From The Head of School – Aug 7, 2024

Flint Hill Community, 

Welcome to my first Head of School newsletter message for the 2024-25 school year.  Every two weeks, I use this space to reflect, to look ahead, and engage our community on topics central to Flint Hill and our community.   

At the moment, I’m transitioning from “summer mode” to “school year ready.” This summer, my family and I were able to slow down, travel a bit, and reset with one another (often watching Olympics highlights or a family movie after an afternoon at the pool). It has been a memorable time for all of us.    

Schools are cyclical places, and the period just before the start of the school year is one of my favorites. New hires begin arriving (read about the talented group of new Husky Team members in each of the respective divisional newsletters), campus upgrades are completed (we have invested significantly in educational technology, HVAC systems, classroom furniture, and aesthetics), and the School starts buzzing with readiness and excitement to welcome our 1,000+ students and 290+ employees.

Charting the Course to a Bright Future: Following a successful re-accreditation process with the Virginia Association of Independent Schools last school year, our Board of Trustees, administration, and community will be leaning into a thoughtful and inclusive Strategic Planning process to chart the course for the future of Flint Hill. This is an exciting opportunity to celebrate our strong present, while envisioning the needs, opportunities, and challenges that may face the Flint Hill of a decade from now. I’ll share more about this process over the course of the year.

Civil Discourse: As we’ve all seen, social and political dialogue within the coming national election is elevated, and will likely continue to November and beyond. A major benefit to being a part of Flint Hill is our diversity of experiences, beliefs, and passions. Yet, in such times, the desire to position one another into “us vs. them” categories, to use inflammatory rhetoric, or to prioritize the “me” over the “we” is palpable. The coming weeks and months will be an opportunity to live our Core Values — particularly Respect and Value All Equally — and model healthy community connections. We will share more regarding our Flint Hill approach to the election season and discourse via a separate email next week. 

Benefits & Impact of Technology: Flint Hill has long been a leader in educational technology for our Huskies, having been a 1-1 school since 2010 and an Apple Distinguished School since 2013. These are necessary and transformative tools for student learning, as well as integral aspects of the world we expect our Huskies to lead beyond graduation. And yet, empirical research on screen time, cell phones, social media, and more paints a clear picture of the negative impacts of unlimited use or misuse of technology, particularly for adolescents. This is very much a point of local and national discourse, and something that is top of mind for our leadership team, teachers, counselors, and families. While we, as a school, are updating necessary restrictions on our school-owned 1-1 devices (iPads in the Lower School, MacBooks in the Middle and Upper School), addressing behaviors that impact our school day and sense of community and culture on personal devices requires support, dialogue, and intentionality. Expect both thoughtfulness and an action plan in the coming weeks — for the benefit of our students and community.    

For the time being, however, we wish all of our Husky community members a safe and relaxing last few weeks of summer. Please dig into the contents of this newsletter and other school communications in the coming days and weeks, as our goal is always to communicate clearly and thoughtfully to best support a smooth transition for our Huskies during these important first weeks of school.  

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.