GREENFIELD — Sally Leach Mixsell, the first alumna to serve as Stoneleigh-Burnham School head of school, will retire on June 30 after 10 years.
The announcement was made Tuesday.
“The Board of Trustees is grateful to Sally Mixsell for her dedication, leadership, and commitment to our school community. Over the past 10 years, she has improved the school in many areas and positioned us to take that even further under new leadership.” Stoneleigh-Burnham Board of Trustees Chair Lynn Schultz Kehoe said in a press release. “Without Sally’s remarkable talent and extraordinary commitment I don’t think we would be where we are today, with great hope for the future of Stoneleigh-Burnham and ready to build on the extraordinary accomplishments during her tenure.”
Mixsell is a member of the Stoneleigh-Burnham Class of 1969, graduating one year after two schools — Stoneleigh-Prospect Hill and the Mary A. Burnham School — merged to form Stoneleigh-Burnham School (SBS).
Mixsell became head of school at the start of the 2008-2009 academic year.
“It is difficult to catalogue all that Sally Mixsell has meant to this community. She has honored the importance of good teaching to support meaningful learning, and she has created protocols that are meant to support sustainability in alignment with our current strategic plan. Sally has built a strong foundation for our work as we move the school forward,” Trustee Allison Porter, Class of 1989 and immediate past board chair, said,
During Mixsell’s headship, Stoneleigh-Burnham became the first and only girls’ school in New England to offer the International Baccalaureate Program, an academically rigorous, interdisciplinary curriculum that equips students with exemplary critical thinking skills and opens doors for them at universities in the U.S. and abroad.
Mixsell also has supported the growth of Stoneleigh-Burnham’s middle school as an increasingly progressive educational environment with a deep commitment to student voice and service learning for girls in seventh and eighth grades.
In 2013, Stoneleigh-Burnham became the first and only U.S. secondary school to offer the British Horse Society (BHS) certification program and to be designated as a BHS-approved livery yard, riding school, and facility. In 2016, Stoneleigh-Burnham became a testing center for the BHS — one of only two BHS testing sites in the U.S. The BHS certification is recognized in 32 countries and known internationally for setting the highest standards for riding instruction, stable management, and horse training.
Mixsell’s emphasis upon fostering student voice has helped Stoneleigh-Burnham bring home numerous trophies in another signature program, debate and public speaking. Since the Debate and Public Speaking Society was established in 1983, Stoneleigh-Burnham students have qualified 18 times to compete at the world level.
“When I assumed the headship of Stoneleigh-Burnham, I thought it would take me 10 years to accomplish what I could do for the school, and I believe that is right. The school is fortunate to have a very effective Board of Trustees, a strong team of administrators, a dedicated and talented faculty, and loyal and hardworking staff. I am proud of what we have accomplished together, and I look forward to a new chapter in my continued relationship with SBS. It’s exciting to think what lies ahead for Stoneleigh-Burnham,” Mixsell said.
The Sally Mixsell ‘69 Endowed Scholarship Fund, with a goal of $500,000, has been established in Mixsell’s honor.
Stoneleigh-Burnham School has announced Stephanie Luebbers will become the new head of school beginning July 1.
Luebbers, head of the upper school at Cincinnati Country Day School, will take the helm on July 1 and has held positions as a teacher, coach, academic dean, and associate head of school at boarding and day schools in New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire.
Leubbers graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College and a master’s degree from Middlebury College.