Interim Middle School Director Kathleen Meade will serve as the new permanent director beginning next school year, selected from a pool of 120 applicants. Ms. Meade, who taught eighth-grade science before moving into administration, brings eight years of Latin classroom experience and also expertise as Middle School Assistant Director to her new position.
Her hands-on focus, a major guiding principle, comes from her own academic inquisition, which began at a young age.
“I lived really close to a library as a kid—like a block away—and I spent a lot of time there growing up,” she said. “I think that laid the foundation of a love for learning, a love for books, and the children's librarian there was also just really nice to me.”
Beyond reading, Ms. Meade credits the teachers in her life for inspiring her career path.
“I had instrumental teachers who just helped guide me and who really understood me, and I think that instilled the idea—that I wanted to be that teacher for other kids—in me,” Ms. Meade said. “Sometimes I think it's easy for [students] to say they understand, and just walk away. But I had a few teachers who would say, ‘No, it feels like you don't understand. Let me help you,’ and that was the kind of teacher I hope I was for my students.”
At first, Ms. Meade aspired for a career in elementary education, but the field’s competitiveness and her love for science eventually drew her away. After teaching high school science for a few years, Ms. Meade accepted a job at Latin.
One of her favorite memories from her time as an eighth-grade teacher was the levee project she had students complete each year.
“In eighth grade, we got to do the levee project with [Ms. Meade] in science,” junior Robert Danciu said. “It was a lot of fun and definitely one of the more memorable science labs I’ve done because of the way [Ms. Meade] taught it.”
As a classroom teacher, Ms. Meade made an impact on many students.
“She was my advisor, and I started to like science a lot more after having her as a teacher,” junior Meredith Maechling said.
Outside of the classroom, Ms. Meade led many extracurricular programs for students, from Science Olympiad to Middle School volleyball to Girls in STEM.
After eight years of levee projects, science classes, and volleyball practices, Ms. Meade felt ready to move into a role in administration, so she applied to become the Middle School Assistant Director.
“I think my favorite thing after transitioning to admin is just being able to work with more teachers overall,” she said. “As an eighth-grade teacher, I primarily worked with and got close with solely the eighth-grade team, and, in administration, I have the opportunity to work with all the faculty in the Middle School, who are absolutely wonderful. They care about kids in a deeply personal way. They just want to help them succeed.”
Two years later, following the departure of Middle School Director Tray White, Ms. Meade became Interim Middle School Director at the start of this school year.
Visibility quickly became one of her biggest priorities. “I think it's always an adjustment to being in meetings as opposed to teaching a class, so figuring out how to make sure students see me out and about in the hallway was a very important thing early on,” she said.
But Ms. Meade’s transition into her role as interim came with its challenges. On Dec. 5, Head of School Thomas Hagerman emailed the Latin community to inform them about an incident in the Middle School band class during which a teacher heard students discussing a song associated with the Nazi Party during World War II.
“During a class on Dec. 3, one of our teachers overheard two students telling a third that they had been practicing the song ‘Erika,’ a German marching song,” Dr. Hagerman wrote in the email. “We learned that the two students had played the song at home and in unsupervised school spaces.”
Latin was caught up in a similar situation two years ago, when students in band class played the same song. Ms. Meade was Assistant Director at the time.
“Since I was in the Assistant Director role for two years, the previous director, [Mr. White], and I worked very closely. I'm confident in saying there was a lot that he would bring me in on,” Ms. Meade said. “So, certainly, I don't know if [the ‘Erika’ incident] was something I didn't feel prepared for.”
This time around, Ms. Meade similarly worked with her team to manage the incident. “I work with my support team closely to make sure that any decision we're making, whether it's [the ‘Erika’] incident or anything else, is responded to quickly and equitably,” Ms. Meade said. “We had a clear plan.”
After contacting the families of the students involved, and, per Dr. Hagerman’s email, “implement[ing] disciplinary action that reflects the severity of the incident,” Dr. Hagerman and Ms. Meade spoke to the entire Middle School student body about “how individuals’ actions impact others.”
For Ms. Meade, the moment became a defining example of the leadership she hopes to embody as Middle School Director as she takes on the permanent role next year.
She received the appointment after a rigorous selection process run by a search committee that conducted multiple rounds of interviews.
“The initial goal I had [as Interim Director] was to make sure the faculty had what they needed to start the year and that the students had access to everything that they needed,” she said. “Now, in the permanent role, it's more about figuring out what we need to guarantee the best learning possible happens in the Middle School.”
She noted that a big part of that process is setting clear goals for the school.
“I would say my biggest goal is to make sure that Middle School is a safe, welcoming, belonging, and fun experience for the students,” she said, “to make sure they are engaged in their curriculum and challenged, but, most importantly, that they are also having fun.”
