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February 21, 2024
Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope all of you are well and are looking forward to some extended time with your Brooks School children over Spring Break. Just two weeks to go!
I am reaching out today to share some administrative news regarding the 2024-2025 school year.
To start, I want to let you know that I will be taking a six-month sabbatical beginning on July 1, 2024. I am deeply grateful to our board of trustees for this generous gift of time and am looking forward to the opportunity the time will provide for personal and professional growth. I will be returning to my position as Head of School on January 1, 2025, eager to take on all of the exciting work that lies ahead.
The school will be in experienced and excellent hands during my sabbatical. Assistant Head of School Nina Freeman will serve as Acting Head of School, and will carry all of the responsibilities that come with the position. In short order, Nina has become a deeply respected member of our community and she is well-positioned to lead the school in my absence. We have an exceptional administrative team, faculty and staff, and I know that this group will get the 2024-2025 school year off to a great start in September.
I am also pleased to share news that three current faculty members will be moving into new roles in the year ahead.
After a thorough internal process, we are very excited to have Timothy Benson accept our offer to begin as Dean of Faculty on July 1, 2024. Over the course of Tim's 18 years at Brooks, he has earned the admiration of the full breadth of our faculty and is excited about this opportunity to partner with colleagues in ways that support and further all the work we do with students.
The reintroduction of a Dean of Faculty at our school also enables two additional faculty members to step into new positions. Joanna McDonough will serve as Dean of Teaching and Learning, and Currie Joya Huntington will begin his tenure as Dean of Academic Affairs. Both Joanna and Currie have drawn tremendously from working with Susanna Waters, and will carry on the outstanding work our Academic Affairs team has delivered for many years now.
All of these moves leave me feeling as confident as I have ever been in the school's leadership, its faculty and staff and, importantly, a devoted board of trustees determined to push the school to even greater heights. I will be excited to return to join this group and continue our work together on behalf of the school and all of our students.
As always, please be in touch if you have questions. And, thank you for all you do to enrich the experience our students have together.
Best,
John R. Packard
Head of School
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