Lilly Smallenski ’27
Anna Strong ’09
In a stunning reversal of nearly 240 years of exclusively hiring adults for teaching positions, Episcopal Academy announced that the pre-kindergarten children of current Upper School faculty would be taking over their jobs for the remainder of the academic year.
“It was a no-brainer,” said Head of Upper School Mike Letts. “These kids are more mature than their parents.”
Zach Richards, V Form Dean, Religion department teacher, and varsity track and field coach, was among the first to notice that his younger son, Nico Richards ’38, might be angling to take his father’s jobs. He reported that Nico suddenly began taking on more responsibilities at home and requesting coffee at breakfast.
“I knew Nico was after my job when he set up a sticker chart for household chores and called it a ‘performance evaluation,’” Richards said. “At this rate, I should probably start taking notes from him.”
The Religion department suffered a second blow to its ranks when the department chair, Mike Sheehan ’04, discovered his daughter Winnie Sheehan ’38 leading a seminar discussion of his students in the library. The conversation was so robust, according to students seated at the table with the young scholar, that none of them even noticed their former teacher when he first approached their table.
“We tried to raise Winnie to be curious about the world and the people in it — I just didn’t anticipate her to use that to take over my job!” Sheehan said, as he began to clear his desk to make way for his daughter’s books.
The English Department is also set to lose two of its faculty to Pre-K instructors. What Tony Herman believed was a fun opportunity to invite his daughter, Isla Herman ’38 into his classroom actually turned out to be her teaching demonstration. Not only did she have a reading quiz prepared for his students, she is also trained in both classical and contemporary pedagogical strategies.
“When Isla produced a 35 question reading quiz, I knew I just couldn’t compete. She was also born to do Socratic seminars and lead Harkness discussions. I put my resume in at the local 7/11 because I just know she’s a much better teacher — I better start looking elsewhere,” Herman said.
While he has elected to leave his family photographs and past student work up at his desk, so Isla has something “to remember him by,” Isla has wasted no time overhauling the Honors American Literature curriculum and immediately assigned an essay rewrite to Herman’s III Form students.
Anna Safford ’09, another member of the English Department and faculty co-advisor to the Scholium, also regrets inviting her daughter Sylvie Safford ’38 into her office. She believed Sylvie was merely drawing at her desk, but as she learned later, the four-year-old was meticulously plotting a complete takeover of her World Literature course. Safford could only shrug in resignation when asked about her daughter’s obvious strengths as a teacher.
“Sylvie has a totally pure love of reading and an ability to see the big picture of a story, where I can tend to get bogged down in the details. I also think that she would only assign books with pictures, which I’m sure would be more engaging for students,” Safford said. That said, she might be a tough grader, because she’s still learning how to write the letter A.”
Even the STEM subjects are not immune to the Pre-K incursion.
Ashley O’Connor, a member of the Mathematics Department, was thrilled to learn that her daughter Cece O’Connor ’38 would be taking over her Calculus and Algebra courses. Besides her clear command of advanced mathematics concepts at the age of five, O’Connor reported, “Her energy, creativity and love for crafts was something my students needed!”
The VI Form should also prepare themselves for a profound change in their class leadership. While Max Kelly ’06 has steered the Class of 2025 for nearly their entire time in Upper School, his daughter Olivia Kelly ’38 is an obvious upgrade at the position, a fact that Kelly himself acknowledged. She will be taking over both as VI Form Dean and she will take on Kelly’s Modern History courses as well.
“Olivia excels at kindly reminding kids to sign in each morning with a warm smile, and her engaging sense of humor during class often surpasses her father’s, keeping students connected to the material.”
Kelly is, however, expected to remain on as the head coach of the boys’ water polo team, as Olivia is not yet certified as a lifeguard. “It’s only a matter of time, though,” Kelly added, “She’s already a better swimmer than I ever was.”
The staffing changes even extend to the College Counseling office and to Episcopal’s mental health professionals. Senior Associate Director of College Counseling, Jade Johnson, was surprised to find her son Noah Johnson ’38 seated in her office taking meetings with students one afternoon. Nevertheless, she believes her son is uniquely suited to the position and has high hopes for how he will successfully steward EA students through their college journeys.
“Noah would make a better college counselor than me because he believes superheroes are taking over the world any day now and will give out far more candy and juice boxes than I ever will!” Johnson said.
Finally, students who have grown fond of Caroline Graham’s kindness and rely on her capabilities as a mental health professional will soon be greeted in her cozy office by what is, by all accounts, the best smile on campus, belonging to her five-year-old son Teddy Loughran ’38. “With dimples like that, Graham said, “Who wouldn’t want to open up to him? I’m toast!”
Like many of her fellow faculty and staff, Graham had an inkling that Teddy was interested in his mother’s position.
“He’s fascinated by the cafeteria, so I know he’ll build rapport with students by asking them about Upper School lunch,” Graham continued. “And as long as the candy jar is stocked and students are prepared to share their snacks with him, he’ll be great.”