Above: L-R St. Marks incoming and outgoing Head of School (images cropped from school website)
This summer, St. Mark’s School announced the hiring of its new Head of School — but not for this school year.
Dr. Ivory D. Hills will replace Dr. John C. Warren as leader of the private, boarding prep school when he retires next summer after 18 years in the job.
In January, Warren publicly announced his plans to retire at the end of the ’23-’24 school year. (The retirement will coincide with his 50th reunion as an alumnus.)
That same day, the President of the Board of Trustees issued a letter thanking Warren (and his wife Laura Appell-Warren, the school’s director of global citizenship) and touting the school’s accomplishments under his leadership. He assured the school’s community:
John’s work over the past 17 years leaves St. Mark’s in a position of great strength as we now turn toward the search for his successor.
A page was created to keep those interested informed on their search. The planned process was laid out in a letter within days, and occasional updates were posted through the year. On July 31st, the school announced Hills’ hiring and also posted his letter to their community.
The school’s press release states:
“Ivory is a brilliant thinker and a gifted leader,” said Michael B. Moore ’80, president of the St. Mark’s Board of Trustees and co-chair of the Head of School Search Committee. “He has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing independent schools today, and he is passionate about the St. Mark’s School mission. We are confident that he will be an outstanding head of school.”
Since 2011, Dr. Hills has been at Deerfield Academy, where he has served the school in a variety of roles, most recently dean of faculty and assistant head of school for strategy and planning. He holds a B.S. in chemistry from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from MIT, and began his career at Deerfield as a science teacher . .
“With Ivory at the helm, we are confident that St. Mark’s will continue to flourish on the strong foundation it stands upon,” Mr. Moore and Ms. Santini wrote in a letter to the St. Mark’s community on July 31. “Together, we will embark on an exciting journey, starting next July, to shape a future filled with promise, excellence, and boundless possibilities.”
Hills’ letter enthused:
St. Mark’s is a community that shares many of my own core beliefs. I’m a strong proponent of cooperation over self-interest and believe in the synergy of teams; every member of our community can contribute in meaningful ways. Our joint efforts will allow us to build strong relationships in support of helping students develop their academic and spiritual curiosity, as well as the skills they will need to pursue their passions and lead lives of consequence. I continue to be enthusiastic and hopeful that high school is a venue for students to develop their identities by taking appropriate risks and leaving room for serendipitous self-discovery. It is truly remarkable that all of us—trustees, parents, teachers, staff, and students—come together to support this shared work.
In addition, the school posted a Q&A with Hills. You can read more details, the Q&A, and the full letters here.
Congratulations to the future Head of St Marks.School.
For the sake of his new school, many town residents would probably suggest he start with priority number 1 for the Town ……. taking responsibility for prior school actions … by cleaning house of all school officials who deliberately and corruptlly claimed that the Town should pay for a new road intersection at St Marks main entry off Marlborough rd / Rte 85 … this is the so-called “St Marks Rd Project”.
The so called “problem” — (of occasional shallow “flooding” at the existing intersection) — was actually caused by St Marks — when the school built a stone wall within the town’s road right-of-way…. tbereby blocking previous storm dragage.
St Marks should have cured that problem themselves, at their own expense…. by removing part of the wall that blocked the previous storm drainage acoss St Marks playfields
But NO.– St Marks officials encouraged tbe Town’s inept and corrupt Town officials to promote (in secret, because of Covid restrictions against public review meetings) — a complex plan to use over $1 million in town funds to BAIL OUT St Marks misdeeds …. by building a new intersection 500 ft south of the existing intersection, — and then abandoning the existing intersection ( which works perfectly well and does NOT need replacing) so that the Town land UNDER the existing intersection can be donated to St Marks and used for a new PRIVATE PARKING LOT serving ONLY St Marks.
This proj3ct is the single most scandalous in town history. And our previous Select Board was intimately involved in this corrupt scheme.And still is today.
The Town should NOT be in the business of subsidizing rich private schools like St Marks … which pays only 1 /40 th (one fortieth) of what they would have to pay IF they were normal private businesses.
Why did Town Meeting vote to approve this Town funding ?
The answer is simple and damning… Because Town Meeting members were DELIBERATELY MISLED by the Selectboard, whose members were trapped so deep into the 3 year long quagmire, that they were unable “to see the forest for the trees” …and were unable to extract themselves … and they lied about the cause of the flooding.
So far there has only been one person who has paid the price of improper public dealngs, and that person is the former DPW Superintendent Karen Galligan. She was unsupervised by her boss, the Town Administrator, Mark Purple, who (WARNING) now has a firm GRIP OF POWER OVER ALL TOWN EMPLOYEES. Besibes being in contol of townroads. Ms Galligan was also an ALUMNUS of St Marks. YES. You read that right.. She was removed by her boss Mark Purple, in December 2022. However, the problem for the Town is that Purple is MORE at fault than Galligan is. Because Purple devised the crooked funding. And he misled his bosses.–the 5 part-timers on the Selectboard.
Purple also misled State Highway officials about the illegal use of a large State grant, which was illegally-spent on items which were NOT eligible for State funding.
The sins go on and on.
One item of St Marks PSEUDO generosity should be noted. St Marks presently donates about $50.000 annually . So the town’s spending of over $1 million will take the next 20 years of donations before we are EVEN. ( 20 years at 50.000 equals 1 million.)
But the point of this letter is to forewarn the future head of St Marks of petty improper behavior in his ranks … which in the LONG TERM IS BAD FOR THEIR REPUTATION
Where does the buck stop?