Erin McCarthy ’13: Geoffrey Wagg, who has served as Head of the Upper School for ten years, recently announced that he will be leaving at the end of this academic year. Beginning July 1st, he will serve as Head of the Waynflete School, an independent school in Portland, Maine. This 2012-2013 school year also marks the last for L. Hamilton Clark, who has served as Episcopal’s Head of School for eleven years.
Wagg formally announced his future endeavor in an email to parents on October 15th. He wrote, “[the Head of School position at the Waynflete School] is a terrific opportunity for me and my family, but it is not without a sense of sadness at leaving a school that has been my home for almost ten years.”
When Scholium sat down with Wagg to discuss his upcoming departure, he told us that he had been thinking about moving on to a new position since June of last year, when the six-month hiring process for Heads of School typically begins.
While Wagg did not pursue the opening for Head of School at Episcopal, he did apply for Head of School positions at four other schools: the nearby Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia (where Wagg was a finalist), the Menlo School in Atherton, California, the Cary School in Cary, North Carolina, and the Waynflete School.
When asked why he ultimately chose the Waynflete School, Wagg laughed, “Well, one, they picked me.”
The Waynflete School was appealing to Wagg for many reasons.
He noted,“I grew up in Montreal which is a neighbor to Maine, and I love the city of Portland.”
Wagg also was impressed by the school itself, explaining “It really seemed like a fabulous place. It has 550 students, 3 year-olds through 12th graders. It’s small, the size of the Upper School basically.”
“I feel like that’s a great size if I’m going to start being a Head of School,” he enthused. “Pick a school in a great location that’s doing a great job that has great students and faculty and that’s what I found there.”
As Head of School, Wagg’s responsibilities will include working with the Board of Trustees, fundraising, and connecting with alumni.
Wagg explained, “It’s one of these things where ‘alright, I’ve done this job for ten years. It’s been great. What’s my next challenge?’ And for people in my line of work [becoming a Head of School] is really the next challenge.”
When asked whether he would be teaching at the Waynflete School (Wagg currently teaches a senior AP Government and Politics class at Episcopal), he lamented, “Not initially, unfortunately.”
“I would love to [teach] because that’s my favorite part of my day now,” Wagg stated, “[Next year] it’s just impractical. But I hope in a couple years, once things settle down, I’ll be able to [teach].”
In an email to parents, Clark ensured that he, along with next year’s Head of School T.J. Locke, “will immediately formulate a plan to replace [Wagg].”
Wagg was unsure how involved he would be in this selection process.
“I don’t get to choose my replacement because that wouldn’t be appropriate,” he explained, “but I have some insights into the opportunities and challenges in this role and hopefully I’ll get to share that with the candidates.”
Wagg could not comment on whether he believed his replacement should be a candidate from within Episcopal or someone from the outside.
He pointed out, “If I said just in-house, I wouldn’t have gotten the job ten years ago if that were the case.”
According to Clark, “Form Deans, the Mastership program, the planning and move to the Newtown Square campus, the community garden, and Folio are all initiatives that Geoff [Wagg] was intimately involved in” during Wagg’s ten year tenure.
When asked to pinpoint the most rewarding parts of his job as Head of Upper School, Wagg automatically replied, “I love the students here.”
“I think my colleagues on the faculty are second to none in terms of how good they are,” he continued, “and I’ve had the opportunity to grow. I’m much better at my work now then I was when I started ten years ago and the idea that you work in a place that helps you be better at what you do has been amazing.”
“This is a real school,” articulated Wagg. “Not just for the students who are here. We all [students and faculty alike] get a chance to grow and learn.”
Over the past decade, the most important lesson he has learned has been “the importance of relationships, that as a leader of an organization the quality of your relationships with the people you work with matters most.”
Despite the rewards, Wagg noted that the most difficult part of his job has been the immensity of “sadness and tragedy at this place.”
He elaborated, “You think about Mr. Mandeville and others we’ve lost here. It’s that human sadness in a community [that is most difficult]”
However, Wagg emphasized that the difficult times have shown that the school “is a pretty resilient place and we take care of each other.”
Reflecting back on the past ten years, he commented, “I will never forget standing across the field at St. Joe’s University watching the girls play the first soccer and field hockey games against Agnes Irwin when we brought them into the Haverford/Agnes Irwin weekend. Just to see these girls have seven hundred cheering fans for the first time is one of my favorite memories.”
His other favorite memory is “watching the trolls [English teachers Chris Mcreary and Sam Willis, religion teacher Christopher Row, and librarian Terry Meyer] on the Amazing Race.”
When asked what legacy he would like to leave behind, Wagg replied, “I hope that people find that the Upper School is stronger than when I got here. I hope that the faculty has felt supported and able to grow. And I hope that the place is a little more fun and a little friendlier [than it was ten years ago].”
He advised the next Head of Upper School to “make connections with people fast, and make sure you find ways to enjoy yourself.”
“Oh,” he interjected, “and teach a class.”

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