Rebecca Newman, principal, administrator - The Washington Post Rebecca Newman, a principal and administrator in the Montgomery County public school system for more than three decades, died Oct. 5 at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville. She was 68. The cause was breast cancer, said her husband, Anthony Paul. Dr. Newman, a resident of Urbana, Md., was acting principal and later the first female principal of Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, Md., from 1991 to 1995. She then became principal of Wootton High School in Rockville, where she oversaw a school-wide building renovation and implemented the College Institute, a partnership with Montgomery College that allows high school seniors to take courses from the college's faculty for college credit. She left in 2003 to serve as president of what is now the Montgomery County Association of Administrators and Principals, an organization that represents all the administrators, supervisors and principals in the county public school system. She retired in 2011. She was previously the principal of the old Mark Twain School and the founding principal of the Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents, both in Rockville. Rebecca Kay Newman was born in Saginaw, Mich., and was a 1968 graduate of Michigan State University. She received a master's degree in 1975 and a doctorate in 1978, both in education and from the University of Kansas. Dr. Newman moved to Washington in 1978 and began work as the assistant principal of Rock Terrace High School in Rockville. She received awards from the Montgomery County public school system for her leadership and in 2002 was recognized as a dean of educational administration. She moved to Urbana from Darnestown, Md., in August. Dr. Newman was a member of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, sat on the board of the National Merit Scholarship Corporation and served on a number of school task forces. Survivors include her husband of 33 years, Anthony Paul of North Potomac; and a daughter, Dominique Paul of Gaithersburg, Md.