30. John Lathrop

John Lathrop and Billy Peebles as John begins his tenure as Headmaster.

John Lathrop

“Disperse, ye rebels!” is one version of what Major John Pitcairn of the British Royal Marines shouted just before the “shot heard ‘round the world’” was fired at Lexington in 1775, a shot which began the American Revolution. There are historians who maintain that Pitcairn through his actions that April morning actually was responsible for the beginning of war. Still today, I understand that reenactors annually recreate the scene on the commons of Lexington, and before 1993 the reenactor who portrayed Major Pitcairn for some years was our own John Lathrop, who came to Powhatan at the beginning of the ’92 –’93 school year as our eighth Head of School. I can imagine that his clear, strong tenor rang across the common with Pitcairn’s historic challenge.

No one who knows John is surprised that he was at the center of an event so integral to the history of the founding of our nation. For years he was a history teacher and connected with several top-flight independent schools in New England where in addition to teaching he was part of the administration, including being an Admissions Director

and for The Fay School, Interim Head. His career may be described as one upon which fortune herself shined.

In the summer of ‘91 on Nantucket, where Lathrop’s family owns a home, John was visiting with his life-long family friend Beth Cook, Powhatan trustee, who mentioned to him that Billy Peebles had announced he was moving on and that Powhatan was looking for a new head. She asked if he would be interested. Lathrop was. He was engaged to be married and was then in the process of earning his Master of Education from Harvard University. During the next year John Lathrop visited the school several times. He and his new wife Sheila had a memorable and gracious stay with the Talleys, Lilburn and Nancy, a matchless Southern lady whose manners and advocacy of the school laid the foundation of a friendship John and Sheila were to treasure during their long tenure here. During the next visit the Lathrops stayed with old friends Beth and Peter Cook. While John was going through the final stages of his hiring, Beth, Sheila, and George Greenhalgh were house-hunting, narrowing the final choice to two. The Lathrops love the one they settled on in Chapel Estates, a wonderful home they still own.

It seems there is a Head tree involved with Powhatan where heads either come from schools up north (Mahaney, Niemann, Scarborough) or are from Virginia (Old, Peebles). John Lathrop came from New England and had experience at several fine schools including the Fay School where he had been Interim Head before returning to college (Harvard) to earn his masters. John said that he brought with him the best ideas and programs he had observed and experienced from schools at which he had taught. The standards he used for evaluating potential programs were twofold: what would be best for children and would adoption lead to the establishment of higher expectations. Occasionally someone would propose an idea which didn’t meet his muster and John would always reply, “We don’t do it that way here.” His goal was always to move the school forward while guarding the ‘magical’ character of the school.

Lathrop, always known for his easy humor and ready wit, characterized his beginning here as “my name was ‘Not Billy,’” referring to the very popular Head he had replaced, Billy Peebles. John quickly identified two priorities: promotion of Powhatan within the local

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community and increasing Powhatan’s recognition and impact within the VAIS (Virginia Association of Independent Schools). Throughout his tenure here he belonged to the Rotary Club and served on the Board of VAIS, with a term as its president. I had been the first regional member to serve on VAIS’s Professional Development Committee, a faculty assembly primarily charged with planning and executing VAIS’s vast annual conference, and I shared John’s observation that our state brethren were surprised by what we at Powhatan were doing, particularly the depth, breadth, and effectiveness of our programs. During his 19 years as Head John headed 18 Visiting Teams to other member schools for VAIS accreditation. I served on 11 during roughly the same time period. Just like the five- and ten-year self-studies VAIS schools are required to undertake for accreditation, a process which promotes intensive self-examination and reflection, Lathrop and I found every time we were on a Visiting Committee or part of a self-study, we learned valuable lessons from observing our sister institutions and identified many good programs and ideas we brought back and modified for Powhatan. An example would be the student Buddy System which I had observed at a VAIS parochial school near Fredericksburg. It was a great way for older students to pair up with younger students, whom they seem to love (generally), and to build the school community.

John Lathrop said that he spent the first two to three years getting his bearings. One of the first great issues he faced was the idea of Powhatan getting bigger, enlarging from around 150 to the around 245 students we are today. John and the board tackled the job vigorously. Growing the school would mean we would become more diverse, not just racially but economically and culturally too, appeal to a larger community, get more local student candidates into our school, and increase the social opportunities for our students. At first the expansion was contentious, particularly among our alums, but one who had been particularly vociferous returned after a few years and made a point of telling Lathrop that he had been right. As John put it, “She was very kind to tell me… She didn’t have to do it.” Of course, with expansion came the need for more room and the companion need for how to pay for it. Because we didn’t have the full funding at ground-breaking we didn’t finish the ground floor of Lee Hall until later, a fact John said was a mistake, “We should have borrowed the money and done it.” Later when constructing, the McIntosh Arts and Sciences Building

Powhatan undertook borrowing the funds they hadn’t yet raised to finish the project. John said that with the help of Powhatan community financial wizard Richard Farland, “we had the loan paid off before the building was finished.” John listed three major projects; the building of Lee Hall, the construction of the McIntosh Arts and Sciences Building, and the renovations of the Willey Wing and Lower School Wing; as building accomplishments during his time at Powhatan.

Once while he was leading a Visiting Committee to Alexandria Country Day School, John met a Greek Orthodox nun, Sister Elizabeth (later Mother Raphaela) Dalton, who was that school’s technology coordinator. The next year she called Lathrop (one of the biggest nonos of independent education is recruiting an active member of another school’s staff) asking him if our technology coordinator position was open. Because she had done so on her own initiative, John told her it was. Sister Elizabeth applied and got the job. Lathrop noted she came at the right time and quipped, “She at least dragged us into the 19th century.” For all intents and purposes Sister Elizabeth became the face and mastermind behind our computer program. John was concerned, however, to hire an employee who was so actively a part of her religious order and wondered how it would play in our ecumenical community. He sought the advice of one of our trustees who happened to be Jewish. He advised Lathrop to hire her, saying, “We believe in excellence, don’t we?”

John Lathrop loved Powhatan’s Graduation because of all the schools with which he was familiar, ours was the most clearly focused on the graduates. Starting with Peebles but enlarged and expanded with Lathrop and Scarborough, each student received a personal citation largely written from comments submitted at the end of the year by members of the faculty. John said that none were better with her comments than our legendary librarian, Anne Wheeler. Anne devoted a great deal of thought to her comments and was herself a great writer. Lathrop paused to share a thought, citing how on one of his first visits before he was hired, he was addressing the faculty and noticed that Anne was sitting with her arms crossed, wearing what he took to be a fierce aspect. He thought then, “I’ve lost her,” but added, “I could not have been more wrong.” Like us, John came to realize that Anne Wheeler was an unusually intense thinker.

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John noted that in every year in his 19-year tenure (Lathrop was the longest serving Head in Powhatan’s history) except one he taught a class. He took literally the title of Headmaster, particularly the ‘master’ part, which meant teacher. He said that that was really important to him and served as an example to the rest of the teaching staff. Lathrop had begun his career in education as a classroom history teacher. Many of the units we now use, particularly in eighth grade history, were developed or brought in from previous experience by John: economics, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and the Holocaust Museum field trip. His legacy is one of excellence and expansion of student horizons. He is still affecting students’ learning at Powhatan.

An integral post in any independent school is Business Manager. After a hiccup or two, John Lathrop hit gold in hiring Frances Rudacille, a woman of extraordinary talent and character. Frances became a beloved member of the Powhatan family after serving in a prior career as Financial Officer of Christendom College in Front Royal. Mrs. Rudacille was gifted with sifting through the budget, always generated by the Head, and suggesting economies or alternative approaches to purchases or projects. Frances was entirely frank and confidential, the perfect adjunct to a busy head. She was also great about taking on tasks and programs which can often escape spheres of responsibility in a small school. For instance, Frances took over the transportation department, handling bus maintenance, determining routes, hiring drivers, and establishing bus rosters. Frances continued and advanced the tradition of Business Managers at Powhatan balancing the budget. That fact of fiscal responsibility continues through the present day and makes Powhatan the envy of many of her sister schools and is an aspect of the school’s administration always receiving especial praise from Visiting Committees when they perform their accreditation visits. The same expectation of excellence that parents have for their children’s academics was and is fulfilled by Powhatan’s matchless stewardship of its financial resources.

John Lathrop had a special financial goal conceived when he arrived here. He wanted to achieve parity, as much as he could, in teachers’ salaries with local schools, no mean feat when comparing the resources of state and local governments to our much more specialized pool of client families and donors. Working closely with an enthusiastic

and supportive board, John came very close to his goal for all teachers in increasing salary and raising the funds for the commensurate increases in TIAA retirement contributions. Speaking for my colleagues, I know how appreciative we were of his efforts. Of course, the key for success with any independent school is the maintenance of enrollment, keeping the school as close to full enrollment as possible with the highest quality of candidate students. The key for that formula is to have everyone agree in your region that your school is the best there is. Happily, Powhatan has maintained that reputation. Another critical factor is your Admissions Director. When John arrived his Admissions Director was Carol Chapman, a full-time second grade teacher and superb spokesperson for the school. Of course, she could not leave the classroom to conduct tours, so much of that part of the process fell for Lathrop to do. Later, Clare Hammond, our then school counselor, took over admissions and did a great job. A significant part of John’s background had been in admissions so he was well versed with the foundation principles and strategies of successful admissions. The central precept is that everyone in your target area must agree you are the best. Another foundation is creating a cadre of younger sibs and alumni kids. John cited one of Powhatan’s current grades as an excellent example of that demographic. Two other strengths of Powhatan’s admissions program are the way we keep our grandparents involved and our Associate Board of Trustees as a dynamic part of our community.

An important part of that overall effort is seeing how Powhatan plays in the community. John discussed how his granddaughter, a recent graduate who enrolled in a local high school, had heard from her new friends their perceptions of Powhatan. As John related her findings, he noted that almost everything she heard was wrapped around a kernel of truth, but one of the most persistent bits of misinformation she heard was that Powhatan was a ‘wealthy’ school. Certainly some of our client families are wealthy, but neither Powhatan nor its larger community are wealthy. Powhatan is quite simply a fine liberal arts PK – 8 school which has its core curriculum centered around reading, writing, and thinking. It is an inclusive institution that seeks to serve its immediate and larger regional community, embodying its motto: Non scholae sed vitae discimus (We learn not for school but for life.)

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Mr. Lathrop had an opportunity to hire much of the expansion faculty and to replace much of its senior staff he’d inherited as that staff retired. Typically, John said, “I was lucky to get who I got.” But he focused on finding candidates who had experience with good schools who showed a strong education background. It’s what happened to these candidates after they were hired that John found to be exceptional. He ticked off the names of eight candidates who after hiring, in his opinion, surpassed their past careers and moved on to even higher levels of performance. He characterized it as, “It was as if once they were exposed to the everyday excellence we have here they elevated their performance, becoming even better than they had been when they were first hired.” Powhatan has that effect on nearly everyone who takes on a career here. He cited several teachers whom he regretted losing because they had to leave as their families relocated. He ended with discussing difficult personnel decisions and student retention decisions he had to make, underlining just how challenging a Head’s job really is.

One of the aspects of Powhatan’s identity John Lathrop personified was the community love of dogs. Powhatan’s love affair with canines began when Lydia Robbins’ pet Wicket, a spectacular German shepherd, figured out that she was just going across the road from his home at Scaleby to school. So every day for years Wicket climbed the fence, using the steps Mrs. Gilpin had built into the stone fence decades before for her grandchildren to walk to school. Wicket would time his arrival to be here when the first busses would pull in and wouldn’t leave until the last bus pulled out or athletic contest was finished. And during those days Wicket would bask in the attention every kid and every adult paid him. Happiness was Wicket being part of every school function. Wicket must have been a candidate for the highest oxytocin levels ever found in a dog because he was petted hundreds of times a day. Every kid loved him, and he loved every kid. When Wicket finally moved on, John Lathrop arrived with his equally chummy black lab Bingo, who quickly filled the void the friendliest of German shepherds had left. Bingo was a lovely, galumphing dog who had a deadly affinity for rubber playground balls. He just had to chase and ‘catch’ them, often with fatal effect. John paid a significant amount of dollars replacing playground balls that Bingo had caught. Mrs. Morgoglione brought her lap dog Saki. And the Lathrops

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added Rosie, a mixed terrier, and special friend of first grade teacher Jo Kelchner. Later, after Bingo passed on, the Lathrops added Gussie, a golden lab. Today, we are down to Clyde, Mrs. Hobbs’ dog. But for the last three decades, Powhatan kids and adults have had the healing presence of dogs to befriend and nurture them. It was a gift from Mother Nature and the Fates themselves, a spontaneous evolution that affirmed a gentler and kinder aspect of all of our – and their – natures.

John Lathrop became the longest serving Head in Powhatan’s rich history. He was a kind, talented man who had good fortune written all over him. Good-humored, John was the type of Head who made every day a joy for the students and staff who attended school. He led and implemented the doubling of the school in space and enrollment, creating an era which may only be styled as ‘golden.’

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