Betsy Fitch, Ed.D
Incoming Head of School
Betsy Fitch is a native of Kentucky. She attended Murray State and earned a degree in marketing. After graduating from Murray, Betsy worked in marketing and advertising while earning her M.B.A. at Xavier.
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 a 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 works with a team to develop new community gardens and curriculum at the Portland Community Center and the Douglass Community Center. She also enjoys hiking, running, reading, and continuing her own professional development during these rapidly evolving times.
Education Philosophy Betsy’s personal, educational philosophy closely mirrors the education philosophy of progressive education. Betsy believes that education is to prepare students to participate actively in a pluralist society, do good, and 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
She believes that how we accomplish and define specific objectives may vary in degrees, but valuing children's hearts, minds, and voices is the essence of our work in education.
Experience Betsy 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.
