Greenwich’s Eagle Hill School announces new leader in educating students with learning differences
GREENWICH — A Greenwich native has been hired as the new head of school at Eagle Hill School, a private school in town that specializes in educating children with learning differences.
The Board of Trustees made the announcement Thursday that Gretchen Larkin will be the fifth permanent head of school. Larkin will succeed Interim Head of School Jim Heus on July 1, 2023.
The announcement came after an extensive search that involved reviewing many highly qualified candidates from schools throughout the United States in partnership with search consultants at RG175, Eagle Hill said in a statement.
“While visiting our campus, Gretchen demonstrated that she is a dynamic and engaging leader,” said Patty Murphy, chair of Eagle Hill’s Board of Trustees. “Her personal and professional experiences, as well as the time spent with members of our community, confirm her passion for the mission of Eagle Hill School. The Board is looking forward to working with Gretchen to build on Eagle Hill’s reputation as a national leader in LD education.”
Larkin, a graduate of Greenwich Academy, said she is excited to return to her hometown with her husband, Bill, a native of Darien.
“I cannot remember a time that I have been as excited as I am at this moment — being named Eagle Hill School’s fifth head of school is a dream come true,” she said in a statement. “The future is bright for this amazing school that quite literally transforms the lives of children and their families.”
She will begin in the job in July 2023, and in a statement, Eagle Hill said, “a long lead time for leadership change at independent schools is becoming more common.”
“Given the issues schools are facing with COVID, having a full school year to transition allows both schools to prepare their constituents and plan accordingly for the change, resulting in a smooth transition from one institution to another,” the statement said.
Larkin is now in her eighth year of serving as the head of school at Charles River School, a PK-8 school in Dover, Mass. As the leader there, she created a new multi-age model for delivering early childhood education, oversaw a comprehensive strategic plan, increased enrollment, reduced attrition and led a record-breaking capital campaign, according to the statement from Eagle Hill.
Before that, Larkin served in a variety of roles at independent schools in greater Boston, as well as teaching positions at Brunswick School in Greenwich and Windward School in White Plains, N.Y. At the beginning of her teaching career, Larkin served as a second-grade co-teacher at Brunswick as part of her graduate school field work in 1998.
Larkin holds a Master of Arts in Teaching degree with honors from Manhattanville College as well as a bachelor’s degree in French from Lake Forest College in Illinois.
Founded in 1975, Eagle Hill School is an independent, co-educational day and five-day boarding school for students ages 5 to 15 with language-based learning differences, including dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, executive functioning disorder, auditory processing disorder and ADHD.
Heus was named interim head of school at Eagle Hill in July 2020, replacing Clay Kaufman. Previously, Heus had worked for 20 years at Ridgefield Academy.
Kaufman had announced in April 2020 that he was leaving effective June 30, 2020, to pursue other career opportunities, the trustees said. He is now the head of school at the Cedar School, which opened this fall in town and is also focused on students with language-based learning differences.
The goal of Eagle Hill is to provide intensive, short-term remedial instruction to children with learning differences and return them to the educational mainstream. It serves children from across Fairfield County, Westchester County, N.Y., and beyond.
For students at Eagle Hill, the learning experience is completely personalized based on an evaluation of the specific nature of his or her learning difference. For more information, visit eaglehillschool.org.
