Most recently Ms. McLean served as the assistant principal for grades K-3 in the Kings Park Central School District on Long Island. Prior to her work in administration she was an elementary school teacher for 16 years in both public and independent schools. A graduate of Ethical Culture Fieldston School, which she attended from kindergarten through grade 12, Ms. McLean received a B.A. in English from Cornell University and an M.S. in education from Sarah Lawrence College. She holds New York State teacher certification in nursery, kindergarten and grades one through six and received a school district administrator certificate from SUNY Stony Brook. As head of Poughkeepsie Day School's lower school, which currently enrolls approximately 120 students in pre-k through grade four from throughout the mid-Hudson Valley, Ms. McLean will be responsible for all aspects of the program.

Josie Holford, head of Poughkeepsie Day School, said, "Deborah McLean is dedicated to the education of young children. Her years in independent and public school classrooms and her varied experience as an administrator make her perfectly suited for leading our lower school. We are deeply indebted to Mary Ellen Kenny for her outstanding tenure at PDS and wish her the best as she begins her new life in Manhattan as the assistant head for curriculum development at Corlears School." Jill Lundquist, director of admissions and chair of the search committee, added, "We are very excited to have Deborah McLean joining our community. We are grateful to all of our semi-finalist and finalist candidates who gave generously of their time and energy while visiting campus to share their ideas and vision with faculty, parents and trustees."

Ms. McLean will move to the Poughkeepsie area with her husband, Allister McLean, and two children, who plan to enter the lower and middle schools at PDS next fall. A special celebration in honor of Ms. Kenny will be held at the Town of Poughkeepsie School on Tuesday, May 27. For more information, please contact the communications office (845-462-7600, extension 110).

Poughkeepsie Day School has been developing educated citizens with a passion for learning and living since 1934. It seeks to promote curious and independent learners: critical thinkers who know how to ask questions and solve problems. Respect, responsibility and collaboration are among the hallmarks of the PDS school community. Typically, each year one-hundred per cent of the school's seniors who apply to college are admitted.

*****

Poughkeepsie, NY-- Nory Kaplan-Kelly, a sophomore at Poughkeepsie Day School, has been recognized for her outstanding creative achievement by The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, a prestigious national program celebrating its 85th year and administered by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. Distinguished past award recipients include Andy Warhol, Robert Redford, Sue Miller, Richard Avedon, Zac Posen, Joyce Carol Oates, Sylvia Plath, John Lithgow and Joyce Maynard, who received recognition when they were in high school. A Silver Award recipient, Nory's collection of poetry was judged to be in the top 1% of the thousands of admissions from teenagers across the United States. She will receive her award during a special ceremony at New York's Carnegie Hall in June.

Nory is a member of Poughkeepsie Day School's Poetry Writing Central Study (CS), an intensive reading, writing, and performance course offered to students in grades 7-11. Now in its second year at the Town of Poughkeepsie independent school, the course, which engages students in a variety of reading and writing experiences, focuses on poetry and is co-taught by Poughkeepsie Day School English teacher Trace Schillinger and PDS parent Tom Meyer, an associate professor of secondary education at SUNY New Paltz and director of the Hudson Valley Writing Project, in whose Invitational Summer Institute Ms. Schillinger participated as a fellow.

Ms. Schillinger says that, as the students explore poetry, "they have the opportunity to express their ideas and imaginings while enhancing their understanding of language and strengthening their writing skills." She adds that the course helps students to identify and write poems that "speak to their moral selves." It also provides them with "a sense of aesthetic appreciation, so that they will love poetry throughout their lives." Dr. Meyer said that "the collaboration was exciting, something that I can draw upon in my own work teaching future teachers about working with adolescents."

Recently the poetry CS showcased student work at The Muddy Cup coffeehouse in downtown Poughkeepsie. For the past two years the class has been invited to Teachers College, Columbia University, where Ms. Schillinger is a doctoral student, in order to "teach" a graduate level poetry class. The Poughkeepsie Day School students shared their poems with the graduate students and offered ideas about what teachers should know about teaching poetry to teenagers.

Poughkeepsie Day School has been developing educated citizens with a passion for learning and living since 1934. It seeks to promote curious and independent learners: critical thinkers who know how to ask questions and solve problems. Respect, responsibility and collaboration are among the hallmarks of the PDS school community. Typically, each year one-hundred per cent of the school's seniors who apply to college are admitted. For more information on the screening, visit www.poughkeepsiedayday.org or contact the communications office (845-462-7600, extension 110).

*****