Ms. Frances Lee
Principal
frances.lee@apsva.us

Ms. Lee is a bilingual educator with over 20 years of experience at the elementary and high school level. Ms. Lee holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and elementary education from Wittenberg University and a master’s degree from George Mason University. She also has endorsements in gifted education and educational leadership and administration from the University of Virginia and The George Washington University.Lee began her career teaching English as a second language in Ecuador. In 2002, she began teaching at Escuela Key Elementary. During the 10 years she spent at Key, she grew as a teacher and school leader. Ms. Lee taught first and second grades and later became the Resource Teacher for the Gifted, providing math and science instruction in Spanish. Ms. Lee also taught English as a Second Language at Washington-Liberty High School. In addition, she worked for one year as a Master Educator on the Language Acquisition Team in DC Public Schools conducting teacher observations and evaluations.Over the past seven years, Ms. Lee has served as Assistant Principal of Wakefield High School and Assistant Principal of Escuela Key Elementary. As an Assistant Principal, Ms. Lee supervised at the school level a wide range of programs such as Special Education, English language learners and Spanish Immersion.

Ms. Holly Vesilind
Assistant Principal
holly.vesilind@apsva.us

Mrs. Vesilind is thrilled to be joining Ashlawn Elementary for her second year as an Assistant Principal. For the 2022–2023 academic year, Mrs. Vesilind worked as an Assistant Principal at Swanson Middle School. Prior to that, she spent more than 20 years teaching music, including at Ashlawn. She received her endorsement in Administration and Supervision from The University of Virginia, a Master’s of Education degree from Pepperdine University, and Bachelor of Music degree from George Mason University. Mrs. Vesilind has a wide range of leadership experience including recruiting and managing staff, school safety and security management, equity team leadership, major event planning, budget management, and career and academic advising. Mrs. Vesilind is proud to serve the APS community and looks forward to continuing her leadership journey at Ashlawn!