Cougars have a new head of school

EASTON — Jay Parker is the new head of school at The Country School.

Decades of work and two advanced degrees, A Master of Education in school counseling from Loyola University and Master of Arts in education from Goddard College, has lead him to this opportunity.

“Being the head of The Country School is my dream school. In terms of leading a school, I really wanted to be at a Pre-K to Eighth with about 300 kids. That way I could have relationship with all the families and all the kids and get to know everyone personally,” Parker said.

For 11 years, he ran Mountain Element, a summer camp focused on outdoor education for middle school students.

“I started my career in outdoor education in New England. I owned my own adventure summer camp for a long time. I would take kids to New England or out west to Wyoming or Colorado on hiking trips. How to enjoy the outdoors, have fun and make good decisions,” he said.

One touchstone experience in Parker’s career was doing a semester-long journey at the National Outdoor Leadership School in Alaska. He met his wife on that trip, and he said it taught him about vision and action.

“Leadership is all about authentically supporting a movement from vision to action,” Parker said. “Expedition behavior is to be constantly optimistic, and positive and patient. I have had a head of school model that for me — being the calmest person in the room.”

Parker grew up in Washington, D.C. and spent over 15 years in Baltimore, so coming to Easton felt like a dream come true. He said it feels like home for his family, who have settled in Oxford. He has two kids who attend The Country School.

“I totally believe in the Pre-K to eight model. It is the best way to take care of kids and give them a strong foundation and send them off to high school and the world to be their best selves,” Parker said.

Parker has a strong vision and purpose coming into the role.

He has plans for the upper grades at The Country School. He wants to encourage the seventh and eighth graders to engage with the community in meaningful ways.

He came to watch last year’s graduation, just to get a sense of how the traditions ran.

“I said to the teachers yesterday at our first meeting, that my philosophy is kids first,” he said. “The other piece of that is that I truly believe it is a privilege to serve as head of school at The Country School. The impact on the community, the history of having strong heads of school, and the opportunity to build leaders for tomorrow. The reality is you can’t make a lasting impact on a school community as a head of school unless you are there for a long time.”