Upper School Director Matt Glendinning Named Head of School at Moses Brown School (RI)

Moorestown Friends School E-News - November 26, 2008

Future First Family Chooses a Friends School

"The choice makes sense at a philosophical level ... because of how Quakers view the challenge of shaping children into socially responsible and spiritually aware adults." --Time Magazine, November 22, 2008

Moorestown Friends School celebrates the Obama family's decision to send their daughters to Sidwell Friends School, one of nineteen Preschool - Grade 12 Friends schools in the United States. Barack and Michelle Obama's educational choice for their daughters is a profound endorsement of the values-centered education provided at Quaker schools.

The future first family's decision has generated many stories in the media that have brought attention to Friends schools. Below are two articles that describe the Obamas' decision and the links to the history and values of Quaker education. Moorestown Friends School is one of the nation's oldest Quaker schools, founded in 1785.

Why Sasha and Malia Will Go to Sidwell Friends

Time Magazine

Why the Obamas Chose Sidwell
Op-Ed piece written by Irene McHenry, Executive Director, Friends Council on Education

Message from Head of School Larry Van Meter:
Upper School Director Matt Glenndinning
Named Head of School at Moses Brown School (RI)

I am both pleased and sad to report to you that Matt Glendinning has accepted the headship of Moses Brown School, a Friends school in Providence, RI, effective July 1, 2009. Matt arrived at MFS with glowing credentials in 2004 and made a significant positive impact on students, faculty and staff during his tenure. Just a few of Matt's accomplishments:

• Clerked the committee that developed the Upper School Honors Program, which included expanding AP courses offered from 6 to 14.
• Managed the transition from a 5-day to a 6-day academic schedule, and from trimesters to semesters.
• Greatly enhanced the minors program to make it a more integral part of the Upper School curriculum.

Matt is a summa cum laude graduate of Dartmouth and also has a doctorate from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He was program director for the Cambridge Prep Experience in England, a recipient of the NAIS Edward E. Ford Fellowship for Emerging Leaders and held a Fulbright Fellowship in Greece. He came to MFS from Germantown Friends School, where he chaired the history department.

Moses Brown is much like MFS.  It is a Preschool - Grade 12, 790-student, coed, Friends day school that enjoys, as we do, a preeminent position among area schools.  As the Moses Brown board chair wrote in a letter to his school community, “Even among the pool of candidates—all outstanding leaders—Matt became the clear and consistent choice for Moses Brown, and the Board of Overseers is thrilled that he will be the next great leader of our historic school.”

We wish Matt and his wife Katherine all the best as they begin this new and exciting adventure next year. 

After the holiday weekend, a search will commence for Matt's replacement. I am very confident that this search will attract a highly qualified applicant pool. We will keep the school community updated on the search process in the coming months.

I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

Larry Van Meter '68, Head of School