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Lakelands Park Middle School gets a new principal this week, its third since December, and Deborah Higdon promised Monday to bring the Gaithersburg school stability and capitalize on its strengths.

"People can only take so much change at one time and I don't believe in change for change's sake," said Higdon, who does not expect major programming changes during the 2009-2010 school year.

Higdon, who was assistant principal at Germantown's Kingsview Middle School until June, met last week with Lakelands Park parents, the school's PTSA and board.

Parents called on her to set high expectations, be visible in the school and provide transparency, she said. Her plans include: communicating procedural changes through the school newsletter, creating a regularly updated "Principal's Corner" on the school's Web site, and sending parents weekly "call-outs" every Sunday afternoon on Connect-Ed, a system that allows principals to send and track voice mail messages throughout a school community or within school community groups.

She also promised well-communicated individual discipline and said she would visit parents at home, if necessary, to resolve issues.

Higdon began her career 24 years ago as a school nurse in Baltimore and taught 11 years at Kensington's Albert Einstein High School. She promised a quarterly principal's open house, where "parents can come in meet with me, talk to me about any issues they would have."

Promoting stability and celebrating success are key, she said.

Lakelands Park's Principal Joseph M. Sacco left in December to be associate director for education for the Friends of the National Zoo. Two temporary acting principals — Dr. Jerome E. Lynch and Allison J. Tillery, both MCPS veterans — filled in.

"I think that our principals are all very well-trained," said Kate Harrison, an MCPS spokeswoman, citing "a culture that allows for smooth transition, even if there's a little more variety at the helm than there typically would be otherwise."

The school has also had five assistant principals in two years, said Higdon, hired in April.