Looking ahead to a year of growth

Dear Gordon Community,

Welcome to the 2026-2027 school year! 

I hope this letter finds you enjoying these last weeks of summer while looking ahead with genuine excitement to the coming year at  Gordon. Last August, I wrote to our community as someone just beginning to discover this extraordinary school. One year later, I find myself in a very different place. Gordon now feels like home.

One of my favorite moments of late last spring (and there were many!) came when I joined our fourth graders to release their young fish into the Gordon pond. I found myself getting rather emotional as Lower School Director Minna Ham gave me a fish of my own to release into the pond. We were marking a significant milestone on our Gordon journeys with symbolism, tradition, and, in true Gordon fashion, active engagement. There was something quietly hopeful about that experience. We watched our fish disappear into an ecosystem that would help them grow, each one becoming a part of something much larger than itself.

Like our pond, Gordon is a living ecosystem. Every child, every teacher, every family, every alumnus, every trustee, every supporter contributes to its health and vitality. We learn from one another, challenge one another, care for one another, and together create the conditions in which growth is possible. After a first year spent listening, learning, and finding my place within this amazing community, I am filled with excitement for what lies ahead.

This year, I hope we will embrace growth as a shared aspiration: growth in the depth, strength, and purpose of our programs, culture, resources, and impact.

Gordon will embark this year on the reaccreditation process that the Association of Independent Schools in New England asks us to perform every ten years. As a first step, we will engage the whole community in a self-study to reflect honestly on our current practices, identify areas of strength and growth, and think about who we aspire to become. The self-study process is an unparalleled opportunity to assess how Gordon is growing and thriving, guided by our mission and values.

In addition to the self-study, we will continue to deepen our commitment to outdoor learning through our 12-Acre Classroom initiative, allowing our remarkable campus to remain one of our greatest teachers. We will continue investing in Gordon’s Middle School, nurturing the foundational program already in place while pursuing an even bolder vision for what a middle school education can be. We will continue growing the systems and processes that help our school operate with greater clarity, consistency, and care. And we will invest in the health of our community and culture, expand opportunities for wellness and connection, and continue enriching campus life so that Gordon remains a place where children and adults alike feel known, valued, and inspired.

We will also continue growing the resources that sustain our mission for generations to come. Our endowment, our philanthropic partnerships, and the generosity of this community ensure that Gordon remains not only strong today but also positioned to flourish well into the future.

Most importantly, we will continue growing our students.

Every day, Gordon’s teachers create experiences that ask children to stretch themselves intellectually, socially, emotionally, physically, and ethically. They help students discover new strengths, develop resilience when learning is difficult, care deeply about one another, and find the courage to make a positive difference in the world. In a school like Gordon, that is the kind of growth that matters most.

Growth, of course, requires a growth mindset. It asks us to remain curious, to embrace challenges, to learn from mistakes, and to believe that we are always capable of becoming better versions of ourselves. That mindset belongs not only to our students but also to all of us. Schools, like people, are never finished. The strongest communities are those that continue learning together.

Over the past year and based on your feedback, we practiced that growth mindset and took a thoughtful look at how we communicate with Gordon families. We heard a consistent desire for information to be easier to find, more consistent across divisions, and clearer for both new and returning families. 

One response has been the refreshed Family Hub, which I hope you have already begun to explore online. As another project, we have brought together policies, procedures, and practical information that had previously been spread across divisional handbooks, our website, and other communications into one comprehensive resource: a family handbook.

While the format may feel different from previous editions, the purpose remains the same: to support a strong partnership between home and school. Much of what you will find in the handbook is not actually new. Rather, it reflects existing practices and expectations, now organized in one place so families can easily find the information they need throughout the year.

In developing these handbooks, we also looked to the practices of independent schools across the country. The result is a handbook that reflects independent school best practices while remaining distinctly Gordon, grounded in our mission, our values, and our commitment to relationships. In an educational landscape that is increasingly shaped by changing expectations and legal complexities, clear and consistent policies also help protect both our community and our mission. Like any living document, the handbook will continue to evolve as we grow.

Thank you for taking the time to review the handbook for your child’s division before the start of school, and for completing the acknowledgment form. We know there is a great deal of information included, and we hope you will find it to be a useful resource throughout the year. If your child is in the Middle School, we ask that you review the “Community Expectations” section of the handbook with them and include their name on the acknowledgment form. 

As always, if you have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. We value our partnership with you and are grateful for the trust you place in Gordon each and every day.

Last July, I wrote about Gordon as a place of sustenance—a community that nourishes each of us and gives us strength for the work of making the world a better place. After a year together, I believe that more deeply than ever. And because Gordon sustains us, we are free to grow. I cannot wait to see all the ways that we will grow together this year.

Enjoy these final days of glorious summer, and I look forward to seeing you back on campus soon.

Warmly,