Lisa Loeb will assume the role of head of the Upper School at West Hartford’s Kingswood Oxford School in July.
Submitted by Jackie Pisani, Kingswood Oxford School
Lisa Loeb P ‘07, ‘08, has been named the new head of the Upper School at Kingswood Oxford School, effective July 1, 2023.
Loeb brings a diverse array of both teaching and administrative experience to schools from her former positions at Choate Rosemary Hall, KO where she worked for 17 years, New Haven Reads, Miss Porter’s School, and One Schoolhouse. A highly collaborative leader, she specializes in curricular improvement and professional development and creates a school environment that encourages everyone to question, to laugh and play, to work through conflict, and to embody passion.
Loeb comes to KO from One Schoolhouse, an online educational platform where she served as a teacher and curriculum designer. While there, she redesigned all of its summer courses and 12 of its academic year courses. Before that position, Loeb was the director of professional growth and classical and modern language chair, among other positions, at Miss Porter’s School. She mentored department chairs, executed a yearly professional development program, and planned and oversaw the development of interdisciplinary and experiential courses in Latin, Spanish, Chinese, and French.
Loeb worked at KO from 1995-2012 as form dean, associate department language chair, teacher, and coach and views this position as head of the upper school at KO as “coming home.” Although she noted the various visible and vibrant school improvements since her original time at the school, the essence of the school remained the same. “I know I’m different, and the school is different, but what makes KO a special community has not changed. That, to me, is what stood out the most during my visit.” She intends to continue to strengthen the community aspect of KO. “I like to think of community as a verb instead of a noun. How can we community together?”
Loeb is eager to prioritize the strategic plan goals of attracting and retaining stellar faculty and creating interdisciplinary learning opportunities for the students, which she views as interconnected spokes on a wheel. “There should be a melding of the strategic priorities to develop the community we want to create.” Since the world is not siloed, she understands that the future work our students will be doing will not be siloed. “It’s so important for us to provide experiences that allow them to make the connections,” she said. “We should be strategic about helping students make those connections so they can have the experiences they need moving forward.”
Head of School Tom Dillow said, “I am thrilled to have Lisa’s thoughtful and innovative approach to education as we continue to implement our strategic plan. She values authentic learning for our students and understands that students learn best when they develop meaningful connections to their teachers and the material and have greater ownership over their learning.”
At KO, Loeb will help explore curricular, pedagogical, and programmatic initiatives that will create new opportunities for students’ learning. In this role, Loeb will lead the faculty through these new initiatives while continuing to honor KO’s tradition of academic excellence so that students can reach their fullest potential.
Loeb holds a M.S.Ed. in School Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. She attended Bates College as an undergraduate, where she majored in French.
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