When he’s not watching Jessica Jones, House of Cards, Breaking Bad, or Marco Polo on Netflix, Chris Bielizna is working as Parker’s Dean of the Upper School. Following the June departure of Dean Edward Amos, who’d served in the role for two years, Chris Bielizna began work as Dean of the Upper School on August 8.

Bielizna grew up in Southampton, Massachusetts and pursued his interest in film at Bard College in Annandale-On-Hudson, New York. Even though Bielizna’s current career is not focused on the arts, he still maintains his interest in film by watching sports documentaries and trending movies.

After Bard College, he attended graduate school at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He began his teaching career 1996 as a girls’ varsity basketball coach at the MacDuffie School, in Granby, Massachusetts, after which he became a summer school English teacher at the Patterson School in Lenoir, North Carolina.

After he studied film, Bielizna became a studio art teacher at the Woodhall School, Bethlehem, Connecticut, where he was also a soccer and basketball coach, as well as a dorm parent. He then went on to the St. Thomas More School, Munster, Indiana, where he taught studio art.

Bielizna began administrative work at Oakwood Friends School in Poughkeepsie, New York, where he was the Student Activities Director, and then worked as Director of Student Activities at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut.

The next administrative position he held was at the North Cross School in Roanoke, Virginia as the Dean of Students. The last school at which he worked before coming to Parker was the MacDuffie School, where he’d begun his career. There he first coordinated after school programs and then became the Head of the Upper School and the Dean of Students, which was combined into one job at MacDuffie.

During his visit to Parker in the spring, Bielizna enjoyed the culture and the love of students and learning that he saw. He is looking forward to becoming involved with the community.

“People talked about students, not the job,” Bielizna said. “It was: ‘Here’s how we grow kids,’ ‘Here’s how we foster discovery,’ which was what I was looking for.”

Sophomore Isabel Bouhl is optimistic about the dean’s arrival.

“I hope our new dean communicates with the school frequently and gets involved with the students,” Bouhl said. “To me, it’s really important that a dean listens to us as a student body and individually to make it a great year.”

Assistant Principal and Interim Head of the Upper School Ruth Jurgensen hopes that Bielizna engages with a variety of students.

“We were looking for experience, someone who expressed the love of school, someone who’d sit with the philosophy of the school,” Jurgensen said. “We were looking for a warm, welcoming person and personality, someone who exhibits some flexibility, someone who’s made difficult decisions in the past, someone with integrity and purpose who would focus on student life.”

Resumes passed through the Human Resources department and then landed with a team comprised of Jurgensen, Intermediate and Middle School Dean of Life Siobhan Allen, and Upper School English teacher Mike Mahany. The team narrowed down the candidates, after which they used Google Hangout and Skype to interview some candidates.

Upon choosing three prospective deans, the candidates visited Parker to meet with different groups, including the Student Interview Review Board (SIRB), other interested students, and a number of teachers. Once the team received feedback, it chose Bielizna.

“As much as I can, I want to have my door open,” Bielizna said. “I want students to feel free to come in to either celebrate, share ideas, or just talk.”