Lauren Badini, who currently serves as assistant principal at Westlawn Elementary School, has been named the new principal of Graham Road Elementary School, effective Aug. 1. Badini served as the assistant principal at Belvedere Elementary School prior to joining the staff at Westlawn.

During her tenure at Belvedere, the school was named a National Title I Distinguished School by the Virginia Board of Education. Badini played an important leadership role during that time, applying her understanding of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program (PYP) and the Advanced Academic Program (AAP) to support collaborative teams in reading, writing, math and science. These efforts at closing the achievement gap and raising the bar for all students led Belvedere to a national recognition level as only one of two Virginia Distinguished Title I Schools.

Badini also served as a Fairfax County Public School classroom teacher for four years in kindergarten and third grade. Before joining FCPS, she worked in the District of Columbia Public Schools as an early childhood turnaround teacher and as a pre-K teacher. Badini earned a bachelor of arts degree in journalism and public policy from the University of Kentucky and a master of arts degree in teaching from American University. She has also attained her endorsement in Education Administration and Supervision from the University of Virginia.