Dear Members of the Virginia Chance School Community:
I would now like to share information about our second candidate, Betsy Fitch. Betsy will be on campus for interviews and forum sessions on Tuesday, October 20th and Wednesday, October 21st.
As with all of the candidates, we will hold community forums for faculty, staff and parents to ask questions and learn more about Betsy Fitch and her candidacy. Her bio is below. We hope that you will strongly consider attending the parent forums, and that you will also provide feedback about Betsy using the anonymous survey link below. The search committee will carefully review all comments and feedback provided. If you would like a reminder of the job description for our next Head of School you can review the Information for Candidates Report.
As a reminder, below are the times and locations of the forums.
October 20 – 1:00-1:30 pm
Online Open Forum for Parents – Google Meet
October 21 – 9:00-9:45 am
Online Open Forum Parents and Parent Council - Google Meet
Out of our concern to respect the confidentiality of the candidates and their roles, we ask that you not share the information provided here with anyone outside of the Chance community. The candidates have communicated to appropriate personnel their decisions to pursue the Head of School role at Virginia Chance School, but others in their current places of employment may not be aware of their candidacies. On behalf of the entire search committee, I look forward to reviewing your thoughts and feedback on each candidate.
Sincerely,
Ashley Butler
Chair, Head of School Search Committee
Candidate 2: Betsy Fitch, Ed.D
Summary: Betsy Fitch is a native of Kentucky. She attended Murray State University and earned a degree in Marketing. After graduating from Murray, Dr. Fitch worked in marketing and advertising while earning her M.B.A. at Xavier University.
In 2000, she and her husband moved to Northern, CA. At that time, Betsy decided to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a teacher. She earned her teaching credential, a second master's degree, administrative credential and doctorate in education leadership all from San Jose State University. While in California, Betsy was the founding teacher for two start-up schools and was a principal for six years. She also spent nine years teaching kindergarten to grade eight.
After earning her doctorate, Betsy and her husband accepted positions with the Thai-Chinese International School (TCIS) in Bangkok, Thailand. Betsy was principal for the elementary school and worked closely with all school divisions, preschool through grade 12.
Most recently, Betsy has returned to Louisville to be closer to her family. She volunteers with Louisville Metro Parks and is working with a team to develop new community gardens and curriculum at the Portland Community Center and at the Douglass Community Center. She also enjoys hiking, running, reading and continuing her own professional development during these rapidly evolving times.
Educational Philosophy: Betsy’s personal educational philosophy closely mirrors the philosophy of progressive education. She believes that education is to prepare students to participate actively in a pluralist society, to do good and to leave the world an iteratively better place. To do that she believes schools work best when:
❖ student voice and agency are valued.
❖ students are engaged in relevant community based work.
❖ academic, process and social skills are taught and valued equally.
❖ social justice is explicitly taught and thoughtfully integrated.
❖ learning is a community endeavor, the combined work of adults and children.
Betsy believes that how we accomplish and define specific objectives may vary in degrees but valuing the hearts, minds and voices of children is the essence of our work in education.
Experience: Betsy Fitch has 20 years of experience in education. Her work includes implementing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, leading project based learning professional development, working closely with community organizations, managing budgets, collaborating with parent teams, coaching teachers, writing grants, working in multilingual and multicultural communities, and sharing a love of progressive education.
