Roeper School Names New Head of School

The Roeper School is now under new leadership, announcing Monday that David Feldman will be the new head of school, effective July 1, 2012.

Feldman comes to Roeper from the Greta Berman Arbetter Kazoo School in Kalamazoo, where he currently serves as head of school.

Roeper has been searching for a new head of school since to head up the Latin School in Chicago. — a co-educational, K-12 private school for gifted and talented students — since September. The school has campuses in and and is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year.

Roeper's head of school oversees the entire school system; directors at the lower and middle/upper school campuses direct daily activities at each location.

Roeper board chair Steve Milbeck said Feldman's selection came at the conclusion of an extensive national search, and was unanimously supported by the school's Board of Trustees.

"We were fortunate to have a number of highly-qualified candidates who were drawn to Roeper's rigorous academic environment, its mission of serving the unique needs of gifted children, and its vision of a genuine personalized education," Milbeck said in a press release.

"David brings an exceptional range of administrative and teaching experience to Roeper," he added. "The search committee and the board were impressed by David's experience, collaborative approach, vision and the enthusiasm he has for Roeper's philosophy and misson."

School co-founder Annemarie Roeper, who helped found the school in 1941 with her husband George, said she's looking forward to seeing what Feldman can do.

"I felt a very profound agreement in David's way of working with children and his belief in cooperative decision-making," she said. "I am looking forward to his leadership at Roeper with great confidence and with excitement for the new chapter in the life of Roeper."

Feldman has been head of the Arbetter-Kazoo School since 2007. Before that, he served as head of the Foote Schol in New Haven, CT, and as the middle school principal of the University of Chicago Lab Schools.

Feldman has a law degree from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago and a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Feldman said it was the Roeper's focus on students that attracted him most to the school.

"The foundational value placed on being child-centered and developmentally attuned is what drew me to the Roeper School," he said. "I was so taken by the responsible strength of voice demonstrated by the students."

In 2003, Feldman received an E.E. Ford Fellowshiop to be a part of the inaugural class of the NAIS Educational Leadership Program, and has since been tapped for community leadership positions in both Kalamazoo and New Haven, and while in Chicago, he spent a decade mentoring college students interested in teaching careers through the Golden Apple Foundation. He and his Elane have two grown children.

"From my first visit to Roeper, I felt a strong attraction to the people and the work being done at the Roeper School," Feldman said. "I look foward to working in a successful partnership with the Roeper community on behalf of the children of the Roeper School."

Feldman has a lot to look forward to, Deely said. In , Deely said the school will be re-envisioning its strategic plan in coming years, as well as working on plans to improve the former Adams School in Birmingham, where the upper/middle school program is currently housed.