The Board of Trustees of The Athenian School is pleased to announce the appointment of the new Head of Middle School (grades 6-8), Jessica Donovan, who will be joining the Athenian community on August 1, 2010. Ms. Donovan is currently the Middle-School Administrator at the Gateway School in Santa Cruz, California, and will be stepping in for retiring Head of Middle School, Lynne Carberry.

“I'm thrilled about the opportunity at Athenian,” said Donovan. “I am excited about working with such a capable, professional and dedicated faculty. It’s truly a privilege. I have spent my entire career in middle school because I find it stimulating and rewarding to be a part of such a transitional time in the lives of young people.”

Donovan’s responsibilities at Gateway include overseeing the middle-school program and faculty, ensuring curriculum alignment across grades, managing the advisory program, mentoring new teachers, and collaborating with admissions. She supervises student discipline and high school admissions and currently teaches math in the middle school.

Raised in Los Gatos, CA, Donovan graduated with a BA in English and American Literature from UC Santa Cruz and earned her secondary teaching credential in English from National University. She will receive her MA at Columbia University’s Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership this August.

Lynne Carberry will be retiring in late summer. She joined the School as a parent in 1991, was hired as a Middle School math and English teacher in 2000, became Dean of Middle School Faculty in 2002 and was chosen as Head of Middle School in 2004.

“My overarching goal in education has been to foster a safe, happy place for students and adults to be their optimal selves, academically, physically, socially and emotionally,” said Carberry. “It is with mixed feelings that this will be my last school year at Athenian. For almost a generation, my family has been part of this community. I have been very fortunate in life and I now look forward to time for community service and to increased time with family and friends.”

One of Carberry’s last projects for the School will be overseeing the placement of four new Middle School classrooms that will replace worn-out portable classrooms. That project is expected to be completed in time for the 2010-11 school year.