Dear Friends,
In October of 2001, in the ensuing smouldering darkness of 9/11, I had my first interview for the position of Principal (now the title is Head of School) of Friends Seminary. The city was still, quiet, and it was cloudy. After the interview, I asked the taxi driver to take me to 16th Street so I could see the School. As we turned the corner at Rutherford Place, I saw a wedding party spilling happily out of the Meetinghouse. There was Light in the darkness, and the next month I happily accepted the School’s offer to become Friends Seminary’s 35th Principal.
I’m writing to you now to share that I have informed the Board that next year will be my last at our beloved school. I will retire in June 2026 with the distinct honor of being Friends’ longest tenured head in its amazing 240-year history. It has been a very quick 23 years so far—what was to be a job turned into a life along the way, but now it is time for fresh beginnings.
Together, we’ve accomplished so much during this time: the Campus Redevelopment Project, a twenty-year endeavor, is now complete with the reimagining of the Annex as our new Math, Science and Technology facility. We embarked on this great adventure in 2004 when we centered the Library at the front door of Hunter Hall, a deliberate signifier of who we are as an academic institution, much like the Meetinghouse signifies our spiritual roots. The adventure then continued with adding two floors to Hunter Hall, restoring the facades of the three townhouses and behind them building a purpose-built, light-filled school building that will serve as a dynamic and flexible space for teaching and learning for many years to come. We then topped the new building with a play field, a greenhouse and the awe-inspiring “Leading,” a skyspace by Quaker artist James Turrell. It was a magical night to be with him when he gave his final approval of the installation.
I must take a moment at this juncture to thank the many Board members and Board Clerks who approved this adventure; they always asked “how,” “when,” and “where,” and appropriately so. But I don’t recall the Board ever telling me “no” to a request I really believed in. Thank you.
And to parents, friends of the School and Alumni who made this adventure possible, you have my deepest gratitude. I relished these opportunities to build a “schoolhouse,” and while it wasn’t always easy, my partner, advisor and friend, Sisi Kamal, our Chief Financial and Operating Officer, and I had a blast creating these new centers of learning. Our memories are a gift. I am so lucky to have landed at a school that values creativity, aesthetics and the centrality of the built environment as critical to the educational experience.
On the academic front, the addition of the Chapman Academic Center made it possible for all students to have equal access to tutorial support, regardless of financial means. The Center for Peace, Equity and Justice was established to make sure our Quaker values and history had a home that would ensure their primacy. We became the first independent school to offer a full-scale Arabic Language and Culture program. We have moved forward in the last two decades in too many ways to list, but I thank everyone involved in making things happen for our school.
I save for last what is the very best of Friends Seminary: its employees—both faculty and staff—and our joyful, determined, passionate, and curious students. You all illuminate our campus with your intelligence and commitment to the world of the mind and our Quaker values. I want to make the most of my time with you during my final year at Friends; your company is a rare and precious thing.
I was, I thought, destined to be a college professor, but I’m so glad that didn’t work out. I would have never heard a Kindergartener scream out “it’s the President!” when I walked into the room or had the joyful moments of awarding close to 2,000 diplomas, launching eager seniors into the world beyond Friends. “Keeping school,” as being a school administrator was called long ago, is at once an intimate and highly public job. It’s also a job that brings incredible satisfaction because a head of school can make things happen, and that has been my joy—helping Friends Seminary to be its very best, in all ways, from year to year to year. I’ve always done my best work when I’m at a place that I feel really needs me, where I can make a difference. This poem by Marge Piercy
“To Be of Use”, has guided my work, and its final line, “The pitcher cries for water to carry and a person for work that is real,” an inspiration.
I will relish the next 18 months with all of you as I complete my headship and the Board seeks your new leader. I don’t have plans post-Friends, but as Quakers say, I am sure “way will open.”
To all of you who have been part of my time at Friends, whether that be the assistant sitting outside my office or the once-a-year greeting at Back to School night of a parent, I offer my deepest gratitude. I will miss all of you, but know we will remain bound by our shared love of Friends Seminary.
My best,
Bo Lauder
Head of School
