3 minute read
A Day in the Life of the Head of School
A Day in the Life
OF THE HEAD OF SCHOOL
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8:15 a.m.
Downstairs for one of my favorite parts of the day—Arrival! It has been so nice seeing families get back in the building for in-classroom drop-offs this spring, and I love starting the day with so many warm hellos—from families and dogs.
8:30 a.m.
My first meeting of the day is with our Director of High School Placement, who has final updates on where our 8th Graders will spend their high school years. I’ve been seeing lots of our soon-to-be-graduates wearing their high school swag around campus, and love how excited they are for this next chapter. Most of them are off to their first-choice schools!
10:00 a.m.
Every morning includes a meeting with the Educational Council: Dean of Students Ruben Parra, Academic Dean Jessica Romero, and Dean of Faculty (and VCS parent) Sarah Williamson-Broadman. These three have a combined 60 years of experience at VCS; Ruben and Sarah both started their careers here as Kindergarten teachers, while Jessica originally served as the Upper School Director. No one knows everything that’s happening around the school like this group, and I meet with them every day to discuss all school business, from the Lower School Sing-Along to changes to next year’s Social Studies curriculum. On today’s agenda: planning new mixed-grade experiences as we continue our straight-grade homeroom model in K-4th Grade next year.
11:00 a.m.
I take every opportunity to come into classrooms and check out what students are working on—or share something I love with the students. In the fall, I visited K-2nd Grade classes for read-alouds of some of my favorite children’s books, and read Gaia Cornwall’s Jabari Tries to each Kindergarten Pod. Now, I’m making the rounds again with another Jabari story for our youngest students, perfect for the upcoming summer: Jabari Jumps! One of my favorite moments from my time with KA was when students told me about their morning message, which they read together as part of their Morning Meeting routine. Throughout the year, as students become more aware of writing mechanics and rules of reading like punctuation, sight words, and digraphs, they begin to independently apply those rules to the message. It’s wonderful to see the different ways classroom communities connect on a daily basis.
—Jen Mitchell, Head of School
12:25 p.m.
Tomorrow morning, I’ll be moderating a conversation among a panel of 8th Graders who will discuss their experience of the K-8 education they received at VCS. The students participating on the panel have all been here since Kindergarten, so they each have 9 years of memories to draw from. I wanted to make sure I met with them ahead of time to get a sense of the areas they really wanted to speak about, and share some of the questions I know parents will be eager to hear their thoughts on, like the high school placement process, student leadership, and how things changed as they moved through their time at VCS.
1:15 p.m.
It was KB’s day for a spring read-aloud too, and after we finished Jabari Jumps, I asked each student to tell me one thing they were really happy about. My favorite answer was from the student who said simply, “life!”
Before the end of the afternoon, I saw KB again—they came by to drop off the most beautiful thank you card, which still hangs in my office today.
3:30 p.m.
The amazing Community Service Committee has organized a school-wide service opportunity benefitting Food Bank for New York City. Earlier today, Upper School students met with representatives from the Food Bank to discuss nutrition and food insecurity, then packed healthy snack packs for an in-school pantry on the Lower East Side. Now, it’s K-5th Graders’ turn! By the end of the event, students in K-8 had packed over 1,000 pounds of food for fellow New Yorkers.
After I say goodbye to families on the Sky Yard, I’m heading back to my office to work on my Graduation remarks—the Class of 2022’s Graduation Ceremony will be the first to be held at VCS since 2019!
