October 2016 Issue

Page 1

CHRONICLE THE HARVARD-WESTLAKE

Los Angeles • Volume 26 • Issue 2 • Oct. 5, 2016 • hwchronicle.com

AARON PARK/CHRONICLE

MADDY DAUM/CHRONICLE

THE QUEEN’S SPEECH: (Left): Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts delivers her final opening convocation speech. (Right): Huybrechts works at her desk. After 28 years at the school and assuming many different positions, she will retire at the end of the school year.

HUYBRECHTS TO RETIRE

By JESSE NADEL

After 28 years at the school, Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts will be retiring at the end of this year, Chair of the Board of Trustees Philip Holthouse and President Rick Commons announced in an email to students, parents and alumni Friday. “Jeanne made this plan some time ago, carefully considering other transitions taking place at the school and timing her own farewell with the best interests of HarvardWestlake in her mind and heart,” Holthouse and Commons said in the email.

Starting July 1, 2017, Interim Head of the Upper School Liz Resnick will become associate head of school, and Commons will add the position head of school to his title as president. Huybrechts started her time at the school as a science teacher at Westlake in 1989, five weeks before the merger was announced. For the fifteen years following the merger, Huybrechts also held the positions of assistant ninth grade dean, assistant head of school for faculty affairs and head of the middle school, all while teaching at least one math or sicence class each year.

In 2006, Headmaster Thomas C. Hudnut decided to split his position into two parts, president and head of school. At this point, Hudnut assumed the title of president to focus on raising capital for the middle school renovation, and Huybrechts was named the first-ever head of school. “In the first years of this position, I was very focused on day-to-day operations at the school,” Huybrechts said. “The middle school head, the upper school head, the head of athletics and the director of studies all reported to me. That was my team, and I just

organized and led all of that work. I was the hub of all hiring decisions for faculty and I managed the school.” After several years of focusing on internal operations, Huybrechts then began to work on external relations. “Over time I began to take on some pet projects that potentially needed funding,” Huybrechts said. “I went to all the alumni and advancement events and pretty soon I was working with the advancement team to help them, and piloting projects so that I was not just the internal person, but • Continued on A3

Administration to restructure in July

By SAMMI HANDLER

After the retirement of Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts, the administration will restructure, with President Rick Commons adding the position of head of school to his title and Interim Head of School Liz Resnick taking on the role of associate head of school, overseeing more allschool responsibilities, effective in July. A new head of upper school is slated to be announced before Thanksgiving after a nationwide search and more

interviews with the final can- said in an email to parents, didates up for the position, students and alumni. Commons said. Commons and Resnick will “Thanks to the decide the division of administrative team leadership responsithat Jeanne has built bilities in the comand the smooth traning months, but her sition in the Presirole will be similar to dent’s office that she Huybrechts’ role of facilitated, we have managing the day-toan excellent succesday operations of the sion plan, which will school. ’ include a return to “[Commons] has Rick a more traditional a great vision for the Commons school leadership future, and I think structure,” Comwhat Ms. Resnick’s mons and Chair of the Board role will be exactly in the fuof Trustees Philip Holthouse ture is a little bit undecided,” NATHANSON S

Huybrechts said. “She knows what she wants to do and she’s a great person with a lot of experience, but her exact duties are yet to be determined.” After the merger of Harvard School for boys and Westlake School for girls in 1991, Headmaster Thomas C. Hudnut led the administration, which included a head of upper school and a head of middle school. Ten years ago, Hudnut became the school’s first president with Huybrechts as the school’s first head of school.

The faculty will begin to enforce the dress code more vigilantly, Interim Head of Upper School Liz Resnick announced in an email to students and parents last Wednesday, sparking controversy among some. Resnick said that as temperatures rose, the faculty felt that students were coming to school in clothes that were not dress-code appropriate. “I feel that it’s the job of

students to be professional in our environment and to be in compliance with this dress code, which has been on the books for years,” Resnick said. Resnick informed faculty of the change in a meeting, saying that if they feel a student is in violation of the dress code, they should tell that student to see Assistant to the Head of the Upper School Michelle Bracken. “If a student is on the quad and in violation of the dress code, we will ask them to cov-

er up,” Resnick said. “If they have a sweatshirt in their locker, that’s fine, and if they don’t have something, they don’t have to go buy something because we have clothing they can wear.” Some students feel that an emphasis on the dress code will inevitably affect female students more than their male peers. “I definitely feel like the dress code is more directed at girls, but at the same time I understand where the school

GIRLS’ GOLF: The girls’ golf team has gone undefeated and is prepared to finish the season strong.

• Continued on A2

Faculty to further enforce dress code policy By JEAN SANDERS

INSIDE

is coming from,” Haunani Bautista ’17 said. “All girls and guys should know what’s appropriate for school, but I’m a firm believer that if you feel confident in an outfit, you should wear it regardless of what other people think.” As of press time, the La Femme club was set to hold a town-hall meeting Tuesday afternoon to address the stricter enforcement of the dress code, which Resnick, Bracken and

• Continued on C1

ONLINE

QUAD TALK: Students share their opinions on the recent reinforcement of the school dress code.


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October 2016 Issue by The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle - Issuu