Darryl J. Ford: Stewarding the Penn Charter Community

by Mark F. Bernstein OPC ’79

The day he first arrived at Penn Charter, Darryl J. Ford found his office door locked.

He remembers the day well. It was July 1, 1997, the start of the academic year, and Ford, the newly hired director of the Middle School, wanted to get to work. But no one had given him a key, and no one expected him so early. After wandering the halls and looking for help, someone working in the front office welcomed him and let him in.

Twenty-six years later—the first 10 as Middle School director and the last 16 as head of school—Ford will leave PC with much more attention, and much more fanfare, than he received when he arrived. “I’m getting a lot of lovely affirmation from the students,” he acknowledges as he moves through his final semester. And the students are not the only ones.

Ford’s legacy is immense, starting with the expansion of the physical plant, the fruits of the $130 million How Far? Capital Campaign that he led along with Jack Rogers Hon. 1689, chief development officer. The Ralph F. Palaia Baseball Field. The William A. Graham OPC ’58 Athletics & Wellness Center. The future lower school. Before that, there was the David L. Kurtz Center for the Performing Arts, Max Gross Softball Field, Kline & Specter Squash Center, Reiger Tennis Courts, Perrott Field, Maguire Field, and the pre-kindergarten program in the neighboring Church of the Good Shepherd, all of which also opened on Ford’s watch.

“The new buildings will allow Penn Charter to flourish as a school we all recognize 50 years from now,” observes longtime administrator Beth Glascott Hon. 1689. “And they will allow PC to build on that vision that William Penn had, and which Darryl has built on in important ways.”

Head of School Darryl J. Ford, observed Jeff Reinhold, clerk of the Board of Trustees, "has an ability to communicate with everyone, from the pre-K kids to the seniors, from seasoned teachers to rookies."

Beyond the facilities, Ford—the first African American head of PC—has left his mark in numerous other ways as well, such as the creation of the collaborative Teaching & Learning Center to help teachers hone their craft, new scholarship funds, and a deepening of the school’s Quaker spirit. The latter is perhaps most tangible in the Center for Public Purpose, founded in 2013, which engages students to work together addressing challenges that face the city, such as poverty, food insecurity and the quality of public education. On top of all that, Ford has been a steady hand at the wheel, helping the PC community weather the recession of 2008, Covid, and a period of deep social and political unrest.

“He has been able to put his values into action in a unique way,” observes Earl Ball Hon. 1689, Ford’s predecessor as head of school. “Darryl is a terrifically moral person who has found a way to lead the school in a way that reflects those values.”

Ford doesn’t seek attention as he completes his final months, but it is inescapable, especially as he makes his daily rounds of the campus. A big part of his job, he says, is just “saying hello 200 times a day” — to students, teachers, staff, parents and anyone else who crosses his path. It is in his nature to be outgoing, but Ford acknowledges that he is also modeling civility and good manners, another of the subtle lessons by example that are as much a part of his PC legacy as bricks and mortar. Besides, he enjoys it, especially when the demands of his job are most pressing.

“If you’re having a bad day, go to the kindergarten,” Ford laughs. “Those kids will love you no matter what.”

“The Principal”

Though he has taught many classes over the years, Ford always knew he was interested in school leadership. “Darryl always wanted to be a school principal,” confides his older brother, Malcolm, a Penn Charter Lower School science teacher since 2002. Indeed, he has never wanted to be anything else.

Ford’s inspiration to be an educator comes from his parents. His father, Malcolm Ford Sr., was a teacher and principal in the Philadelphia public school system; his mother, Edith, who trained as an English and art teacher, taught at the Miquon School, which Ford attended. Each summer day, she would take her sons on picnics near their home in the Cobbs Creek section of the city. Both his parents, Ford often says, were “quintessential servant leaders from whom I model everything I do.”

First at Miquon and later at Friends Select School, where he served as class president through all four years of upper school, Ford was recognized as a leader. His teachers, he learned later, went so far as to nickname him “The Principal.” After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Villanova University in 1987, Ford started a PhD program in Administration, Institutional and Policy Studies at the University of Chicago. But when an opportunity presented itself, Ford jumped at the chance to become a principal before he even finished his doctorate.

At the age of 28, while still working on his dissertation, Darryl Ford was approached to become head of St. Gregory Episcopal School in Chicago, a choir school that served lowincome boys in grades 1-8. The tuition was $500, Ford recalls, and most families could not afford it. The young, new head of school pitched in wherever he was needed, teaching religion classes and playing the organ as a substitute music teacher. He finished his PhD while working full-time.

Hoping to return to Philadelphia, Ford applied for the PC Middle School job in 1996. Ball recalls him as a strong candidate for several reasons, including his stellar academic background, passion for educational theory and strong interpersonal skills. Not long after he was hired, Ford joined Ball to solicit a major gift from Richard B. Fisher OPC ’53, which became the basis for the new Middle School building built in 2002 that is named in Fisher’s honor.

As director of the Middle School, Ford became known for his devotion to his teachers and his attention to every aspect of school life. No job was too small; Ford kept his eye on everything. “Darryl held everything to a high standard,” recalls Charlie Brown Hon. 1689. “I loved that about him.”

Ford relished his time working in the Middle School, where he also taught eighth grade civics for many years. “I loved that age group because they’re old enough to have opinions and care, and what I found was that it was often about fairness,” Ford recalls. “If you talk about social issues, Middle School students wouldn’t always bring the most analytical lens to what was going on, but they would ask, ‘Is it fair? And if it’s fair, why aren’t we doing it?’”

A decade after he joined the Middle School, when Ford applied to become head of school, his familiarity with Penn Charter, and Penn

A decade after he joined the Middle School, when Ford applied to become head of school, his familiarity with Penn Charter, and Penn Charter's familiarity with him, made him a popular choice throughout the community.

"As I reflect about my time at Penn Charter," said Head of School Darryl F. Ford Hon. 1689, "one of the things I will miss the most is the impromptu daily conversations I have with students in which they share what they are learning and the magic that occurs between them and their teachers."

Collaboration and Leadership

In assessing Ford’s legacy as head of school, one really can’t avoid starting with all those new buildings and athletic fields. They are a tribute not only to Ford’s skills securing gifts for the school, but to his ability to articulate a vision for Penn Charter and bring groups together to work toward it.

“The key to being a good fundraiser,” Ball explains, “is that you have to really believe in what you are talking about so others will believe in it, too. Darryl was always enthusiastic in talking about the school and his vision.”

As Jeff Reinhold, clerk of the Board of Trustees, observes, "He has an ability to communicate with everyone, from the pre-K kids to the seniors, from seasoned teachers to rookies. He can relate to OPCs from the Class of 1949 to the Class of 2022."

Those who have worked closest with Ford over the years speak of his leadership style, which is both collaborative and inclusive, reflecting Quaker values. For example, notes Assistant Clerk of the Board of Trustees Jane Evans Hon. 1689, when discussions began in earnest around building a new Lower School, Ford made sure to assemble a broad group of faculty, parents and alumni to develop a complete strategic vision, forging consensus across the PC community. At board meetings, adds trustee Anne Marble Hon. 1689, Ford first “lays out the facts and his own sense of what he thinks. Then, he lets the board talk.” Another longtime trustee, Grace Sharples Cooke, speaks for many when she says, “Darryl can go to that cerebral level, but he’s always right there at the human level, too.”

Perhaps no one worked as closely with Ford for as long as Glascott, who served as director of the Upper School, assistant head of school, and associate head of school. She and Ford also jointly oversaw the development and implementation of the school’s strategic plan that became the basis for the How Far? Capital Campaign. Glascott credits much of Ford’s success to his ability to assemble and empower a strong team. “He sees the best in people and brings out the best in people,” she says. “He has a vision and ability to get people on board.”

Despite the many other demands on him as head of school, Ford still finds time to connect with students. Early in his tenure, he cotaught an Upper School elective called Being Black in America with former PC teacher Lee Payton. Every day, Payton recalls, Ford would bring in an object from his extensive personal collection of African American art and Black memorabilia, using them as a way to start class discussion. When the two taught the class again the next year, Ford helped drive students to New York City for a field trip to the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, then treated everyone to lunch at Sylvia’s soul food restaurant in Harlem.

The class, Payton said, “confirmed the depth of Darryl’s knowledge of African American history and culture, but it also showed his interest in students’ learning.”

In March 2010, the Kurtz Center for the Performing Arts hosted its first performance, the all-school musical The Wizard of Oz, took a short trip in a hot-air balloon, proving there's no place like Penn Charter!

Those connections were also forged outside of the classroom. Elias Tanner OPC ’08 recalls Ford taking an interest in him when he arrived at PC as a sixth grader. “I had boundless, unguarded energy in all directions,” Tanner laughs now. “Dr. Ford took me under his wing and helped me understand how to channel that energy into something more purposeful.” Throughout the rest of Tanner’s time at Penn Charter, Ford continued to check in regularly, even helping Tanner decide to attend the University of Pennsylvania. “He helped me to be a better student, a better member of the community, and a more thoughtful friend,” Tanner says.

Along with his commitment to Penn Charter, Ford’s influence has extended outside of school, as well. He has served on the boards of Villanova, Friends Council on Education, and the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools, among many other civic and educational groups. The St. James School, a tuition-free private Episcopal school for grades 4-8 in the Allegheny West neighborhood, named its head of school office in his honor because of his ongoing support of the school. In 2012, President Barack Obama appointed him to the National Board for Education Sciences, an advisory group comprised of researchers and school leaders from across the country.

In many ways, the last few years have been among the toughest of Ford’s tenure. Covid forced PC to rethink pedagogy on the fly, later building tents on the athletic fields so students could be brought back to campus safely.

Though Ford has been concerned about these issues for some time, efforts to address them are ongoing, he says. As head of school, he expanded diversity in the faculty and student body, and the school continues to examine everything it does through a diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging lens. Under Ford’s leadership, financial aid has increased, as well, to help make a PC education attainable for families of different means. In July 2020, following the #MeToo movement and the murder of George Floyd, PC created two new task forces, one focused on race and equity, the other on gender equity, sexuality and consent. Each is comprised of administrators, faculty, staff, students, parents and OPCs, exemplifying one of Ford’s favorite maxims, which he has uttered frequently throughout his tenure: “The work of our community is working on our community.”

Lessons Still to Be Imparted

After Penn Charter, Ford notes, “I’ll have a little more control of my time,” which will enable him to pursue his other interests, including cheering for the Phillies, Eagles, 76ers and Villanova basketball. He also intends to remain involved in education, working to support new heads of school and other school leaders, with a focus on women and people of color.

Ford and his wife, Gail Sullivan, an OB-GYN, have two sons, Jameson OPC ’20 and Lucas, a senior in high school. “The entire community has always been extremely welcoming and supportive of our family,” Sullivan says, reflecting on her own years at Penn Charter. “For me as a mom, the biggest blessing was the education that our children received.”

Head of School Darryl J. Ford, pictured with family Jameson OPC '20, Gail and Lucas, was surprised with the Alumni Society's Hon. 1689 diploma in 2019.

The Fords recently moved to a new house, vacating the head’s residence on The Oak Road a little early so that renovations could be made before PC’s next head of school, Karen Warren Coleman, and her husband move in. The Fords will remain active in the Philadelphia community, especially at their church, where Ford plays the organ.

In his final months, in handoff mode, Ford has been thinking about work still to be done and lessons still to be imparted. Although he describes today’s students as resilient, he also sees some of the anxiety that social scientists have identified in the younger generation. For many, he acknowledges, childhood and adolescence are more scheduled than when he and his brother were growing up.

Ford encourages parents to teach their children the same sort of resilience that his parents did. When he was Middle School director, he would often see harried parents rushing back to deliver a lunch their child had forgotten at home. You can do it once, he would counsel, but then let the child figure it out.

“Keep doing that dance of providing scaffolding around children while giving them the space to make and fix their own mistakes,” Ford advises parents. “Let them fail but understand that failure doesn’t mean that you’re going to have a life of failure.”

There is no plaque to be put on such lessons, no ribbon to be cut. But these and so many other lessons are also central to Ford’s legacy. In speeches around the country, he frequently calls Quaker schools such as PC “the best hope for the world.” That hope ultimately rests on the good instruction that students receive, in the classroom, on stage and on the playing fields, which they will carry with them for life.

“What I don’t want people to lose track of,” Ford says as he ends his tenure, “is that the heart of Penn Charter is excellent teaching and learning and giving students that opportunity in these beautiful facilities. It’s about the powerful student-teacher relationship. It’s about our Quaker principles and practices. It’s about the care we share for our Penn Charter community and the world.”