Head of School

Greetings from the Hillside:

Though it seems hard to believe, we have completed six weeks of classes!

I have told many people that I cannot remember a better opening of school in my entire career as an educator; there is a wonderful feeling on campus this fall. Some of this could simply be that we are all glad to get back to some sense of normality, but there is a great deal more to it than that; the faculty, staff and students all seem to embrace the character and culture that has always made South Kent School so special.

We are still being conservative in our practices in our 20th month of dealing with COVID-19. The State of Connecticut still requires masks for everyone while indoors in all school buildings except dormitories. Also, the State made vaccinations mandatory for all school employees except for medical or religious exemptions. In addition, we required all students to be vaccinated, so for all intents and purposes we are a completely vaccinated community. Our practices are more intentional than most other schools in that we are housing again by athletic cohort, including eating communally in cohorts as well. This more conservative approach allowed us to provide 32 weeks of on-campus learning last year, which no other school was able to offer, and so we see no reason to change our cautious approach at this time.

Also due to the prolonged COVID struggles, more than half the students and roughly a third of the staff were not here in the fall of 2019 and have no understanding of our many and valuable traditions. In order to live into our mission, in the first six weeks we have reintroduced as many of these traditions as possible.

South Kent School prepares young men to succeed in college and thrive as thoughtful and engaged citizens in a rapidly changing and intensely competitive world.

I firmly believe that these traditions and values are more important today than ever. We can no longer rely on a majority of the students arriving with an understanding of basic community expectations or manners, and so we teach them these skills every day in all that we do. This year the task has been even larger than usual, not only because of these lowered initial expectations but also because of the year-and-a-half hiatus the pandemic forced us to take from seated meals, jobs, all-school chapel, and assembly. We have had to hit the “reset button” and start over: this is how you clear a table; this is how you do dishwash; this is how you hold a broom and sweep; this is how you behave in chapel, or when a lady enters or leaves a room.

In addition to the more structured community events, we are also reintroducing some traditions in less formal settings. The new boys are still memorizing and reciting the first fourteen lines of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”; we do this in outdoor Assemblies (on the Schoolhouse steps) Monday morning and Thursday night. So far 62 of the 83 new boys have successfully met this challenge. We are trying to get all the students to the top of Bull Mountain before they graduate, and Fr. Klots has reinvigorated public service opportunities and projects. 

We do have more formal programming to teach our values with “South Kent Saturdays.” The idea behind “South Kent Saturdays” is to ensure that the boys all continue to contribute to a wide array of community projects and learn how to thrive as thoughtful and engaged citizens.

For the first South Kent Saturday (Sept.11) the boys were divided into groups to undertake cleaning and reorganizing the recycling bins, repairing and water-proofing the picnic tables, hiking Bull Mountain or the Lake Waramaug Rock, cleaning the bike trails, campus renewal, and making sandwiches to take to the New Haven Soup Kitchen (a dozen students did this the following day).

On Sept. 25 the students participated in the CROP Walk, a program of Church World Service, dedicated to reducing hunger both in Northwest Connecticut and around the world. 

Finally, we are teaching the South Kent School values and traditions in the redeployed Thrive Program, for third and fourth formers. Humanities Teacher and Director of Residential Life, Jesse Brennan, led a team this summer in creating this curriculum wherein the students consider how to make constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions based on ethical standards, safety, and social norms. More specifically, the Thrive curriculum is about developing our five characteristics - self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making - along with the three traditional values of the school - simplicity of life, self reliance, and directness of purpose. Currently, the boys are studying emotional intelligence and working in groups over the next two weeks exploring how to be emotionally intelligent members of the community.

Though we did not host Alumni Weekend this fall, we did present some awards for outstanding work in the past year(s):

The Geri Haase Award: The Geri Haase Award recognizes employees of the School who exhibit the same devotion to the School over time that Geri has modeled since she started working here in 1985: tireless effort, welcoming smile and readiness to support and and all members of the community. This year the award went to Gonzo Garcia-Pedroso ‘95 and Phil Darrin for their remarkable work in supporting the students through the pandemic. 

The Noble F. Richards ‘49 Alumni Volunteer Award: This award recognizes extraordinary commitment to the School over time, as personified by Noble Richards who has served the School with passion and dedication as teacher, coach, Head of School and Trustee Emeritus since 1956. This year we gave the award to Peter Thompson ‘67 for his truly remarkable work for SKS over time, particularly as class agent for his Class of 1967.

The Robert J. and Mary Anna MacLean Distinguished Service Award: In 1999 the trustees established this award to recognize the extraordinary effort, achievement and service of a person or persons on behalf of South Kent School. The award is named after its first recipients, two individuals who set the standard for service in the modern history of the school. We did not make this award in 2020 because of the pandemic, so this fall we gave it to two individuals for their recent work.

Curt Himy ‘84 was named for the time and expertise he shared guiding us in the development of strategies and procedures during the pandemic. His calm and thoughtful advice enabled us successfully to offer a safe and valuable residential experience for our students during the 2020-2021 academic year.

John Carey ‘74 is a two time recipient of the award, and for good reason. Twice, John has stepped into the role as President of the Board of Trustees to serve the School when it was most needed. Always calm, thoughtful and deliberate, John was the perfect leader to help guide our school through the challenges of a global pandemic.

On September 26, we hosted a small service and gathering to celebrate George H. Bartlett, third Headmaster of South Kent School. George’s wife, Maggie, all four children and multiple grandchildren joined a handful of alumni and friends in St. Michael’s Chapel for this commemorative event. As most people know, George did not much care for festivities. (There are movies in the school archives of George changing the trash bags at his own retirement celebration.) This humble and modest approach to life were the underlying themes of the celebration. 

During the service, several alumni chose one “word” they believed represented Mr. B, and elaborated on that word to recognize and celebrate him. Sharing the word and addressing what it meant allowed each speaker to acknowledge George’s reputation as a “man of few words” and his desire to avoid the spotlight.

The link to the recording is below. If you would like to remember Mr. B with your own “word” (and short explanation) please send them to me ([email protected]) by the end of October. Once all the “words” have been collected we will bind them in a book to give to Maggie and the Bartlett family.

Mark your calendars for Alumni Weekend on May 20 - 22, 2022, when we plan to celebrate (finally!) the classes that end in: 0, 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7.

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