Hensley hired as CBCS Elementary School principal

New position starts next year

The new elementary principal position that was created at the Crested Butte Community School has been filled with a familiar face. Sally Hensley, who was formerly the director of Stepping Stones for 14 years and most recently the Gunnison Elementary School principal, was hired last month to take the job. Hensley will start her new position in the 2014-15 school year.

Hensley moved to the Gunnison Valley in 1987 and filled a number of roles, including being a substitute teacher with the school district. After her time as the director of Stepping Stones, a preschool in Crested Butte, she was hired full-time by the district in 2006 as the director of the preschool and then as director of Lake School in 2009. Since earning her administrative certification in 2011, Hensley has been the Gunnison Elementary School principal.
“I’m really excited to be in the Crested Butte community and that excellent school. My own children attend Crested Butte Community School,” Hensley said, adding that her children are happy to have her working so close but are relieved it’s in the elementary end of the school. “But it’s a little bittersweet,” says Hensley, “because I feel connected and pretty dug-in in the Gunnison community.”
Although Hensley is familiar with a lot of the CBCS students and parents from her time living in town and through her role as director of Stepping Stones, she says a lot has changed in the school’s size and in education in general over the last few years.
“I don’t know what it will be like being an administrator in Crested Butte,” she says. “I think it’s very different when you enter the school system.”
Three candidates from inside the district were interviewed for the job in early February. Hensley’s hiring was made public at a meeting March 10.
Crested Butte Community School principal Stephanie Niemi will be giving up about half of her duties next year, focusing on her role as high school principal, and is excited to have the help from Hensley.
“I’m hugely relieved,” Niemi says. “It was much easier when we had 300 kids, but we could be pushing 675 next year. It will be great.”
Along with the new opportunities that have come with the growth in the student body, Niemi sees a point at which the building could start to operate less as a community school and more as two separate institutions. But she hopes it doesn’t.
“We’ll be doing a lot of collaboration. An important piece for [Hensley}, as well as myself, is that we don’t lose the community school feel. Despite the growth we have been successful in keeping that feel,” Niemi says. “More or less we’ll be maintaining a common approach to achieving academic success for our kids. It’s an interesting challenge. The growth has changed us, but we want to hang on as long as we can.”