The Gregory School’s Upper and Middle School Division Heads, Mrs. Allycyn Jacobs and Mrs. Jennifer DeBenedetti, are responsible for “setting a positive community tone in their respective divisions by developing programs and activities and supporting students, faculty, and families to ensure student academic success and social-emotional well-being.”
But what does this look like “in real life”? It looks something like this:
6:00 am Receive text from faculty member with stomach virus. Start thinking about substitute teacher list.
7:30 am Coffee and email. “What has popped up while I drove to work?”
7:40 am Quick meetings with individual teachers who stop by before heading to class:
- A new Exploration possibility that would require off-campus travel
- Thoughts about adding a prerequisite to an existing course
- A classroom budget question
- Concerns about an enthusiastic but easily distracted friend group in A Block
8:10 am Check in with student counseling office about specific students and follow up on any concerns from previous day
8:20 am Greet students at curb, and quick check-ins
- Start everyone’s school day with a friendly, personal welcome
- Tell a student that their club was approved
- Tell a teacher their email was received
- Direct a grandparent to the front office
8:45 am Pop into the A Block class to observe the distractable friend group; participate in a class activity.
9:10 am Write feedback email with observations and suggestions for teacher of distractable A Block group.
9:30 am Leave desk for more coffee. On the way, confer with student who has stomach ache “but may just be a little nervous about taking a quiz.”
9:40 am Meet with Registrar to review three student-requested schedule changes before schedule change deadline arrives.
9:55 am Visit advisories to talk with students about TGS values and representing The Gregory School both on campus and when traveling off campus for athletics, field trips, and Interim.
10:20 am Facilities Committee meeting. Meet with representatives from administration, theater, athletics, and security to screen proposals for facilities usage and ensure no conflicts in space reservations.
11:00 am Check in with members of the administrative team to finalize details about all Interim trip costs and payments.
11:30 am Lunch Duty. Ensure that lunch and student flex time go smoothly. Connect with students and teachers informally.
12:30 pm Review an admissions application for a prospective student who just moved to Tucson; Discuss file with Director of Admission.
1:00 pm Meet with Friday Explorations team to debrief previous week of Explorations and plan adjustments.
2:00 pm At desk: prep work and agenda building for faculty and all-school meetings. Confirm with all presenters.
3:10 pm Academic Enrichment.
- Meet with two student groups about proposed club ideas.
- Remind students that bowl of fresh fruit in Middle School office is snacks for them, not for the goats.
3:30 pm Catch up on emails. Meet informally with faculty who stop by after class. Return a parent phone call.
4:00 pm Head out to the field or court to see a Hawks team in action!
“So, you can see that it’s working a little bit in a lot of different pots,” Mrs. DeBenedetti said at the end of the day. “A little bit of scheduling, a little bit of admissions, a little bit of counseling….”
“And it’s best to wear your running shoes!” Mrs. Jacobs added.
