Jane Foley Fried, Dean of Admission and Assistant Head for Enrollment, Research and Planning at Phillips Academy, will join the Brearley School as its fifteenth Head of School on July 1, 2012. The Andover community recieved the news on December 15, via an email from Head of School Barbara Chase.
A private, all-girls school in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the Brearley School educates girls from kindergarden through grade twelve.
Fried said, “I was attracted to Brearley’s history as one of the nation’s first college preparatory school for girls, its excellent K-12 academic program, inclusive community and commitment to developing strong female leaders.”
“The legacy of asking girls to be the best version of themselves and to reach beyond the familiar was evident in every conversation and class during my two-day visit to Brearley,” said Fried.
The school began its search for a new Head of School in July 2011, following the resignation of Dr. Stephanie J. Hull, the previous Head of School.
Deborah Davis Ascheim, Brearley class of 1982, and Samara Epstein Cohen, Brearley class of 1988, chaired the school’s Search Committee and worked with the school’s Board of Trustees and consultants from Carney, Sandoe and Associates to narrow down hundreds of candidates before selecting Fried, according to a letter sent to Brearley students, alumni and trstuees.
While the Committee conducted its search, Dr. Priscilla Winn Barlow, Hull’s predecessor, served as interim Head of School over the 2011-2012 school year.
Alan K. Jones, President of the Brearley Board of Trustees, said “[Fried] brings a wealth of experience at an extraordinary institution. As we did our reference-checking and research, we found time and again she has been a transformative [force] in students’ lives and in helping faculty and administrators at Andover,” according to an article published in The New York Times.
The Search Committee identified desired attributes of the Head of School following a survey of the Brearley community.
The community collectively agreed that the new Head of School should be “a powerfully visible presence in the Brearley community; a thoughtful and compassionate listener with a love of young people and the ability to steward and mentor Brearley’s outstanding faculty; an approachable leader with a passion for educational excellence and a commitment to preparing students, and, in particular, girls for a global future,” as stated in the letter.
“We have found these qualities and more in Jane Fried,” the letter continued.
The Search Committee narrowed the candidate pool to several dozen and then invited eleven candidates to interview. Fried and two other candidates then visited campus.
In the letter, the Search Committee celebrated Fried’s nineteen years of work in Phillips Academy’s Admissions Department. They also noted her research on female leadership, the performance of minority students and girls in math and the sciences and her research on the lifetime effect of independent school education on Phillips Academy alumni.
The Search Committee also praised Fried for her role as a spokesperson for Phillips Academy’s $72 million financial aid effort, the Campaign for Andover and Andover’s Need-Blind financial aid initiative.
The Brearley School was founded in 1884 by Samuel A. Brearley.
