Santa Fe Prep head of school to step down next year

Jim Leonard announced Wednesday that 2019-20 will be his 21st and final year as head of school at Santa Fe Preparatory School.

Since moving to New Mexico from a boarding school in Vermont in the summer of 1999, Leonard, 58, has overseen major renovations to the private east-side campus for students in grades 7-12 while growing the school’s endowment from just over $1 million to over $18 million, according to board of trustees Chairwoman Christine Le Grand Lehman.

“I feel that the school is in a really good place to attract a terrific new leader. Everything is stable,” Leonard said. “I didn’t expect that I would be here for 21 years at all. I thought I’d go back to New England, but this place kept winning me over with both the opportunities and the challenges.”

His favorite initiative at Santa Fe Prep has been establishing the Breakthrough Santa Fe program, Leonard said. The free college preparatory program, which has 27 other sites nationwide, is open to students from all schools in Santa Fe who are willing to make a six-year commitment.

Breakthrough begins with a six-week intensive summer school program for middle schoolers. From eighth grade through high school graduation, Breakthrough participants receive help from Santa Fe Prep counselors in preparing for college and navigating the application process.

Since its founding in 2004, according to Breakthrough’s website, 92 percent of its 250 graduates in Santa Fe have gone on to college, and 86 percent of them were the first in their families to do so.

Leonard also said that as head of the school, the percentage of students at Santa Fe Prep receiving tuition assistance has increased from 15 percent to 40 percent.

“I feel deeply connected to our efforts to increase the relevance of this school to broader community,” he said.

The senior year of the youngest of Leonard’s three daughters, who attends Santa Fe Prep, will coincide with his final year at the school.

Leonard said he is not sure what he will do following his retirement. But colleagues said he will be missed. “He has taken us to another level,” said Jan Adesso, director of library services and financial aid coordinator, who has worked at the school since 1979. “It’s groundbreaking how he has found creative ways to help more families come to the school.

“A lot of innovative programs and opportunities now offered to the community are here because he brought them here,” Adesso added. “I’m sad for the school, but I am really happy for Jim.”