Academic Dean Initiatives

By ANNIE WERNERFELT ‘20

Milton’s deans are constantly evaluating the community in search of new initiatives to put into motion. This year, Heather Sugrue, the new Academic Dean, is beginning to form her plans for the coming years, and her points of emphasis are informed by her previous role as Chair of the Mathematics Department. Jackie Bonenfant, in her role as Dean of Academic Initiatives, is also looking ahead to the new year in hopes of beginning her long-term goals. So, you may be wondering, what do these big initiatives entail?

Ms. Bonenfant, having stepped out of the role of Academic Dean in order to focus her energy on larger-scale issues and goals, is already crafting her plans for the future. The Upper School is currently reviewing the daily and weekly schedule as well as the calendar. Ms. Bonenfant says that “we’ve had the same academic schedule since 2005, and it’s time to take a look and determine if we have the right configuration for the best experience and outcomes.” She says that the deans are also considering a “May Term”, which would include “a change in semesters, where first semester would be September to December, second semester would be January through the beginning of May” and then a “May Term.” This May Term allows seniors to do projects, as usual, and for “all other students to engage in new learning opportunities.” She also is evaluating the many travel abroad opportunities that Milton offers, such as Foreign Exchanges or the Chamber Singers Spring Break Trip, and making sure that the “policies and procedures are in line with our educational goals and priorities.”

While Ms. Bonenfant is working on these projects, Ms. Sugrue is settling into her new role as the new Academic Dean. A big part of her job is meeting with students one-on-one and helping to build support structures around students who might be struggling. She says, “I’ve been at Milton for a long time and so there are some things I have personal energy or excitement about.” One of the initiatives she’s made some progress on so far is working with Ms. Singh, the Dean of Teaching and Learning, and the Department Chairs to think about how to better support them in their work. She also says that detention remains a challenge. She wants to avoid people “ending up with hundreds of hours of detention by the end of the year” and thinks that the answer to the question may lie in “the structures and the rules that we’re putting in place. She wants to do some work, ideally this semester, to track assembly lates versus cuts in a way that “encourages people to get to assembly even if they get there late.” Ms. Sugrue acknowledges that traffic and other things besides oversleeping and not wanting to get out of bed can get in the way of being on time. 

A plan that has already been accomplished is the change in the exam week schedule. The student body seems to be largely divided on whether or not they support December exams because of the many factors that go into it. Many students had concerns regarding the change, and while Ms. Sugrue agrees that the current schedule is “definitely not perfect by a long stretch,” she also presents many compelling reasons for the faculty’s decision. She points out that “December has often been a brutal time for students because every teacher wants one more big thing before break.” Ms. Sugrue is hopeful that placing exams during that time will reduce its hecticness by having classes’ main focus be exams instead of fitting in projects. Another benefit to an earlier exam week in her opinion is the opportunities that will be opened up in January. Last year, when all exams had to be fit into a 4-day period, many restrictions were put on teachers around what they could do with the week prior. Because the exams were so condensed, teachers had more review days to commit to without any other major assessments. The whole month ended up being swallowed by exam preparation. Ms. Sugrue says that, “in terms of class days where you can learn new things and explore in the way we all want to in our classroom, we, best case scenario, had five or six of those. It feels really exciting to me to reclaim that time and, in partnership with putting some structure on December, we’re putting some structures in place that protect students a little better.” 

Beyond this year, Ms. Sugrue is also looking at ways to support the growth of a “vibrant adult community” and hopes to “encourage faculty to come and join the community because of all they can gain as professional educators in this community.” She says that faculty support “is an area of interest for me, partly because of my coming from the department chair role, and it’s a place where I’ve seen opportunities for growth and change.” A lot of the work from Milton’s deans goes largely unnoticed, but their work is crucial to the success of the school. We look forward to seeing these upcoming changes in action.