Berwick Academy Head of School

As my career steam rolls on, I am amazed at how frequently my job forces me to confront the gap between intent and impact. Certainly as adults, we have all heard some version of this as it relates to issues like harassment in the work place. Probably even more so, we have all experienced having a joke misunderstood, a comment taken out of context, or an email’s tone come back to haunt us. As Head of School, I confront this gap not only in the world of human resources with well over 100 employees, but also in terms of student discipline. How much does it matter whether or not the student intended to cheat? Does it matter that a student did not intend for their comment to be racially offensive? Are we responding to the behavior or the intention? Far more compelling that any of this complexity is my emerging realization of this gap for me as a leader. Sitting in my pristine perch in Burleigh Davidson, surely I know that I operate with the best of intentions, right? Whether it is c...

            One thing I love about the opening weeks of school is that I make a point to get out of my office. I walk. I cruise through as many classes as I can, checking in on our new teachers while soaking in the energy and magic of our veteran teachers. I stand on the new seal next to the Commons to welcome families in the morning, and I lean against the black turf field fence to watch the setting sun shimmer amidst a soccer game in the late afternoon. I can just see the beginning of color in the trees, but mostly there is a ubiquitous sense of green. Things are alive. First Day in the Upper School             When the students have been away for so long, it is easy to forget that a school is a living, breathing thing. I get focused on sidewalks, roof repairs, and landscaping – or even more abstract philosophical directions for the future. But for the first ...