Welcoming Gordon's new Lower School Director

Dear Gordon Community,

I am excited to announce the appointment of Minna Ham as Gordon's new Lower School Director.

This appointment concludes a highly competitive, monthslong process to find the next leaders for our Early Childhood and Lower School divisions. During her two-day visit, Minna had the opportunity to meet with students, faculty, staff, parents and trustees, where she was able to connect with, and respond to, each constituency’s vision for Gordon’s future. Those who met Minna left their conversations excited that the search committee had found someone uniquely prepared to meet the moment— a former teacher and current parent who comes with a firsthand understanding of Gordon’s mission and an experienced leader who brings valuable perspective and skills cultivated beyond Maxfield Avenue. 

Minna first found her way to East Providence in 2002, two years into her teaching career, when she was hired to teach in Gordon's first grade. 

Minna would later say that she found her voice as a multicultural educator during her years in Gordon's Lower School, cultivating fruitful relationships with veteran leaders like Lynn Bowman, Kim Ridley, Cynthia Spence, Sean Hamer, Maryanne Pieri, and Ralph Wales. She has come to consider herself one of Gordon’s esteemed alumni. 

While in Gordon's first grade, she helped to steward Common Ground, Gordon’s race-based affinity group for students, through its crucial early years and found new depths to her passion for working with children, particularly those with language-based learning differences. This discovery eventually took her out of full-time classroom teaching and into Gordon's Lower School literacy specialist position, where she helped develop the Pathways Program to support Gordon's emerging readers. As she moved on from classroom work, she kept those initial lessons in multicultural education with her and worked to ensure that the children who were most susceptible to being overlooked or forgotten were lifted, heard, and valued for all of their talents and unique strengths.

Four years ago, Minna moved on from Gordon and is currently serving as Lower School Head of Belmont Day School, leading almost two hundred students and twenty-three faculty members in a division that spans Pre-Kindergarten to fifth grade. Her legacy there will include four years of hiring that significantly diversified the teaching community, the development of a comprehensive literacy instruction framework, and a restructured divisional communication plan that increased classroom transparency and strengthened the school-home partnership. Most importantly, Minna will leave behind a reputation as a calm, steadfast community builder who prioritizes relationship and connection. 

In addition to her responsibilities at Belmont Day, Minna serves on the Board of Directors of the Family Collective in Watertown, MA, and is widely known for her expertise in creating inclusive classroom communities. She holds a B.S in Human Development from Cornell University, a MS.Ed from Fordham University in Elementary Education and this past year completed a Certificate in School Management and Leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Minna is excited to return to her morning drive with her children Cole and Mason Kaufmann, who remained at Gordon after Minna went on to Belmont Day. Her oldest Mason graduated in 2021 and Cole is now in our sixth grade.

Upon accepting Gordon's offer to join the school's leadership, Minna said "I have always considered Gordon a second home, and I am excited to return to Gordon's mission, beliefs and people. Over the last four years, I have acquired a better understanding of, and honed, my priorities as a leader, progressive educator and team contributor, and they all point back to Gordon. I look forward to reacquainting myself with the students, families and faculty of the Lower School. It is a privilege to return to Gordon and work shoulder-to-shoulder with this incredibly special community."

Minna is one of the three new faces that will be on Gordon's Leadership Team in the fall. The other two, Cendhi Arias Henry and Caroline Mullaney, were welcomed aboard in March as Early Childhood Director and Admissions Director. With these appointments, Gordon’s Leadership Team is complete and represents one of the most diverse senior administrative teams in the country. Whether they are considering race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion or age, I am proud that so many in our community will be able to see themselves in the leadership of Gordon School.
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I had the honor of serving as Co-Chair for the Early Childhood Director and Lower School Director Search Committee. I want to, again, thank the colleagues who served alongside me on that committee, and the team on the Admissions Director Search Committee as well. The work was challenging, and each committee member found multiple ways to help make it a thorough, joyful and transparent process. 

Early Childhood Director and Lower School Director Search Committee

• Aleida Benitez, Spanish faculty 
• Clare Blackmer, Assistant to the Head of School 
• Gabe Burnstein, Middle School Director, Gordon parent 
• Shanon Connor, Early Childhood Faculty, Gordon parent
• Alethea Dunham-Carson, Co-Chair of Search Committee, Assistant Head for Teaching and Learning 
• Cheryl Fanti, Early Childhood and Lower School Assistant, Database Manager
• Rebecca Garfield, Spanish faculty, Gordon parent 
• Amy Lupica, Lower School faculty 
• Frances Martindale, School Librarian
• Damon Ray, Athletic Director, Gordon parent
• Nick Terry, Science faculty

Admissions Director Search Committee

• Rebecca Boswell, Lower School faculty, Gordon parent
• Greg Carson, Middle School faculty, Fifth and Sixth Grade Dean, Gordon parent
• Tom Cicatiello, Co-Chair of Search Committee, CFO and Assistant Head for Campus Operations and Auxiliary Programs 
• Carmen Garcia, Controller
• Veronica Jutras, Co-Chair of Search Committee, Admissions Director and Assistant Head for Institutional Advancement and Community Engagement, Gordon parent 
• Kim Mongeon, Middle School Assistant
• Hannah Rossheim, Physical Education faculty
• Afiya Samuel, Middle School faculty
• Santana Sluss, Early Childhood faculty

I also want to thank the faculty, staff, parents, caregivers and students who made time to connect with the candidates for these positions this past winter. These meetings allowed all of the candidates to get an authentic sense of what makes this school and this community so special, and I was proud to see our school reflected back at me through the responses of all the candidates.

Please keep an eye out for information about opportunities for families to meet with Minna and Cendhi next month. May promises to be a busy one for Gordon, and I am excited for all that spring holds for our community in the weeks ahead!

In celebration,