John Taylor returns as academic dean after five-year leave

Tara Rajiyah '06

John Taylor, until two weeks ago, was St. Andrew's Scots School headmaster in Buenos Aires, Argentina. After a five- year absence, Mr. Taylor will resume the role of academic dean early Tuesday morning.

According to Mr. Taylor, his first goal is to gain an understanding of what key academic issues are important to the school. Once he has identified them, Mr. Taylor hopes to prioritize the key challenges and design a more specific course of action with the aid of the academic committee.

Although he realizes the academy has changed much in the past years, Mr. Taylor recognizes that "academic challenges are timeless-how do we offer curriculum that will engage, challenge, and capture the imagination of Deerfield students? To address them. we need to regularly review our curriculum and challenge ourselves to continuously improve it."

As academic dean, Mr.Taylor will be responsible for making sure that the school's high academic standards are upheld, by listening to concerns of an academic nature from students, faculty, and parents, and protecting the integrity of the academic day. The dean also heads the curriculum committee, academic standing committee, alternate studies committee, and academic honor committee. Mr. Taylor's first duty will be to oversee the alternate studies application process.

Mr. Taylor brings with him his wife, Mercedes, and children Sofia, 10, and Maia, 7. His family is excited to return to campus. Other than the professional benefits of returning to the position of dean of academics, Mr. Taylor and his wife welcome the stability Deerfield will provide their children.

Despite the fact that Argentina has reached greater stability since the economic crash of December 2001, there are no visible signs that the country is addressing the key issues that could generate long-term stability. "[My wife and I] therefore came to the conclusion that we owe it to our children to provide them with the best possible opportunities for the future," said Mr. Taylor.

"It is very difficult to compare [Deerfield and St. Andrew's] because St. Andrew's is so large and caters to so many different age groups in a completely bilingual environment. My job is more comparable to that of a superintendent of a suburban system while the academic dean job is more specific and is in much closer touch with students and teachers," said Mr. Taylor

Mr. Taylor arrived at Deerfield Academy in 1990 as a Spanish teacher and then assumed the role of academic dean in 1998. While head of St. Andrew's Scots, Mr. Taylor oversaw a K-l2 school that enrolls 1900 pupils, housed two campuses, and offered a challenging bilingual academic curriculum.

As published in the January 2, 2006 issue of the Deerfield Scroll, the monthly newspaper of Deerfield Academy.