Bosland Named Interim Head of School for '19-'20

Susan C. Bosland, the former head of Kent Place School, will serve as interim Head of National Cathedral School for the 2019-2020 school year, Governing Board Chair Alice Hill '74 announced Thursday.

 

"Sue is an ideal choice to succeed Kathleen O'Neill Jamieson" as NCS head, Hill wrote in a letter to NCS alumnae, parents, faculty, staff, and students. She called Bosland "a visionary, inspiring leader," adding, "By fostering collaboration and building coalitions to achieve long-term goals, she created an extraordinary record of accomplishment" at Kent Place, a girls' school serving grades K-12 in Summit, N.J.

 

Bosland will take over for Jamieson as Head of School in July, and she will continue in that role through June 30, 2020. At that point, Bosland will be succeeded by a permanent Head of School, the school's 11th; NCS is engaged in a national search now for that educator.

 

Bosland was identified for the interim head position through a search that began in November. A search committee made up of Governing Board members, parents, alumnae, faculty, and staff recommended her, and the Board and PECF Board of Trustees approved her nomination in recent days, Hill wrote.

 

Bosland led Kent Place School for 18 years before stepping down at the end of the 2016-2017 school year. That concluded a tenure of 27 years at KPS in which she also served as head of the middle and primary schools. She previously taught science at Newark Academy in Livingston, N.J., where she also led the middle school, and Kingswood/Cranbrook School in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

 

Currently, Bosland is a partner at the executive search firm Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates, focusing on independent schools. Hill said Bosland will take a leave of absence from that position to join NCS.

 

In introducing Bosland to NCS faculty and staff on Thursday afternoon, Hill described the appointment as "a wonderful, happy alignment of her interests and our interests."

 

Bosland echoed that in brief remarks. When she was approached about the interim post, she said, "For the first time, I'm not saying no. Your school is mission-driven, I cherish girls' schools, it's academically and programmatically superb, it's child-centered, it's Episcopal — all of this was aligning in a way that felt almost like a calling."

 

"I've known Kathy [Jamieson] for a long, long time, and I'm delighted to be working with her for a smooth transition," Bosland added. "I truly, truly look forward to the work we will do."

 

Hill noted in her letter that Bosland "has been an important voice in promoting independent schools, and particularly girls’ education." Bosland has served on the boards of the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools, the Heads Network, the Head Mistresses Association of the East, and the New Jersey Association of Independent Schools.