Our Staff
Daphné J. M. Robinson is the Head of School at Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls. In this role, she leads St. Louis’s first all-girls, college preparatory academy to excellence.
Daphné has a long history in education. Not only does she hold extensive experience teaching adults in the financial services industry, but she also has substantial success in middle and high school charter education. A founding member of the first early college program in the state of Indiana, she eventually became the school's founding Principal. Additionally, she was honored with a 100% student success rate of four-year college placement, SAT scores that surpassed the national average, and state test scores that exceeded the state average. Daphné's school received the Four-Stat School Award from the Indiana Department of Education. This placed her school in the top quarter of all public schools based on achievement. The Title 1 Distinguished School Award was also awarded for closing the achievement gap between students in poverty and their more affluent peers.
After more than 13 years in Indianapolis, Daphné accepted the role of Director of Charter Schools for Shelby County Schools in Memphis, TN. She restructured the charter school’s office to make the schools more accountable and to provide additional support to charter school students. Through this work, Daphné provides leadership to more than 55 charter schools in Memphis, serving more than 15,000 students. The National Association of Charter School Authorizers selected Daphné for their prestigious national leadership cohort. After leading in this role for two years, she returned to St. Louis to lead Hawthorn.
Daphné's passion for education lies within the reserves of creativity, patience, ingenuity, compassion, and empathy. This keeps the entire school board and staff striving toward positive results. Under her guidance, progressivity, and collaboration with the school board and staff, the school's definition of education includes supporting the technology, social, emotional, and aspirational needs of the students and families of Hawthorn.
Daphné is a St. Louis native. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Xavier University (OH), a master’s degree from Indiana University, and Certificate in School Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University. dmorgan@hawthornschool.org
Our 2023-2024 Staff
Leadership Team:
Administrative -
- Sikina Lee - Operations Specialist - slee@hawthornschool.org
- Felton Flagg - School Support Specialist - fflagg@hawthornschool.org
Academics -
- Marilyn Hinton - Instructional Coach/Math - mhinton@hawthornschool.org
- Kara Koenig - Social Worker - kkoenig@hawthornschool.org
- Dr. Shi'Ann Wallace - Dean of Culture - swallace@hawthornschool.org
Our Terrific Teachers:
Brenna Steichen -- MS/High School Science -- bsteichen@hawthornschool.org
Charles Wood -- High School Math -- cwood@hawthornschool.org
Emily Schaeffler -- Middle School ELA -- eschaeffler@hawthornschool.org
Nicci Womacks -- Middle School Math -- hwomacks@hawthornschool.org
Johanna Haynes -- High School Social Studies -- jhaynes@hawthornschool.org
Kevin Slivka -- Art -- kslivka@hawthornschool.org
Kimberly Weaver -- High School Science -- klweaver@hawthornschool.org
LaToya Stewart -- School Counselor -- lstewart@hawthornschool.org
Lauren Gann -- Physical Education -- lgann@hawthornschool.org
Mary Bueckendorf -- Middle School Science -- mbueckendorf@hawthornschool.org
Michal Basford -- Middle School ELA -- mbasford@hawthornschool.org
Shannon Hester -- High School ELA -- shester@hawthornschool.org
Tashawn Duncan -- Middle School Math -- tduncan@hawthornschool.org
Tashia Rush -- High School ELA -- trush@hawthornschool.org
Taylor Jones -- Middle School ELA -- tjones@hawthornschool.org