Sharon Weir, Ed.D
Principal | Executive Director
Sharon Weir was born and educated in Scotland, UK. She received her undergraduate degree from St. Andrew’s College of Education (1987), graduate and post-graduate degrees from the University of Strathclyde (1993) and Glasgow University (2002), and completed graduate work at Harvard University in Boston, USA (2010).
Sharon began her career in 1987 teaching students in primary and secondary schools across a diverse socio-economic spectrum. In 1993, she transferred to South Lanarkshire Council to work as a special education consultant to develop a fully inclusive educational model for disadvantage students. In 1998, she took an administrative role when invited to join a local authority project under a UK government initiative as a lead officer for a new educational think-tank on intervention and innovation in primary and secondary schools. From 1997-2000, she worked collaboratively with the University of Glasgow in an extensive research project leading to a published dissertation that identified discrepancies in male and female achievement at the secondary school level.
In 2000, Sharon moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, where she became Director/CEO of Seashore Learning Center (SLC), a public, independent, high-performing K-6th grade charter school on Padre Island. Under her direction, SLC became an “Exemplary Campus” with more than 95% of its students passing the Texas statewide achievement tests. In addition, Sharon worked collaboratively to obtain grant funding for facilities, technology, and curriculum development in excess of $15 million dollars. Sharon became a mentor for charter schools across Texas and a frequent speaker at both the state and national level for curriculum and technology in public education.
Sharon was appointed Principal/Executive Director of New West Charter in Los Angeles in February 2005. She has applied her extensive knowledge as an innovative British educator, her experience as a charter school leader, and her natural enthusiasm and good humor toward making New West Charter Middle and High School into one of the most highly sought after public schools in California.
In 2009, Sharon was selected as the CCSA California Principal of the Year.
New West has subsequently been named three times by the California Department of Education as a prestigious California Distinguished School (2009,2014, and 2019).