What Does an Interim Year Entail: A Welcome from Steve Wilkins

What can the Proctor community accomplish in one short year with an Interim Head of School? I have pondered that for months, googled the question, listened to colleagues, and weighed the answers of those who have served in such positions.

Here is my list:

1. We can help explain, to anyone who seeks to understand, why Proctor needs to thrive in a world where linear, hierarchical education fails so many children. Proctor’s model is a woven educational design that marries challenge and support, informality and structure, and individual pursuits within a tight community of “Together.” Proctor provides so many pathways for student success.
2. We can help affirm all that is extraordinary about Proctor to our students, their parents and guardians, faculty and staff, and grateful alumni. In the 20 years since Sarah and I left Proctor, the “time away” has proven to us that Proctor can succeed with a wide range of college-bound students which other schools simply don’t or can’t.
3. We can help clarify policies, practices, and principles in order to have the community ready for a new head of school next summer. Interim Heads pave the way for the next Head of School by engaging the community in deep analysis of programs and practices.
4. We can evolve initiatives that are laid out in Proctor’s recent Strategic Plan as our community envisions an ever-stronger Proctor Academy.
5. I can lead our team when the inevitable tough decisions need to be made.
6. We can reacquaint many Proctor families from “my era” to today’s Proctor.
7. I will endeavor to do all of the above, giving updates to you throughout the year.

But what can I offer in terms of a regular message in “The Buzz” from the Head of School? My professional obsession is helping students and their teachers understand how the human brain learns. My thesis is that if we all understand a little neuroscience, we can learn to make our brains work better to provide happiness, balance, achievement, and purpose. Lesson #1 on how the brain learns will appear in The Buzz next week. I hope you come back and read all about it. 

 

 

Steve Wilkins, P'02, '05
Interim Head of School

Read more about how Proctor's teachers are learning about learning!