Please read below for important information. We are sharing two letters with you -- one from Sally Mixsell, Head of School, to Allison Porter, Chair of the Board of Trustees, and one from Allison Porter to our community.
Allison Porter, Chair
Stoneleigh-Burnham School Board of Trustees
201 Chesapeake Avenue
Annapolis, MD 21403
November 2016
Dear Allison,
As you know from our discussions over the past few months, I intend to retire as of June 30, 2018. By then, I will have served as head of school for ten years, and it will be time for me to step aside and allow for someone with new talents aligned with the future needs of the school to lead us into the next era. In the meantime, I look forward to the next year and a half, dedicating myself to achieving many of the goals set forth in our strategic vision.
My early announcement has been very deliberate, in order to allow the Board ample time to seek my replacement and help the community learn about him/her. Hank and I intend to do all we can to facilitate a smooth transition for the new head of school and for the SBS community.
When I assumed the headship of Stoneleigh-Burnham, I thought it would take me ten years to accomplish what I could do for the school, and I believe that is right. With eighteen months yet to go, there is indeed more to do, but I am proud of what we’ve accomplished to date. The school has been blessed with a very effective Board of Trustees, a strong team of administrators, a dedicated and talented faculty, and loyal and hardworking staff. Together, we have made significant programmatic changes - such as the additions of the IB Program, an increasingly progressive and democratic middle school, a spiraled life skills program, the British Horse Society certification program, a middle school IEA team, new leadership positions for seniors, and so on. Several key positions have been added to enhance faculty experience and expertise, to focus on the revenue production areas of summer and community programs, and to build capacity at the equestrian center. We have also added requisite faculty positions as enrollment has increased. Finally, we have been able to tackle many of the deferred maintenance issues that existed years ago. We have completed one strategic plan and are now tackling the next.
I will miss the closeness of community that I feel here every day and the incredibly wonderful students we are privileged to educate. I will miss equally so many parents and alumnae who have come into our lives through this work and have supported my efforts, both emotionally and financially. Still, I look forward to a new chapter in my continued relationship with SBS by serving as a staunch supporter of my successor in whatever way she/he may find useful. It’s exciting to think what may lie ahead for Stoneleigh-Burnham!
Most sincerely,
Sally Mixsell
Head of School
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Dear Stoneleigh-Burnham Community,
As you know from the accompanying letter, Sally Mixsell has announced her retirement from Stoneleigh-Burnham as of June 2018. While this news is disappointing to all of us who know Sally, it is not surprising; she undertook this position telling us that she would stay ten years. She is a woman of her word!
It is difficult to catalogue all that Sally has meant to this community, and especially to this Board, over the past eight and a half years. She has breathed life back into a school that had seen some hard days; she has honored the importance of good teaching to support meaningful learning, and she has created protocols that are meant to support sustainability here at SBS. Our most recent strategic plan calls for continued efforts in sustainability as we move the school forward, and Sally has built a strong foundation for that work.
Sally’s decision to announce her retirement so early has afforded us time to plan carefully for the next headship. Last summer the Board of Trustees created the beginnings of a Head Search Committee and vetted firms to support our effort to find the next head of school. The group chose partners Bob Fricker and Charlotte Rae, of Carney, Sandoe & Associates, a well-known and respected independent school search firm. Charlotte and Bob have already begun their work by meeting with the entire Board for a workshop a few weeks ago. They also met with the now fully-formed Search Committee, the group that will work most closely with them throughout this process to ultimately bring a recommendation to the Board for Sally’s successor. Search Committee members include: Lynn Schultz Kehoe ‘77 (Chair and alumna trustee), John Barrengos (trustee and former independent school head), Lori Doolittle (current staff member), Jennifer Eremeeva P ’16 (past boarding parent and trustee), Denise Galperin P ’17 (current day parent), Mary Maloney ‘69 (alumna trustee), Susan Mattei (current administrator), and Miriam Przybyla-Baum P ’20 and ‘22 (current parent and veteran faculty member). I will join them whenever possible. You will hear more about this process shortly from Lynn.
In overseeing the transition from one head of school to the next, the Board of Trustees is fully prepared to support change in very tangible ways. This will include sensitivity to the needs of students and parents, alumnae, and - of course - our faculty and staff. That will be our focus when the time comes. In the meantime, please join me and the Board in our deep appreciation for Sally’s leadership. We look forward to the next 18 months of continued good work! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Warm regards,
Allison Porter, Chair
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