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B UILDING A BETTER MIDDL E SCHOOL
BY SARAH LINDENFELD HALL
School
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was a place of safety and comfort for Kelsey Jones ’02. For 11 years, La Jolla Country Day School served as a foundation for her journey to college and career success. From playing softball on a picturesque field with a winning team to co-editing the yearbook, her memories of school are vivid and heartwarming. Yearbook photos of her on the Community Service Board or in her element with friends showcase a broad smile. She remembers receiving unwavering support and guidance from her teachers, who were building their own lifelong careers in the same supportive atmosphere.
One of those teachers, Susan Nordenger, now LJCDS’ assistant head of school for community engagement, can still see Jones as a bright student in her middle school English classroom, driven to build community. “I can remember her sitting on the quad,” Nordenger said. “She had the nicest group of girlfriends. … She was kind of the ringleader, in the middle of it, but a giggler and just really, really joyful and a very good student.”
On that quad, Jones had no reason to think that her experiences were any different from other kids in the United States. “I just assumed that was the norm—that everyone had an education similar to that,” she said.
But just out of college, she took a job teaching middle school math at a public school in Harlem, which opened her eyes to the struggles within the U.S. education system. And, years later, it would spur her and a colleague to found Brooklyn Independent Middle School, a private middle school that will enter its fifth year in fall 2023.
The need for a more equitable and racially integrated education for students with a tuition model that afforded every person the opportunity to attend a private school were the main drivers for creating Brooklyn Independent. Giving kids the same kind of joyful and supportive experience she enjoyed at LJCDS is part of it, too, she said.
“I don’t know if I would have envisioned myself being the type of person that would start a school. I don’t know that I saw that for myself,” said Jones, Brooklyn Independent’s co-head of school. “But there’s been something so magical about this.”
