At their March 21 board meeting, the Lexington County School District One Board of Trustees approved the hiring of Leah Sarantopoulos as the new principal of Beechwood Middle, effective July 1, 2023. Sarantopoulos currently serves as the assistant principal at Carolina Springs Middle School and will replace current BMS Principal Gloria Jenkinson, who is retiring at the end of this school year.

An experienced educator, Sarantopoulos first stepped into the classroom in 2002 at White Knoll Middle as the business education teacher. In 2005, she graduated from the PACE program and started teaching eighth grade mathematics at WKMS. During her time there, she served as the mathematics department chair and helped develop middle school math curriculum pacing guides. She was named WKM’s Teacher of the Year in 2011.

In 2015, Sarantopoulos was promoted to assistant principal of Carolina Springs Middle, where she has served for the last eight years. She helped lead the school to a “School to Watch” designation by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform and the distinction of a “Capturing Kids Hearts” Showcase School.

Sarantopoulos graduated from Providence College with a Bachelor of Science in marketing in 1999. She then received a Master of Education in divergent learning from Columbia College in 2007, as well as a Master of Education in educational leadership from University of South Carolina. She also earned her national board certification. Sarantopoulos was named the South Carolina Middle Level Assistant Principal of the Year by the South Carolina Association of School Administrators in 2020.

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