From The Head of School

Flint Hill Community, 

On Wednesday, February 8, our entire student body, faculty and staff community will gather for our first-ever Flint Hill Day assembly. I look at this as a spring “bookend” to our fall All-School Gathering event which, in earnest, kicks off the school year.  

This is an important reframing of our past “Founders’ Day” celebration, an intentional shift that we’re making this year for two important reasons:  

• The focus of the ceremony is on who’s here at Flint Hill making an impact each day, while appropriate recognition and more direct gratitude for our history is most impactful at alumni-centric events.  
• Our founding, like many other private schools that began in the 1950s, is complicated — a response to the desegregation of public schools led to the creation of many “white flight” schools, including, at the time, Flint Hill Preparatory. And, while we have completely reorganized in structure, mission and status (moving from a for-profit proprietary school to a non-profit, independent school in 1990), and have become a leader among independent schools for our mission, vision, core values and statement of equity and inclusion, some of the seeds of that foundation remain paradoxical with the school we are and strive to be today and into the future. While this is a small but deliberate step to underscore our values of today, we will continue to find other areas to connect our current students and families with our history in intentional and developmentally appropriate ways.    

Flint Hill Day is a celebration of many great things in our Husky community, with a particular focus and nod to our outstanding faculty and staff. In addition to celebrating some of the student-centric highlights of the school year to date, we will also recognize employees who have been with us for 20 years and our Driving Spirit Award recipients. This year, we will recognize four employees reaching the 20-year milestone:  

• Chris Cook, Middle School Makers Teacher
• Jennifer McKain, Technology and Instruction Department Chair, All-School Service Coordinator
• Maha Morse, School Registrar 
• Dave Walsh, Upper School Math Teacher  

Many thanks to those who submitted one (or more) of our 100+ Driving Spirit nominations, advocating for a Flint Hill faculty or staff member who exemplifies our Core Values to the highest degree possible and has made an extraordinary impact on our community. 

Such ceremonies and rites of passage are essential to communities like ours, and I am excited to share this experience with our students, faculty and staff.