Hyde School Consolidation Chronicle #4

Consolidation Chronicle #4

The Final Update on an Educational Coming Together

by Malcolm Gauld ’72, President & CEO October 2017

This is the fourth and final issue in a series of newsletters intended to inform the extended Hyde community of our progress regarding our plans to consolidate Hyde’s two boarding campuses – effective September 2017 – into a single campus at Bath, Maine, where Hyde first set out on its mission of family-based character education in 1966. It is the final issue because the Consolidation has happened. We are one.

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Key Developments Since Consolidation Chronicle #3 - Letter from Nancy Lund, Chair of the Board of Governors, on Leadership Transitions - The Closing – June 15, 2017 - Welcome to The Pack - Hyde Mascot: The Wolfpack - Pep Rally Kicks off Athletic Season - (Not) Another Brick in the Wall - Getting up to S.T.E.A.M. - Hyde Named #1 Boarding School in Maine - Comments from Faculty Members Making the Switch from CT to ME The Wolf by Night

Our beautiful bronze wolf has migrated north, from Woodstock to Bath. By day, it inspires our athletes and coaches en route to The Joe (our gym). By night, it lights the way.

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Key Developments Since Consolidation Chronicle #3

Letter from Nancy Lund, Chair of the Board of Governors, on Leadership Transitions Dear Hyde Community, Hyde’s second 50 years is off to an exciting start. Shortly after the uplifting Hyde @ 50 celebration in June of 2016, we entered into an agreement with Woodstock Academy for the sale and purchase of our Connecticut campus, home to Hyde-Woodstock for 20 years. Much of last year was spent in negotiations and planning for the consolidation of our boarding campuses into a single campus at Bath.

Now we are on the other side of that consolidation. Both Hyde and Woodstock Academy are better schools as a result of these efforts and look forward to a longstanding supportive relationship of mutual respect. As we look to the future, we are also excited to announce some significant changes in Hyde’s senior leadership roles.

Effective January 2018, Laura Gauld ’76 will assume the position of President and CEO of Hyde School. Laura’s engagement with Hyde began in her teens when she was one of five siblings in her family to graduate from Hyde. Married to a Hyde graduate and mother to two more, she has been on Hyde’s faculty and administrative team for 37 years. Prior to serving as Head of School at both Bath and Woodstock, Laura served in a variety of roles including Dean of Students and Director of the Family Learning Center. Her work with Hyde parents led her to co-author The Biggest Job We’ll Ever Have (Scribner, 2002) with husband Malcolm Gauld ’72.

Laura and Malcolm have since conducted scores of Biggest Job workshops across the United States as well as in Europe and Asia. A graduate of the University of Southern Maine with a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University, Laura has been Executive Director of Hyde Schools for the past 10 years.

Regarding her leadership transition, Laura said, “Hyde School changed my life many years ago. I was a 15-year-old student who looked like a winner but didn’t feel like one. Hyde helped me develop the confidence necessary to pursue high expectations. Beyond my own experience, I stand grateful for the Hyde education that our children received. I am excited and honored to work with the team to bring Hyde into the future. Character development and family transformation will always remain at the core of the Hyde experience along with our groundbreaking Inner Leadership curriculum.”

After serving 30 years as Headmaster and/or President of Hyde, Malcolm Gauld ’72 is stepping aside as Hyde’s CEO to undertake a new role as Executive Chairman. His 40-year tenure has included time spent as teacher, coach, administrator, Head of School, and President. Among his many accomplishments, perhaps the most critical has been his stewardship in transforming the Hyde vision into a sustainable model that changes lives and inspires communities. His work as Executive Chairman will focus on external relations, engaging Hyde’s 7,000 (and growing) constituents in working toward strategic objectives while also exploring ways to extend the

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Hyde opportunity into new communities with new partners and kindred spirits. Malcolm received his B.A. in history from Bowdoin College, his Master’s Degree in Education from Harvard University, and he was a Klingenstein Fellow at Teacher’s College, Columbia University. While he began teaching and coaching at Hyde in 1977, he likes to put his official start date as 1966 (Hyde’s first year), when, at age 12, he washed pots and pans in the Hyde kitchen and mowed lawns for the Maintenance Department.

When asked to describe his new role, Malcolm said, “Hyde’s original brochure touted a ‘Challenge to the Underachiever.’ That certainly described my circumstances when I arrived on the Mansion front steps as a freshman in 1968. Ever since then, Hyde’s Five Words have represented the True North of my moral compass. It has been both a pleasure and an honor to work with the thousands of kids and families who have passed through our doors during the past 40 years. I look forward to working with some of these same people to create more Hyde opportunities for more people in more places.”

Joining Laura and Malcolm, Hyde is fortunate to have a world class team combining veteran Hyde faculty members with new talent from the educational community. We are extremely excited about our future growth opportunities as we continue our mission of being the world class leader in family-based character education.

Sincerely,

Nancy B. Lund Chair of the Board of Governors

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The Closing - June 15, 2017 June 15, the legal closing date for the sale of the Woodstock campus to Woodstock Academy, basically came and went without incident. As was true throughout the past year, Hyde and Woodstock Academy worked together to ensure a seamless and productive transition for the students and faculty of both schools. Hyde moved out prior to the closing, Woodstock Academy then moved in and has assumed full use of the facility as I write. Both schools look forward to a future relationship of mutual respect and support.

Welcome to The Pack!

As always happens at the beginning of a new school year, students returned in waves. This year, the seniors were the first to arrive. Upon ascending the Mansion front steps, they were greeted by this message:

This simple sign was a great tone-setter for the beginning of the new school year as well as a warm welcome to those students making the transfer from CT to ME. Regarding that transfer, we received this note from the mother of a son who has made that move: Hi Laura - I wanted to let you know how happy I was to feel the energy on campus on senior registration day. We felt like we were home and could feel the excitement of starting the new year at the Bath campus as one Hyde community. I spoke with our son this week and simply asked how it was going. His response surprised me. He eloquently articulated, "We lived Hyde on the Woodstock campus but having Joe [Gauld] here every day, walking around talking to everyone about the school, its beginnings, and just stuff in general‌ Well, this is Hyde. The founder is here every day." I was thoroughly impressed with his response and so excited for him! Looking forward to a great senior year. Talk to you soon, Current Hyde Mom A week later, our teams completed preseason athletics as a Pack‌ a Wolfpack!

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Hyde Mascot: The Wolfpack

During our 21st and final Commencement and Alumni Weekend at Woodstock over Memorial Day Weekend, we announced that the Hyde mascot would transition from the Phoenix to the Wolfpack. Here’s a link to my explanation of why: http://www.hyde.edu/blog/malcolms-blog/go-wolfpack/ Pep Rally Kicks off Athletic Season On September 22, we staged a school-wide pep rally to formally introduce the Wolf and get our teams psyched for the fall sports season. The event was both fun and galvanizing. One of the fun parts was a sumo wrestling match between new (and engaged to be wed!) faculty members Nick Cicirelli and Alisha Valente. (Might this have a place in future FLCs?)

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Some local newspapers covered the event. Here are the links to two articles: Coastal Journal: http://www.coastaljournal.com/2017/09/22/hyde-school-welcomes-woodstockstudents-faculty/ Times Record: http://www.timesrecord.com/news/2017-0925/Front_Page/Hyde_School_celebrates_campus_unity.html (Not) Another Brick in the Wall When returning students turned off High Street and onto Campus Drive, they were greeted by a new look. (Interestingly enough, a few noticed that something was different but couldn’t put their fingers on exactly what.) Hint: While our country is currently embroiled in debates about putting up a big wall, we decided to take ours down. Here’s a newspaper article about it: http://www.coastaljournal.com/2017/08/17/no-keep-hyde-school-opens-community-newlandscaping-project/ Given that this wall has been part of the Bath landscape for more than a century, we were not sure how the change would be received. By a wide majority, it has been given a “thumbs up” all across the board. As one local citizen observed, “I was never quite sure if that wall was meant to keep people out or keep them in. The change opens up the campus for all to see and reveals the beauty of the Mansion.”

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Before:

After:

Getting up to S.T.E.A.M. Thanks to a generous gift from a 1998 alumnus, our STEAM (Science-Technology-EngineeringArts-Mathematics) learning program took a big leap this fall with the acquisition of three 3-D printers (See photo). Program leader Donna Dubinsky ’81 has since set up two STEAM labs and the 3-D printers are in regular use.

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Hyde Named #1 Boarding School in Maine At the beginning of the year, an organization called niche.com surprised us with the announcement that they have named Hyde the #1 boarding school in Maine. While we might acknowledge that we have always believed this… … we had never heard of niche.com, to say nothing of their ratings practices. To be honest, we’re not exactly sure what to make of this announcement. Maybe it’s best to leave it at a popular commercial from my youth: “We don’t know, but we must be doing something right.” Here’s the link to a piece on the subject: http://www.hyde.edu/blog/hyde_school_blog/hyde-ranked-1-best-boarding-high-school-inmaine/

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Comments from Faculty Members Making the Switch from CT to ME As reported in Chronicle #3, ten faculty members have made the transfer from Woodstock north to Bath. (Fun Fact: Half of these are either alums or worked at Bath prior to their Woodstock tenure.) As we went to press, I asked them how they feel the consolidation is going. Here are some of their comments:

“A student in my discovery group called his mom after the school meeting when Joe Gauld gave a brief history of the school and he said, "Woodstock was Hyde but I just got to hear the founder speak." – Pam Bertschy ‘81

“If you go into the cafeteria, you will NOT see groups segregated by Woodstock/Bath. Every table is a mix. This has been the case almost from the start. We are one Hyde.” – Sean Condon

“It feels like the solid Woodstock kids with positive attitudes have mixed well with the same kind from Bath and the 10-15% of tough attitudes have been diluted or are changing to be more positive.” – Peter Gregory ‘89

“The campus is beautiful and the facilities are generally higher quality which has been wonderful. We love our apartment and the kids seem to really enjoy the dorm spaces and lounges. It is great for building community. Also, the XC team is more than twice as large (as my team in Woodstock) so we're pretty competitive this season!” – Jacob Sargent

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“Overall I have seen positive/ normal interactions with students from both campuses. Having both new students and faculty blending with Bath & Woodstock folks has created a dynamic community where the focus doesn't seem to be on consolidation. We all have so much to offer each other and it feels like a more positive community… Both campuses are beautiful in their own ways - from physical plant to the people in the community. The consolidation has been a big adjustment and things are different, but it's still Hyde and I still believe in what I am doing here.” – Trish Uber So there you have it. In conclusion, there’s really only one word to say…

Onward,

Malcolm Gauld ‘72 President

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