Written By: Alexandra Steyn

School is in full swing, and to cap off the exciting changes this year, we have a new Upper School administration. Ms. Heath, the Assistant Upper School Principal for the past two years, has stepped up as Interim Principal, and Mr. Heintz has moved from 10th Grade Dean to Interim Assistant Principal. Ms. Heath and Mr. Heintz recently shared their hopes for the school year.

Ms. Heath has spent twenty years at RCDS in a variety of roles; she has served as an English teacher, as a dean of the 9th and 11th grades, and most recently, as Assistant Principal. She is the most qualified to step into this new role of Interim Principal, and she is already making important (though she is careful not to call them “big”) changes to the Upper School.

The most divisive change she has overseen is the shift to a stricter dress code. Her explanation for the new dress code derives from community standards and responsibilities. “What we’re doing is just enforcing more effectively the expectations that have been on the books for a while,” Ms. Heath said, referring to the Handbook’s guidelines. While the actual words relating to the dress code in the Handbook have largely remained the same, the enforcement of the dress code has increased. Whereas previously an “unfair system” existed due to the unequal enforcement of the dress code, according to Ms. Heath, the current level of enforcement creates an equitable environment and ensures people are held accountable to the community agreement.

Aside from the dress code, the other changes Ms. Heath hopes to enact are minimal but impactful. While she believes the Upper School already has an excellent academic program, she wants to include more opportunities for students to have fun. For example, she loved the introduction of the semi-formal in the fall and wants to find more events similar to that. “I think there are opportunities to be more engaged in the community,” she said, citing attendance at games and concerts. She described her vision for the Upper School as a “hub of activity” where everyone supports each other and shows up for each other.

However, this vision is complicated by her largest concern for the Upper School: Time. The Upper School offers so many programs and activities that there are simply not enough hours in the day for students to do everything they want to do. “Everyone is stretched pretty thin,” Ms. Heath observed, and with so many things happening every day, students cannot commit fully to everything at once. As a result, she added, people are not fully invested in the life of the school because they have to pick and choose what activities to dedicate their time to. She hopes to help reframe students’ approach to their time—instead of signing up for a multitude of time-consuming activities, students can purposefully commit more deeply to a few programs. In these situations, people are “guided by a real intention and a mission for what [they] want to produce.”

While Ms. Heath is disappointed she will not be teaching this year, she is excited to work with all aspects of the School in her new role. Her meetings with deans, program directors, and department chairs will give her new insight into the Upper School. She describes the Upper School as an orchestra: All the parts play together to create the school.

Throughout his twenty-five years at RCDS, Mr. Heintz has also fulfilled a variety of roles, including as a softball, ice hockey, and football coach; as the dean of two different grades; and as an English teacher. Suffice it to say, his past leadership experience prepares him well for this new role. Among his new responsibilities as Assistant Principal, Mr. Heintz must help plan Community Meeting, find substitute teachers, create and communicate special schedules, and help prepare the March Exams schedule. However, while many of his responsibilities are administrative, he is still focused on what he calls a “very simple motto”: Kids first. Although he will spend more of his time with faculty—he hopes to be “someone that the faculty sees as supportive and who helps them daily”—he still plans to work closely with students.

PACT is one way he can do so. PACT, or Partnership of Athletes, Coaches and Teachers, is a committee he founded with Ms. Summers, Mr. Leath, Mr. Tombline, and Mr. Halverson, among others. Through PACT, he can learn from student-athletes and thus make more informed decisions about the School with the knowledge of the policies’ impact on student-athletes’ lives.

Mr. Heintz’s major goal this year is to keep the Pinkham building in order. He hopes to ensure that the Upper School’s physical spaces are neater and more presentable, thereby making them a comfortable, usable space for everyone. This goal also relates to his largest concern for the Upper School: The lack of space. Almost every free space and classroom is occupied at all times, and often the Pinkham building cannot accommodate the sheer amount of people on a daily basis. “We have to be creative in how we deal with some of the challenges,” Mr. Heintz explained. He recalled his attempts to clean the building over the summer, when he combed through every classroom and recycled old projects and books. As the school year progresses, he will keep a strict eye on the appearance of classrooms and shared spaces.

Overall, Mr. Heintz is approaching this year with a positive mindset. He knows he will make mistakes and hear about them, but he also knows he will find his own systems and learn as he goes. And of course, he has someone to help him who was in his very same position one year ago: Ms. Heath.

Together, Ms. Heath and Mr. Heintz are prepared to lead. The conductors of the Upper School are ready.