 | Principal Jim Power announces school-wide administrative restructuring
4/9/2009
Dear Parents:
I am writing to announce a school-wide administrative restructuring that will take place effective summer 2009.
The change relates to how we organize ourselves in order to deliver on the priorities outlined in the Strategic Plan. Many of these priorities have been discussed in the parent forums I have hosted over the last couple of months, as well as at other community meetings. I suspect the boys will not notice these structural changes; however I firmly believe they will help us deliver our program more effectively.
If you have a good memory you will recall that our Strategic Plan also focuses on giving boys “big school opportunities” but with “small school feel.” That means ensuring a high degree of individual attention for each student while maintaining the depth and breadth of academic and extracurricular offerings. I am most committed to optimizing the success of this imperative over time; one of the ways we can achieve this goal, operationally, relates to how the senior administrative team is organized.
To this end, I am pleased to report that Don Kawasoe will now assume a new role as Head of the Prep and the Upper School. (You will recall that current Upper School Head Steve Griffin is departing UCC at the end of this school year, to become the next Head of Royal St. George’s School.) I have been very pleased with what Don has done at the Prep over his term as Head, and feel he is perfectly suited to helping guide us to this new model. Don's 29 years of experience at UCC as teacher, Boarding housemaster, Director of Norval, Assistant Head and Head of the Prep gives him a broad understanding of so many parts of UCC. More importantly, his commitment to the well-being of the boys, and the respect in which he is held by his colleagues made this an easy choice.
In his new role, Don will have four new Heads reporting to him, who will effectively lead the following grade cohorts or divisions: SK to Grade 5, Grades 6 and 7, Year 1 and Year 2 (i.e. Grades 8 and 9); and Foundation Year, IB1 and IB2 (Grades 10, 11 and 12).
Heads of these “divisions” are as follows:
SK – Grade 5: Tom Babits
Grade 6 & 7: Bernard Lecerf
Year 1 & 2: Derek Poon
Foundation Year, IB1, IB2: Scott Cowie
These faculty members are all serving in senior administrative positions currently; this move will re-focus their portfolios. Furthermore, in each division, we will assign designated faculty who will now report directly to their divisional Head, although some teachers, especially in the Upper School, may teach and coach in more than one division. This is a cultural shift, but one that drives us closer to our objective of increasing the degree to which boys are supported through daily interaction.
I believe this decentralized approach will enable greater connectivity across the school, and will provide faculty in each division with increased opportunity to know and care for all the students in their group.
In addition to working with the four divisional Heads, Don will also have a number of other senior administrators reporting directly to him, whose portfolios span multiple program areas across both the Prep and Upper School. I am confident that centralizing school-wide programs (such as athletics, community service, outdoor education, etc.) in this way will give rise to new opportunities for synergy, efficiency and collaboration.
These changes reflect our ongoing commitment to having smaller units of teachers working with groups of boys for the sake of improved support for every student. Over time, this change will improve the overall UCC experience for all students.
I have great confidence in Don, Tom, Bernard, Derek and Scott and am delighted that they are taking on these new responsibilities.
Thank you for your ongoing support of UCC.
Jim Power
Principal
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