January 25, 2010



For this coming September I am pleased to announce that T-D will now have a Middle School director. Over five years ago Lynne Tirrell was appointed as director of the Lower School and it has functioned with great success, increased vitality, and better articulation ever since.

Come September, parents with students in grades 6, 7, and 8 can consider Virginia Keating as the go-to person for middle school news, events, program planning, curriculum, and course material. Virginia Keating has been with T-D for eight years, and as the school’s fifth grade teacher she has gotten to know all current middle school families and their children in a very personal way.

Virginia Keating’s reputation as a lower school teacher is beyond exemplary. She can and should be praised every day. Virginia just completed her Masters Degree in Education from Iona College and finds the little red schoolhouse to be like a second home for her. With her youthful enthusiasm, high energy, and professional sensitivity, she will be able to broaden the use of her skills and make T-D middle school a finer place.

Beginning in February Virginia Keating will sit in on middle school classes, observe both teachers and students, make curricular recommendations, review student progress, and focus on student retention.

I’m extremely proud that Virginia Keating feels the same way about T-D that Lynne Tirrell and I do.

Virginia will still teach in the lower school and simultaneously make our middle school her second home.



Sincerely yours,

Douglas E. Fleming, Jr.
Headmaster