By Eli Haims

Upper School Dean Jon Wimbish will replace Ronnie Cazeau as the Head of the Middle School next year, Head of School Jeanne Huybrechts announced in an email to all faculty members. Cazeau will be moving to Seattle to serve as the head of the Evergreen School. Wimbish said that his main responsibilities for the rest of the year will continue to be helping the students in his dean group, and any work involving the Middle School will be additional.

Wimbish formerly served as an eighth and ninth grade dean and English teacher at the Middle School, moving to the Upper School for the 2007-2008 year. He plans on teaching one English section.

The school will immediately begin looking for a replacement for him, similar to the process undertaken last year when Cahn Oxelson left. Wimbish said one of the advantages to the announcement being so early in the year is that he can work with the new dean for the remainder of the year.

“The advantage of having this announcement be made now is that it helps finding the best person for the job and giving that person enough time to have conversations with me about students I’m working with and the transition,” he said.

One of the most important things that Wimbish said that he gained from his time at the Middle School was “what real teamwork looked like,” saying that teamwork is “brilliantly part of the school’s foundation.”

One way that Wimbish said that he hopes to instill a sense of teamwork is to encourage interaction between the different grades at the Middle School, similar to how they interact at the Upper School.

“The 10th, 11th and 12th graders really mingle in a way that’s community building,” he said. “At the Middle School, this doesn’t happen as much. Part of that you’re not going to overcome. They are just at different maturity levels. I’m interested in looking for what are the common grounds [between the middle school grades].”