Head of School May Update

The Month of May:

Celebrating an Amazing Year, Anticipating Another

May is a fun month. The last month of a school year in which everyone says that things are winding down, but it does not feel like it! We are winding up with lots of fun happenings here at New Covenant. May is also an interesting time in the private school world. There always seem to be some rumors flying about regarding what students and/or teachers are not returning. In a smaller school setting like ours, this seems to have a bigger impact than in larger schools with multiple teachers and classes for each grade level. If there ever is a question about a supposed rumor I encourage our families to go straight to the top - the Head that is…the Head of School! Me =)  I am happy to answer questions about the current school year along with the future.

This reminds me of another interesting aspect of this time of year. While we are ending one school year, there is of course a sense of excitement as we get closer to summer. There is also a sense of sadness as teachers retire or move on from our school. The feelings differ for me. One of the hardest events for me is Graduation. It is always tinged with sadness as we see our seniors leave us. They are ready to be launched but I will miss them. 

Also for me there is the excitement for next year and as I conclude my 10th year here at NCS this might be the most excited I have been for a ‘next’ school year. First I am excited by the new teachers we have added. One thing that is becoming more and more of a reality is that potential teachers we are interviewing have experience, many as students, with classical Christian education. This is a wonderful development as we see many classical Christian graduates enter the workforce. To hire teachers with experience reading the Great Books or having taken Latin is something that is becoming more common when even five years ago it was extremely rare.

I am also excited for next year because we have added two new positions - a full time music teacher and a part time athletic director. I had come to the realization that we needed to make the jump from a part time music teacher to someone who will be here full time. I think this position (and the person we have hired for it) will have a big impact on our school’s culture. I am excited for the possibilities! Additionally, adding an athletic director will also unlock a lot of possibilities. As many in our community know, I have served as the AD since we started our basketball program in 2015. Since then we have been able to add cross country and volleyball, but I have been tapped out in my time to add any more sports. Bringing on an AD will allow us to improve the sports we currently offer and bring the potential to add more - especially when we think about how many of our grammar school students are playing baseball, softball, soccer, etc…

As this school year closes I am extremely grateful for our seniors and our departing faculty. They have contributed so much to our school and they truly are leaving it better than they found it. I pray that they too have been blessed by their time with us. At the same time I am excited for the next school year as we build on the shoulders of this school year to see how we can grow and improve. May God be honored in all that we do!