Head of School Larry Van Meter announced today the appointment of Kimberly Clarkson as Middle School Director, effective July 1:
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Kimberly Clarkson as Middle School Director, effective July 1, 2015. She succeeds Steve Shaffer, who will be returning to the classroom next year to teach English in the Middle and Upper School.
Kimberly is a seasoned educator with a broad range of experiences in independent schools. Since 2007, she has taught sixth grade social studies and math at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., where she has also served as the Middle School Diversity Coordinator and been an active member of the school’s Board of Trustees Diversity Advisory Group. Kimberly is currently the Sixth Grade Coordinator, leading a collaborative team of educators and managing the operational functions for the grade.
At Sidwell, Kimberly has earned a reputation for integrating service learning into the classroom, developing innovative pedagogy, and mastering the latest forms of educational technology. It is for these reasons that she was selected from among educators across the country as a 2014-2015 National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) Teacher of the Future. This honor has enabled her to collaborate with forward thinking educators across the U.S. to develop resources and guidance for schools to address the leading trends and issues in K-12 learning and teaching.
Kimberly has a B.A. in Psychology from Scripps College in Claremont, CA and an M.A. in Secondary Education from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Prior to Sidwell Friends, Kimberly taught Spanish and Pre-Algebra at Turning Point School in Culver City, CA. She also taught Spanish and Italian and was an assistant soccer coach at The Newport School in Kensington, MD.
Please join me in welcoming Kimberly Clarkson to the MFS community.