elementary, a natural step in taking on more of the leadership role Lipman was craving.

"I always had leadership roles growing up in BBYO and camp," she says. "I've always known I wanted to be a leader at a school."

After earning a master's at Georgia State in 1998, it was back to UGA, where Lipman earned her leadership certificate in 2001.

From there, Lipman accompanied Beaver Ridge's principal — with whom she had an excellent working relationship — to a school that was newly opening. Lipman now has been at Charles Brant Chesney Elementary for four years as an assistant principal.

Sitting in her office, Lipman displays the corner dedicated to UGA. But, more important, she displays a plush Dalmatian, Sparky, the school's mascot. Chesney Elementary was named for a 33-year-old firefighter who educated Gwinnett County schoolchildren about fire safety and who died in the line of duty.

When Lipman left teaching middle school, she was entering new territory with younger children.

"I sometimes feel out of my element with kindergarten; sometimes I have to change my way of thinking," she says. "But I laugh on a daily basis. Little kids are interesting."

As assistant principal, Lipman wears many hats. Her responsibilities include curriculum, discipline, supervising teachers and some of the support staff, and standardized tests.

"I really enjoy working with colleagues and parents," Lipman says, adding that Chesney parents are supportive. "I tell the teachers to not just send home bad notes. Pick up the phone and tell parents their kid had a great day. Focus on the positive."

In turn, Lipman says when she's disciplining a student in her office, she tries to remember to tell the student: "I'm not mad at you; I'm upset with your choice."

She adds that Chesney is a diverse school where 29 languages are spoken.

"I've only worked in diverse schools in Gwinnett," Lipman says. "A lot of times, you don't need to understand the language to understand the feeling."

Lipman brings a little of her own diversity to the school, which has only a handful of Jewish children. "Being Jewish, the teachers always invite me to the classroom around Chanukah to talk about the holiday, gelt, dreidels, menorah — kids love it. They love to play dreidel. The teachers know I'm always available to talk about it, and I'm always invited in."

Though she's helping with summer school, Lipman recently returned from a mini-summer vacation. She and new husband Adam just arrived back from their southern Caribbean honeymoon, and the two have joined Temple Emanu-El.

But now Lipman's ready to dive right back into a bustling new school year.

"Sometimes I miss teaching, but I feel I am still a teacher, educating other teachers, kids and parents," Lipman says.

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