Berwick Academy Head of School

            There are many reasons it is essential to get our teachers off campus to conferences or to visit other schools. It is only by leaving our own environment that we can truly see what the possibilities might be. By exploring schools with different missions and approaches, we are able to use judgment to determine what might work best for Berwick students. As part of its Long Range Plan, the Board of Trustees has systemically been increasing our professional development budget to make sure that our teachers have the resources to push themselves in new ways - in the spirit of continued innovation.             More and more, as our teachers are becoming more connected and collaborative, we see them sharing what they have learned through lunches, meetings, and other methods. When a colleague is energized, departments and divisions feed off of that energy, and we share t...

            One of the great traditions on this campus has always been the LS Halloween parade. It is a joyful moment where we celebrate what it means to be one school with three divisions while acknowledging some of the remarkable rituals of childhood. As educators, we have also always known that Halloween can be filled with landmines: too much candy, costumes that are too scary, and fake weapons have all been concerns of the Administration over the years. While there has always been worry about “inappropriate” costumes more generally, our Director of Cultural Competency, Michael Buensuceso, did a nice job this year in each division asking our kids to think twice before choosing a costume. He encouraged them to be thoughtful and consider options that don’t build upon or perpetuate problematic stereotypes of various cultures.   While clearly a needed reminder for all of us, I am quite sure that we had students (and parents) wh...

            Recently I cruised through an Upper School ninth grade history class where students were grappling with the history of the human race. It looked quite different than the Western Civilization classes I had visited in the same classrooms just a few years ago. In this class, we started with essential questions – the why behind the exercise of the class. We were being asked to consider whether or not people ultimately made their way to the Americas by one method or many methods – apparently a historical debate that has raged for quite sometime. It was a question without a clear answer, even in the world of our adult scholarship, but our ninth graders were going to take it on in a 45 minute period one Wednesday morning in History class.             The kids were paired off – with one computer a piece – to consider eight different archaeological findings including names like Kennewick M...

As a community we should fully appreciate the remarkable campus our students enjoy on this Hilltop in comparison to the K-12 day schools across the country. In our national INDEX comparison group, there are many metrics in which we hope to improve, but one area in which we perennially lead the pack is “square footage per student.” It always strikes me that in October, when the leaves finally pop into electric shades of orange and yellow, our campus is at its best. In particular, the early sunsets light this place up in particular hues that strike me as other-worldly.             Over the past few years, the Board of Trustees has certainly placed an emphasis on improving the curb appeal of this Hilltop. While we have always enjoyed a beautiful quad during my tenure, the gateways and entrances to campus have perhaps been a bit rough around the edges. With the support of BPC, our donors, and the hiring of new Director of Faciliti...

            One of our Board President’s favorite mantras is that Berwick stands for something.   Often he is in the foxhole with me sorting through particularly challenging ethical dilemmas associated with school leadership. My hope is that our community takes pride in knowing that our children, in this way, will always be a part of something bigger than themselves. To some degree, our core values articulate what we stand for, and I would draw our attention most specifically to our commitment to integrity today. Having engaged our student community in a conversation about values when I first arrived here, this was their greatest source of institutional pride: there were lots of great schools, but our students knew that Berwick tried to do things the right way.             Standing for something is often quite painful as a Head of School when dealing with unhappy stude...