good feedback on his four years at the School
poured in the minute his retirement was announced
last September 11. "I've never had anything like it,"
he admits. "I had parents coming up to knock on
my office door, frankly, in tears, saying how
appreciative they were at what's been accomplished.
It's been really rewarding."
schools--hired as a "Mr. Fix-It" to take on the
challenge of righting a litany of problems at Saltus,
from mounting unpaid tuition fees ($1.3-million
in arrears) to faculty accountability, academic
standards and a lack of student discipline. From
Day One, he tackled such formidable issues with
persistence, refreshing candor, and the kind of
tough skin necessary to brave criticism that comes
with uncompromising methods.
resistant to his new regime, but also parents and
alumni as his vision for a better School began to
take shape. Among his chief successes, he says, are
the structural ones he engineered to secure the
School's future--the creation of a mission statement,
Senior Management Team; the appointment of a
certified Director of Finance; a renewed focus on
academics--with resulting soaring average exam
grades during his four-year tenure--a reduction of
cumbersome student numbers; an insistence on
student codes of conduct and community service;
recruitment of faculty "superstars" and performance-
based accountability; establishment of a dynamic
extra curricular schedule; better branding of Saltus
both on and off campus; and the restoration of an
almost-tangible School pride felt by Foundation
Year to visiting alumni.
thinks the journey the School has been on has been
amazing and they like where the School is today,"
says Board Chair Gil Tucker. "It's important to
know the changes Ted made were not easy to
make--in some cases, they were very controversial
and affected people's lives--but they had to be
made for the good of the School."
agrees former chair Will Cox. "To work alongside
an educational professional with the depth of
experience that Ted has, has been a rewarding
truly
transfor-
mative
Head--
he has
trans-
formed
Saltus.
I think
he will
become
one of the
most
significant
Heads
in the
School's
history'
A
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B