Justin Kroll

News Editor

After a four year hiatus, Dr. Rennie Wrubel has completed her first semester as Interim Head of School. Focusing on increasing communication between the faculty and students, increasing collaboration between the middle and high school and creating a master schedule, Wrubel has made significant behind-the-scenes changes.

Wrubel completed an assessment with faculty and students in April and held meetings with parents over the summer, which helped her determine that the community was suffering from a lack of effective communication between the school and families as well as the faculty and students. She decided to focus particularly on the collaboration between the middle and high school.

“I saw that as a greatly missed opportunity for our students really to be able to move effortlessly into the high school,” Wrubel said.

Wrubel also emphasizes the need to look at and be thoughtful about the instructional time given to each course. She has already assembled a team of administration, faculty and students to work on a new schedule for the 2014-2015 school year.

“My belief, and the belief of the faculty, is that we do not have enough time on task for the classes the kids are taking,” Wrubel said. “We take too many classes, and … an AP course has the same amount of minutes that a Model UN course has, and to me it doesn’t make sense.”

Wrubel’s other changes, with the help of numerous faculty members, include creating the Dance Squad and Spirit Squad, separating the office of admissions from the main office, and enlarging the sports broadcasting program. At the middle school, she’s built a Middle Mart and started a three-year intensive program for the teachers to help them educate their students.

“I think it’s really, really important that she established a department of communications, that she added to the staff of admissions, that she added to the staff of college counseling, and that she understands the physical needs of the building,” Dr. Roger Fuller, Upper School Principal, said. “She understands the big picture vision of the school. She is a person who is short in stature but a giant among educators.”

Wrubel has made it a personal goal to attend events and get to know the Milken community.

“This felt like coming home again,” Wrubel said. “I think it’s been a successful year.”