At the end of each day, Head of Upper School Cory Zeller reviews her notes tucked within a hefty binder. This binder contains hours upon hours of important, handwritten records that detail conversations that took place in her office. Zeller’s binder has borne witness to the collective hardship, change, growth, and consequential decisions made during her first year as Head of Upper School.
In September 2023, Zeller hoped that joy would be a theme for the year to come. She and Dean of Student Life Joe Bruno hosted an MX in which students gave shoutouts to community members and their accomplishments. This was one of her favorite moments, Zeller said. But after reflecting on a school year marked by social tensions, global wars, and adjusting to new policies, Zeller instead calls it a year of change.
“It’s been a really hard year,” Zeller said. “It doesn’t mean I still don’t want joy, but we have to realize that joy is only possible when we have the skills to navigate the difficult moments that happen in the community.”
In her first year as Head of Upper School, Zeller rolled out noticeably more changes than former Heads in the past. One of the most significant changes was making a new schedule. For years, Parker’s Upper School has used a five day rotation. After extensive research and collaboration, the Upper School will now run on an eight day rotation.
“[Zeller] is trying to make things better as opposed to the past few years where there has been little change,” Senior Phoebe Josephson said.
During her time as English teacher and Gradehead, Zeller noticed problems in student behavior that she wasn’t able to solve. They stemmed from societal stressors such as social media and relationships. As Head of Upper School, Zeller developed policies to address these problems, including the cell phone policy and the attendance policy.
Both of these policies aim to maximize the time students spend learning and connecting with their peers. Last year’s cell phone policy, which mandated that phones remain away during class, was not consistently enforced by teachers. Zeller amended the cell phone policy so that phones are “away all day.” This new policy, effective today, hopes to curb cell phone addiction and improve students’ social experience.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the rate of school absences has risen. Zeller’s attendance policy is a system of notifications that show that the school notices when a student is absent. “The policy reinforces the value of being in school,” Zeller said.
“I’ve never seen so many people in my classes,” Senior Phoebe Josephson said.
Other students found the policy to be overbearing. Senior Malachi Brenner recalled how his friends would receive attendance notifications after being sick for days.
“A student should not be punished for being sick,” Brenner said. “A student should not feel like they have to go to school when they’re sick.”
Zeller thinks it’s important to listen to feedback instead of becoming defensive. Last year, she valued her weekly meetings with the Senate Heads that conveyed student feedback from that week’s Senate meeting. Zeller also worked with student task forces, faculty members, and a consultant to craft a new schedule that runs on an eight day rotation.
“Changes have not just been made out of thin air,” Bruno said. “There’s been observation, there’s been input. You have to stand by that decision and move forward.”
In her first year on the job, Zeller rolled out many academic changes, such as ensuring pathways to calculus, clarifying override and placement policies, and collaborative efforts, such as introducing language choice in Middle School.
“Sometimes structure actually can help free you up because you’re not trying to figure out what the rules are,” Zeller said.
After the terrorist attack on October 7, and the war that followed, Zeller did not hold any direct discussions about the situation with the student body. At Parker, many people feel deeply connected to the conflict in different ways, while others don’t. She believes that before having conversations about the war, we must have compassion for where others are coming from.
“Until we really care about each other, really genuinely care about each other, it is hard to have difficult conversations,” Zeller said.
In January, a group of students in Assistant Principal Priyanka Rupani’s elective led discussions with the student body about cancel culture. Students discussed when it is or isn’t appropriate to ‘cancel’ someone. While the overarching lesson from this activity can apply to having understanding for eachother in regards to the Israel-Palestine war, Parker has not addressed it head on. Over the summer, Ms. Zeller and faculty did professional development to work on facilitation skills and providing comfort in spaces with lots of emotions.
Over the past year, Zeller has noticed a sense of depersonalization when people are talking about her and her policies.
“I am still Cory, or still Ms. Zeller, but sometimes I’m referred to as ‘the administration,’ and that’s very bizarre,” Zeller said.
This may be due to her partnerships with other administrators, specifically Bruno. They are both quirky and sarcastic when necessary, Bruno said. Whether they are presenting to the student body or greeting students in the hallway, they are viewed as a team. Even on hard days when Bruno doesn’t want to be in school, he knows that Zeller will be there to work through it with him.
“Because she shows up, I show up, and because I show up, she shows up,” Bruno said. “It’s nice to have somebody who puts their heart into every single thing that they do.”
At the end of the last schoolyear, Zeller did not feel tired. Even after all the community went through, even after staying at school for 12 hours every day, even after a full year in this demanding job, she was excited.
“I’m just going to keep going and I’m not going to get everything right all the time,” Zeller said. “But I’m not going to give up.”
