ML’s Letter Announcing His Retirement
Thursday, January 10, 2019
Dear TSA Parents, Guardians and Alumni,
Of all the letters I’ve written in my 19 years at TSA this may be the most significant. It is very important that you receive this information from me directly. You have all made such an enormous difference in my life – I will be forever grateful.
I will be retiring as the Head of School at The Sharon Academy at the end of June, 2020. (Not this June.)
This is a step I have been considering for some time but much more actively and with the support of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees for the last two years. It’s a decision that both makes a lot of sense to me and is enormously difficult at the same time.
I began the important work of designing an authentic distributed leadership model for the school in 2004. Over the course of the last few years it has become quite apparent to me that the natural and beautiful extension of that successful work is for me to create some space for the school to continue to grow, change, and evolve. Good teaching is as much about knowing when to get out of the way as it is about instruction. It’s time for me to get out of the way. It may be the most important gift a leader can share with those he loves so much and cares for so deeply.
The work we undertake as a school community is enormously important to me. I can’t imagine being more proud and deeply satisfied in any other circumstance. There is no more important work than taking care of our children. I reminded our faculty and staff today that they do it with intelligence, dignity, good humor, great energy and a willingness to reassess and reevaluate that are the hallmarks of a great school.
There is no question in my mind that the culture of our school is deeply ingrained in our collective DNA. It does not, and cannot, reside in one person. I am extremely confident that the school will do much more than just maintain a sense of itself. It will continue to grow and evolve as it must. The world is changing at an astonishing rate and so are our learners. We need to stay alert to those changes and be both flexible and creative in our problem-solving as we move forward.
The Board of Trustees has been crafting a careful and thoughtful process that will involve faculty and staff as well as student and parent input. The transition team is being considered as we speak and it’s important for you to know that it will have broad representation. Please know your voices will be heard.
Press releases have gone out to Vermont Digger, the Valley News, the Vermont Standard in Woodstock and the Herald in Randolph. The faculty and staff have been informed and I had a chance to speak with the students today. This information is officially public.
I have been blessed, beyond measure, to have had an opportunity to work with all of you. I am staggered, on a regular basis, when I consider the number of circumstances that came together simultaneously to guide me to TSA.
It’s important for me to tell you that this transition is entirely of my own consideration. My relationship with the Board has been and remains remarkably positive. There are no outstanding problems or issues. I have no other job prospects or even interests. I have learned to trust my intuition even when I have very little data to support it. When I fail to trust it, I regret it. My intuition tells me now is the right time.
You don’t need to say anything to me or do anything for me except to continue to help us support the students in whatever manner you can.
Please remember this is a normal and very healthy circumstance. The school is in a very positive position. If I felt otherwise I wouldn’t be taking these steps.
We have much good work to do and I look forward to every day of my remaining 18 months as the Head of School. TSA will always be important to me. I hope to find other ways to help support the students, the new head of school, and the school’s ongoing success.
Thank you for your unfailing support of our learning community. You make a real difference.
Michael