Emily Jones Appointed Ninth Director of The Putney School
December 2, 2006
Dear Friends of The Putney School,
On behalf of the Putney School Board of Trustees and the Search Committee, we are delighted to announce that at a special meeting of the Board on December 2, the trustees enthusiastically and unanimously voted to approve the appointment of Emily Jones as the ninth director of the Putney School. Emily will succeed Brian Morgan on July 1, 2007.
Emily comes to Putney from the Catlin Gabel School in Portland, OR, where she has been head of the upper school for seven years. She is a graduate of Harvard University, from which she received an A.B. in history in 1979, and Yale University, from which she received a masters in history with a focus on African history. She began her career in education in 1981 at the Maru a Pula school in Gaborone, Botswana. After obtaining her graduate degree she went on to the Taft School in Watertown, CT, and during her nine years there she served as department head, class dean, dorm head and director of community service. She and her husband, Gordon, then took on the challenge of founding a new school, the Ake Panya International School in Chiang Mai, Thailand (now the American Pacific International School). During her time at Ake Panya, Emily served as co-head and director of studies.
Emily’s appointment concludes an intensive search process, which culminated in campus visits by three finalists who met members of all of the constituencies in our community. Members of the Search Committee also visited Emily at Catlin Gabel, where they had an opportunity to meet with many members of that community and experience firsthand the high regard in which they hold Emily. Throughout this process she consistently impressed the Search Committee and members of the community with her grasp of Putney’s mission, accomplishments in progressive education, leadership style and vision for Putney. She articulated a vision of Putney’s potential role as a leader in progressive education. This vision galvanized the committee and the community. She was the Search Committee’s unanimous recommendation.
Many people participated in and supported the search process, giving generously of their time and sharing their homes and offices. We particularly want to thank members of the search committee, and Jenny Smith who served as search coordinator. Our search consultants, Gregory Floyd and Nancy Boettiger, guided us in a process that was inclusive, fair, and thorough, and provided much valuable advice. Thank you also to members of the school community—staff, faculty, administrators, students, parents, trustees and friends—who took the time to share their thoughts about the challenges facing the school, and who met with and provided feedback on the candidates.
We look forward to welcoming Emily and her family to Putney this coming summer. She will be joined at The Putney School by her husband Gordon. Gordon is himself an experienced educator, painter and musician and a former head of school. Their daughter, Alice, will graduate from high school in June.
We are also looking forward to various opportunities to thank Brian and Joyce Morgan for their 12 years of outstanding leadership at Putney. Brian’s thoughtful and passionate stewardship of the school has brought us to a new level of stability and enriched the campus and program enormously. The strength of the foundation they’ve built has been apparent throughout the search process.
This is an extraordinary moment in Putney’s history and we ask you to join us in enthusiastically welcoming Emily, Gordon and Alice to the Putney community.
Sincerely,
Matt Lorentzen
Search Committee Chair
Elizabeth Blaylock
Chair of the Board of Trustees
Matt Lorentzen
Elizabeth Blaylock
Brian Cohen
Leslie Frothingham
Samar Lichtenstein
Peter Pereira
Randy Smith
Pete Stickney
Tonia Wheeler
