Hewitt News

We are delighted to announce that Launa A. Schweizer will be Hewitt’s next head of middle school, effective July 1, 2019. Launa is thrilled to join the Hewitt community and work with our outstanding team of middle school teachers and fifth through eighth grade girls and families. 

After a highly competitive and thorough search process that began back in November, the Search Committee unanimously recommended Launa, which, together with the feedback we received from faculty, staff, students, and families, reaffirmed that she is the right person to carry on and build upon the excellent work of Dr. Maureen Burgess in leading our middle school division.

Launa’s varied and extensive teaching and administrative career in education mirrors her stated purpose and life’s goal: to learn, to create, and to help other people grow. Launa’s clarity of vision, together with her passion for teaching and working collaboratively alongside middle school students, teachers, and families, revealed itself in every conversation we had with her, and we are thrilled to welcome her to our community.

Launa is currently an English and humanities teacher and assistant head of the middle school at Brooklyn Heights Montessori School, where she partners closely with school leadership and teachers in serving curricular, pedagogical, and strategic goals as well as day-to-day operations. Prior to her current position, Launa served as the head of lower school at Poly Preparatory Country Day School, where she both strengthened and stabilized the school’s educational program to align with middle and upper schools. She is a graduate of Amherst College, where she earned her B.A. in English, and she holds a Master’s Degree in American Culture from the University of Michigan. 

Among her considerable strengths, Launa brings to Hewitt a demonstrated track record of working closely with faculty to build innovative, intentional, and transformative learning experiences into the curriculum, as well as developing systems and programs that enable faculty to learn from one another and grow in their pedagogical practice. Launa also enjoys fostering strong partnerships with middle school students and their parents and guardians, and her work is evidence of her clear commitment to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in schools.

In the coming months, Launa, Maureen Burgess, and Tara Christie Kinsey will begin a comprehensive transition process to ensure stability and continuity as Launa joins Hewitt and Maureen moves into her new role as assistant head of school for teaching and innovation. Launa will visit Hewitt from time to time, getting to know our community and beginning to plan with senior administrators and the middle school team. We will also host an event for parents to reconnect with Launa later in the spring.

We are extraordinarily grateful to the Search Committee members for the significant time, energy, and thought they devoted to this process. Thank you also to our community of parents, faculty, and staff for your engagement throughout our search. Your thoughtful attention, questions, and feedback have so clearly shown your investment in and care for our school and its bright future. 

During her most recent visit to Hewitt, Launa expressed her desire to be a “joyful witness” to the excellent and important work being done by Hewitt middle school students and teachers each and every day. We hope you will join us in being “joyful witnesses” to this moment in which we congratulate and welcome Launa to Hewitt as the next leader of our middle school.