Former Needham High Administrator Set to Lead R.I. School Engulfed in Sex Scandal

A former Needham official is set to take over a Rhode Island prep school that has had a controversial year.

Friday, St. George’s School of Newport announced that Alixe Callen has been selected as their new headmaster. She will be the first woman to lead the school and starts her new job July 1, 2017.

“I am honored and humbled to be asked to serve as St. George’s next head of school. The chance to lead this highly professional faculty is a tremendous opportunity. To do so with the endorsement of a dedicated and supportive board is icing on the cake," Callen said in a statement

Callen returns to the New England area after serving as the head of the upper school at Lakeside School in Seattle, Wash. since 2013. Prior to Lakeside, she was the principal of Acton-Boxborough High School in Acton from 2008-2013, and the assistant principal of Needham High School from 2004-2008.

Callen holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brown University and a master’s degree and doctorate from Harvard University.

Callen takes over a school that has been engulfed in a sex scandal that became public earlier this year. An inquiry revealed that at least 61 students were sexually abused in the 70s and 80s by staff members, including abuse from one employee that was so rampant that the victim told investigators that they couldn't see how other adults at the school couldn't be aware of it.

Image via St. George's School