Board of Trustees Bring Strong Quaker Leadership to Hampton Roads, Poised for Increased K-12 Independent School Offering and Growth
VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA (May 29, 2018) – The Virginia Beach Friends School Board of Trustees announces the appointment of Michael R. Barclay as its next Head of School effective July 1, 2018. After a year-long national search, Mr. Barclay was chosen to lead the next phase of school refinement and growth.
Mr. Barclay comes to Friends School with more than twenty years of educational experience and a diverse background in both public and private schools, sectarian and non-sectarian, as well as the college sector and is presently the Head of School at Quest Montessori School in Narragansett, Rhode Island. Prior to Quest, Mr. Barclay held the Dean of Students position at the prestigious Moses Brown School, also a Friends School, in Providence, RI and Admissions Director at Stuart Hall High School, a part of the Schools of the Sacred Heart, in San Francisco, CA. He holds a Bachelor degree with a double major in English and Communications from Muhlenberg College and a Master of Arts degree in Teaching with a concentration in Secondary English from The American University. Search Committee Chair and Board of Trustee member Dr. Michael Rossi said, “Mr. Barclay was unanimously selected by the Search Committee for his expertise in K-12 leadership, his experience building thriving communities, and his palpable enthusiastic and warm character. In Mike, we see a leader of deep understanding, creativity, and vision who will propel the school into a strong future while advancing and upholding the mission of Virginia Beach Friends School.”
Mr. Barclay’s first hire in strengthening Friends’ offering to the Hampton Roads community is the dual appointment of Galen McNemar Hamann as Assistant Head of School for Academic Affairs also effective July 1, 2018. Ms. McNemar Hamann’s appointment brings an additional twenty plus years of educational experience to Friends, with the last fourteen as Director of Friends Education at Moses Brown School in Providence, RI. Incoming Head of School Michael Barclay said, “Ms. McNemar Hamann’s professional background coupled with her deep understanding of Quaker faith and pedagogy will be instrumental in bolstering Friends’ academic program. She will immediately create and implement a mission-aligned vision for instruction and professional growth that keeps Friends’ current, innovative and exciting.” She holds a Bachelor of Science from Earlham College, a Master of Arts in Secondary Education and Teaching from Saint Joseph’s University, and a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School.
With an exciting new chapter for Friends’ on the horizon, the school also announces its new branding, refined messaging and website.
