Haas Hall picks leaders for campuses

DeSpain takes reins in Bentonville while Luebker fills Fayetteville post

FAYETTEVILLE — Haas Hall Academy named headmasters for its Bentonville and Fayetteville campuses, according to a news release Wednesday.

Tiffany DeSpain will lead Bentonville, and Rebecca Luebker takes the reins in Fayetteville, according to the news release.

“I feel confident in both Tiffany’s and Rebecca’s leadership ability to maintain Haas Hall Academy’s stellar academic programs,” Martin Schoppmeyer, founder and superintendent of Haas Hall Academy, said in the release.

DeSpain succeeds Rod Wittenberg, who resigned in September. DeSpain — a member of the Haas Hall community since 2013, according to the release — has been the nurse at the Springdale campus since 2017.

Aside from being on Haas Hall’s advisory council and coaching sports teams, DeSpain served in the Air Force and as a political analyst for the U.S. State Department in China, according to the release.

Three of DeSpain’s children are Haas Hall graduates.

“Being a Haas Hall parent for a long time means that I understand the traditions that are at Haas Hall,” DeSpain said before a School Board meeting Wednesday night. “I understand what’s possible. I believe in the mission of Haas Hall Academy. Coming into this situation with that background means that I can understand parents. Being an employee, a member of faculty here for seven years as well, means that I understand how the system works. I know what’s possible. I know what we’re capable of doing. I can help the school live up to those ideals.”

At the Fayetteville campus, Marilyn Schoppmeyer served as headmaster, according to the release, until her passing in 2021. Her son, Martin, has been the acting headmaster since then, according to the school.

Luebker said she talked to Marilyn often and knew her well.

“Right now, I’m hearing her laughter because Marilyn had a laugh that carried throughout the building,” Luebker said. “I can only imagine, ‘Rebecca, what are you getting yourself into?’ but at the same time congratulating. We would spend hours talking, before school, after school. We had that shared bond of doing right by Arkansas kids and right by our family and our community,

knowing that education truly is the thing that keeps us moving forward.”

Luebker said she’s an eighth-generation Arkansas educator. Luebker has more than 18 years of teaching experience at Haas Hall, according to the news release, and currently teaches social studies and computer science as well as being the lead teacher at the Fayetteville campus. Luebker is a former state history teacher of the year and was part of an Arkansas Department of Education committee to update social studies standards in the state, according to the release.

In this year’s U.S. News & World Report annual rankings of the top public high schools in Arkansas, Haas Hall’s Fayetteville campus was No. 1, followed by Haas Hall Academy in Rogers and Haas Hall Academy in Springdale at No. 3. Haas Hall Bentonville was No. 17, according to the magazine’s rankings, released in August.

Haas Hall, an open-enrollment public charter school, serves grades 7-12 at five campuses in the state — Bentonville, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Rogers and Springdale.