White Smoke! The future is announced

Last fall I informed the president of the board of trustees that 2015-16 would be my last year at Poughkeepsie Day School.

Today Amanda Thornton, the president of the board of trustees, announced the new head of school.  Please read that announcement here. After a thorough search and a considered process that involved all constituent groups within the school community the search committee made a recommendation to the board. A unanimous vote at Monday’s meeting of the full board of trustees confirmed that choice. Benedict Chant will be the next head of Poughkeepsie Day School. And I am delighted.

I know that the community will welcome Ben and his family with open arms. I look forward to working with him to ensure the smoothest possible transition. I have thoroughly enjoyed my years at PDS and I look forward to the next phase of the school’s long history with Ben’s direction, vision and leadership.

(And – that is not actually smoke from the Kenyon House chimney. Our recently upgraded HVAC system is far too efficient for that. It’s steam. And conveniently white! And just to avoid any confusion: PDS is not the Vatican and a head of school is not a Pope!)

 

Josie Holford

View Comments

Recent Posts

The Affair of the Chocolate Teapot

Midge Hazelbrow, the indomitable co-head of Wayward St. Etheldreda's Academy, took herself for a brisk…

1 month ago

Best Practices, Reading Wars, and Eruption at Wayward

Before the eruption, it was a typical senior leadership meeting at Wayward. Head of School,…

2 months ago

Words Matter

When I taught fourth and fifth grade at a school that didn't assign grades, the…

2 months ago

The Culinary Capers and Comic Catastrophes of Gerald Samper

It was the Gert Loveday review of Rancid Pansies (it’s an anagram) that set me…

2 months ago

Working and Not Working

A post on LinkedIn caught my attention this week.  It's had over 11,000 views so…

2 months ago

Gall, Nerve, Courage, and The Party of Women

 Women's rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen of Let Women Speak had a big announcement last week.…

3 months ago