Letters from the Head of School

We can move from R-E-A-C-T-I-V-E to C-R-E-A-T-I-V-E simply by moving the “C”. Hold that thought…

I am so grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Klingenstein Heads Fellowship Program… And I really missed our PASH Family while I was away. 

The word cohort is both a noun and a verb. In its noun form, a cohort is a group of people with a shared characteristic. As a verb, to cohort means to assemble into groups. Engaging around the clock for two weeks at Teachers College Columbia University in NYC with heads of schools from as far away as Thailand and as near as Cathedral School of St. John the Divine on Amsterdam Ave. was the most rewarding professional cohort experience I have ever had. Fellowship was at the heart of this experience, and I learned a great deal from my colleagues.

When folks ask me how the Klingenstein experience was, I know better than to try and list all that we did. So instead, I simply reply by saying “full.” Our cohort dove deep over the course of our two weeks together, guided by an overarching theme of “creativity.” The experience was soulful, relevant, challenging, and inspiring. Through research-informed classes and experiences that invited deep learning (and unlearning), reflection, and collaboration, we wove together a tapestry of topics, including: listening leadership; inciting joy for self and community; design thinking; JEDI & Belonging; climate action; global citizenship; communication; organizational design; change leadership; and making the case for creativity as a leadership capacity and strategy; to name a few. We read James Baldwin’s A Talk to Teachers, John Dewey’s Creative Democracy, Ross Gay’s Inciting Joy, Nicole Furlonge’s Race Sounds, Annie Murphy Paul’s The Extended Mind, and more. 

Twenty years ago, after four years of teaching in an independent school, I wondered whether this was the melody of the calling I had heard that I was actually meant to respond to. A product of public schooling, the idea of independent education was something I was still trying to understand and learn to appreciate. It was there, and I felt it, but I needed the reminder. In the summer following 9/11, I was blessed to become a Klingenstein Summer Institute Fellow for early career educators. I believe that context matters a great deal in one’s leadership journey, and also that every calling has a sending. It was in that summer of 2022 I learned and was affirmed of what I was to devote my life of leadership and service to: Bringing out the best in others through education so that they could lead with purpose as global citizens to make our world a better place. With every calling there is a sending, and Klingenstein sent me on my journey. I am so grateful to the Klingenstein Family for their philanthropic support which makes this experience possible for heads of school like me.

Twenty years later, after a 25-year career as an independent school educator in three different independent schools, I found myself called back to Klingenstein. With every calling, there is a sending, and this one is clarion. The intertwined acts of listening and visiting commingled to bring me home to Teachers College. I listened and heard the echo of my calling reverberating back to me. I am inspired, galvanized, and sent to do the work.

Being an educator is not what I do; it is who I am. Before I left for the Fellowship, I shared with our students that I would be away from school, attending school - that I have a lot to learn, as we all do, and as a lifelong learner, it was time for me to get to work. I was proud to model lifelong learning.

I came to Klingenstein seeking to elevate, wanting to calibrate and get back to center… To get back to my why… And receive a booster shot of creativity after, well, booster shots of another nature. What a meaningful and circular journey this has been. Coming back to my original inspiration and realizing that “creativity” is a lens through which I can view all things, including leadership. 

In his work titled Out of Our Minds, the late Sir Kenneth Robinson makes the case for creativity in a way that speaks to our current context:

“The challenges we currently face are without precedent. More people live on this planet now than at any other time in history. The world's population has doubled in the past 30 years. We're facing an increasing strain on the world's natural resources. Technology is advancing at a headlong rate of speed. It's transforming how people work, think, and connect. It's transforming our cultural values. If you look at the resulting strains on our political and financial institutions, on health care, on education, there really isn't a time in history where you could look back and say, "Well, of course, this is the same thing all over again." It isn't. This is really new, and we're going to need every ounce of ingenuity, imagination, and creativity to confront these problems.”

At Princeton Academy, we develop young men to be CREATIVE, compassionate, and courageous leaders of a just society. Creativity is in our mission, and it is incumbent upon us to create a culture of creativity that permeates every aspect of school life. This is what I return to school with - a deep desire to collaborate with our faculty and staff to amplify the creativity of our community. Let us find a way to ensure that creative thought and innovation are iterative, that our work is an ongoing creative act, and that we enter into spaces and dimensions with a creative mindset where it may not currently exist so that we can amplify the good of our mission. 

And so when Nicole Furlonge, Director of the Klingenstein Center, shared with our cohort that her child pointed out that you can change R-E-A-C-T-I-V-E to C-R-E-A-T-I-V-E simply by moving the “C,” it all made sense to me. We are living in reactive times, and reactive times call for creative leadership. Let’s move the “C” - sometimes, a change in perspective is all it takes.