Having two children who graduated from Sewickley Academy, as well as a grandson who is now attending, I have been viewing the recent turmoil at the academy that publicly surfaced in June of 2021 with concern.
But, based on what I observe and hear, have been very cautiously optimistic.
Certainly, based on my review of available background information, the Lower and Middle School administrators and support teams seem to be appropriately experienced and well prepared for their roles; that is actually great news for the future prospects of Sewickley Academy and should be a plus in recruiting.
However, the latest fiasco in the Senior School has definitely caught my attention — not in a positive way. Based on my years owning and managing a small to midsize professional service business, it seemed appropriate to dig a bit to see if any obvious clues emerged.
To my amazement, the problems in the Senior School appear to share a common characteristic that would be a red flag if I were interested in acquiring or investing in a business or sending a child to a school.
What are these common issues? Three layers of management appear, based on my research, to have virtually no management or human resource experience at all — none in education and none in private enterprise.
Currently, the following appear to have one thing in common, none of them seem to have significant management experience or real-world related training:
• Head of the School, although extremely well academically educated, including a Ph.D., also seems to have been highly rated as a teacher, which is a plus — but that was for more mature college and graduate students
• Interim Head of Senior School, previously taught middle school history at Sewickley Academy
• Assistant Head of Schools, a well thought of retired Spanish teacher at Sewickley Academy
It appears to me to be totally unfair for all concerned — students, faculty, staff as well as the administrators — for all three of these individuals to throw them into what was obviously a tense situation without any of the top three layers affecting the Senior School having training or experience to handle the natural tensions that follow the blunt force actions taken by the board late in June of 2021, shortly before this academic year beginning.
The Sewickley Academy Community deserves better.
Jere Cowden
Sewickley
