Page 12 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • August 3, 2011 Area Tuxedo Park School will start the school year under the leadership of new Head of School Kathleen McNamara. McNamara, who began her term this summer, is the eleventh head of school in the facility’s 112year history. She and her family have taken up residence in the “Pink House,” reserved for the head of school on campus. McNamara’s headship follows Jim Burger’s 17-year tenure, during which time the school began to thrive. McNamara will now lead the school into its next era. She plans to get thoroughly acquainted with the culture, traditions, and the people of Tuxedo Park School and the surrounding communities. Having grown up in New Jersey and working in Westchester for 17 years, McNamara was familiar with Tuxedo Park School long before the advertisement for a new head of school appeared. Upon first arriving at TPS, McNamara said she was impressed to discover that the “Other Three R’s” -- ritu- Tuxedo Park School welcomes Kathleen McNamara als, relationships, and (academic, moral, and ethical) rigor --were alive and well at Tuxedo Park School. In addition to cultivating personal relationships with school and community members this summer, McNamara takes seriously her role to develop strong relationships between the school and parents. She began her administrative life by working in high school placement, which she explains, “shed light on the importance of working with parents, understanding their needs, and managing the all-important school/home partnership.” McNamara has extensive experience in creating parent education programs and a school culture similar to the one at TPS, where the school becomes a community where parents are imbued with a sense of accessibility and feel they are in an environment where they can have their questions answered and concerns heard. Before joining TPS, McNamara served Tuxedo Park Head of School Kathleen McNamara for five years as assistant head of school at Marin Country Day School, a K-8 school with 558 students located in Corte Madera, California. Before that, she headed up the fifth through ninth grade division at the Rippowam Cisqua School in Bedford, New York, where she was the director of secondary school placement and a ninth grade English teacher for three years before heading up the middle school for seven years. Until then, she spent seven years at The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry teaching French and English. According to Pam van der Lee, vice president of the Tuxedo Park School Board of Trustees and head of the Search Committee, “We are confident that Kathleen possesses the skills and experience necessary to move our school forward with wisdom, warmth, and energy. We welcome her heartily to the Tuxedo Park School community and look forward to her leadership.” Since 1900, Tuxedo Park School has specialized in pre-secondary education. Students in preschool through ninth grade engage in a traditional curriculum complemented by music, art, and athletic programs in a safe, nurturing community where intellectual curiosity, hard work, character, and the joy of learning mark each day. Since 1994, the school added 19,000 square feet of facilities, a climbing wall, and a solar panel array that provides the school with almost 30 percent of its annual electricity needs. During that same time, enrollment increased from 135 students to 225 students and the percentage of identifiable minorities in the student population from less than 10 percent in 1994 to almost 40 percent in 2011. Financial aid has also improved dramatically to expand economic diversity.