Cross Country Coach, and Upper School History teacher Martin Moran will be saying goodbye to Parker after eleven years at the end of this school year as he has accepted a position to direct the new upper school of Bennett Day School.

Bennett, which operates two campuses located West of Downtown, opened in 2014. Since its founding, the independent school has grown, doubling both enrollment and faculty in the past year. Now it serves students from Pre-Kindergarten to Second grade, and will add one grade consecutively each year. The school aims to one-day serve students from Pre-K through high school. Bennett is currently developing its upper school, which is projected to open in the fall of 2019, even though a middle school would not yet exist.

In addition to Moran, there are two other former Parker teachers working at Bennett. Bennett’s Chief Academic Officer and founder, Principal Kate Cicchelli, and First grade teacher Frances Judd, both have taught at Parker, Fourth grade and Junior Kindergarten respectively.

Moran will play a critical role to the success of Bennett’s high school, it will be his job to build the entire Upper School program before its grand opening. His wide range of responsibilities include creating the curriculum, organizing graduation requirements, establishing hiring practices, and assembling a core team of Upper School teachers. “The traditional role of a division head isn’t really on my radar yet,” Moran said. “It’s more about creating this from scratch first.”

Although the list of tasks to be completed before the opening of Bennett’s Upper School is long, Moran is enthusiastic about what lies ahead. When he was offered the position in June, the opportunity to design his own high school was one he knew he couldn’t let pass. “There weren’t many, if any, schools, that I would ever leave Parker for,” Moran said,  “it’s really about the chance to create something, which is the reason I would take an opportunity like this.”

“As a teacher at Parker, I saw what progressive education can mean for so many children and families,” Cicchelli said. “When the opportunity to open a new, progressive school arrived at my door, I saw the chance to do a small part to make a difference there. Opening a new progressive school in Chicago means parents and guardians have more choice, more opportunity, to find the right school for their children, and for their families.”

Moran first connected with Bennett four years ago when he helped the school determine how technology would be integrated within its curriculum.

“Next year, starting in July, is when I get down to it full time,” Moran said. “July of 2017 is about building a core team, and I’ll need to hire the first two lead teachers who are going to be involved. Then I have to start making some serious decisions on what the program is going to look like.” Moran hopes to find faculty that “think of themselves first as an advisor, not a content expert,” and that “at some point during their academic career… faced significant adversity and weren’t considered ‘good students’.”

According to Cicchelli, Bennett and Parker are similar because they both “focus on children, learning,  and important intersection of what children and adolescents need to be prepared to be engaged members of the world around them.” Although Moran hasn’t begun designing Bennett’s Upper School program, he hopes to incorporate components from Parker.

“The foundation of student-teacher relationships is really something I will take away from my Parker experience,” Moran said. “Doing work that relies upon connections between students and teachers is somewhere I would definitely focus my energy. The way in which Parker pushes the envelope from a freedom standpoint, giving both students and teachers a lot of self-direction, is also something I like.”

The administration at Bennett feels as though Moran is the perfect fit for the position. “Marty has all the qualities we’re looking for in an Upper School Director –thought leadership, vision, and a remarkable ability to inspire students and the community around him,” Cicchelli said. “His experience and insight into the world of education and, just as importantly, his vision of where it’s going, will complement our team of world-class educators.”

During his time at Parker, Moran has made many contributions to the school. In addition to being a history teacher since 2005, teaching History of Terrorism, Ethics, Social Entrepreneurship, Media and Society, and Chicago History (to name a couple), Moran has served as Director of Education Technology from 2011-2013 and has led the TIDES initiative since 2014. During his 10 years at Parker, Moran has also worked to modify the ninth and tenth grade history curricula, organized how teachers could bring technology into their classrooms, designed computer labs, and led the remodelling of the library and the revitalization of  the track program.

Principal Dan Frank confirmed that even with Moran leaving, the TIDES program will continue to be fundamental to the development of what defines a Parker education.  “As this year unfolds,” Frank said, “we will expand our plans for next year and establish the administrative and leadership structures that will support the growth of this important Parker initiative.”

Upper School History teacher Jeanne Barr has been working in the history department with Moran since she hired him ten years ago, and she predicts he will find success at Bennett. “He’s experimental, he’s innovative, and he is really interested in emerging technologies,” Barr said. “He brings a lot of excitement and a feeling of renewal to teaching and learning.”

Moran is looking forward to his new position, but he is sad to leave Parker. “What I’ll miss most about Parker is the opportunity to teach and coach kids who work really hard, but always are earnest and having a good time,” Moran said. “That’s one of the things I think is really different about Parker students, and I really want to bring that to my next job.”