Dr. Alex Curtis has been the headmaster at Choate for only five years. In that time, he has headed several advances to Choate Rosemary Hall and the school’s community, and has steered the creation of the Choate’s first Strategic Plan in more than 20 years. The Choate News had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Curtis about recent developments of the Strategic Plan, and how they relate to Choate’s near future.
Dr. Curtis revealed the the creation of two faculty committees to examine specific aspects of Choate.
One faculty group is tasked with reviewing Choate’s daily schedule. Three years ago, another faculty body examined the same topic, and made several changes, including the introduction of conference and 45-minute classes. Discussing the results of that committee, Dr. Curtis remarked, “It was known at that time that the new schedule was essentially a tweak, and not the final solution. We knew that it was going to be something that would give us a two or three-year period to think about what were the schedule’s priorities, how did it work, and what were its strengths and weaknesses.”
The current committee will look at the daily schedule as a clean slate, a process that Dr. Curtis said will be done with extradinary thoroughness.
Now roughly midway through the process, the faculty group brought in a consultant last spring, who gathered data and information on the community, and ultimately reported her findings at the last faculty meeting of the year. The faculty group is now taking the consultant’s recommendations, and is trying to construct a new schedule. The committee is looking at class periods with varying lengths, as well as supporting departments who want to meet more frequently and departments who would like larger gaps between classes.
The second committee focuses on reviewing Choate’s curriculum. Dr. Curtis explained that re-evaluating the school’s curriculum “is very healthy and has been part of the school’s tradition on a regular basis.” The last committee met ten years ago, and introduced the global studies graduation requirement and the option for students to study Arabic.
The curricular review committee is a centerpiece of Choate’s Strategic Plan, and, as Dr. Curtis put it, looks at “what we are teaching, how we are teaching, and what are our requirements.”
Both committees will assemble this fall, meet with faculty leadership during the winter term, and ultimately make recommendations to the faculty.
Dr. Curtis concluded, “It’s obviously extraordinarily important when you look in such detail at something so fundamental to the school. The opportunity is there to do something exciting.”
