School Leadership

Photo: Kindergarten student journaling

Administrative Leadership Team

Head of School
Serena Gifford
serena.gifford@towerschool.org

Associate Head of School, CFO 
Dean Sidell
dean.sidell@towerschool.org

Director of Development
Jessie Achterhof
jessie.achterhof@towerschool.org

Head of Lower School
Liz Buchan
liz.buchan@towerschool.org

Head of Upper School
Ryan Buckley
ryan.buckley@towerschool.org

Director of Marketing & Communication
Stephanie Curtis
stephanie.curtis@towerschool.org

Director of Enrollment Management & Secondary School Placement
Mary Dailey
mary.dailey@towerschool.org

Director of Admission
Reagan Kenwell
reagan.kenwell@towerschool.org

 

Board of Trustees

photo of Tower's Board of Trustees 2019 2020 in the backyard

Tower School is governed by an independent and self-sustaining Board of Trustees. The Board ensures that the school's mission is relevant and vital to the Tower community, and it monitors the success of the school in fulfilling its mission.

The Board seeks members who represent the diversity of the school community and who contribute a particular expertise that will serve the school. Board members are distinguished by their commitment to Tower and their care for the mission of the school. Membership is determined by vote of the board according to the school's by-laws. Board members serve three-year terms.

Trustee Bios

AISNE 2019 Governance Conference

Trustees attended the annual AISNE Governance Conference with Dean Sidell, Jessie Achterhof and Serena Wilkie Gifford. Discussions were broad reaching and strategic. Many sessions centered on the fundamental practices effective boards use to support school leaders, steward the school mission and strengthen school communities. Included were conversations surrounding three levels of governance of effective boards: fiduciary, strategic and generative, and how they underpin the work of mission-driven strategy. 

For a full overview, click the AISNE Conference link above.  

AISNE's Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity Conference

Allison Juves, Ruth Du Moulin, Leila Blodgett and Angela Munro ’91 of our parent Diversity Equity and Inclusivity Committee attended AISNE's 2019 Diversity, Equity and Inclusivity Conference. This excerpt is taken from one speaker's intro:

“Embracing diversity and inclusion in education requires a pedagogical commitment to difference. This commitment demands we transcend race and difference to build relationships and view each other as an unlimited resource. We must infuse empathy into how we relate as global citizens and be willing to relearn the limits we place on others because of the way they look, act, believe, think or live.

Diversity practitioners at independent schools are charged with actively engaging in comprehensive, encompassing and relevant initiatives presenting diversity and inclusion as extensions of the school’s sustained identity of excellence in education.”