Business Beat: Dr. Meredith J. deChabert new head of school at The Gordon School

The Gordon School Names Dr. Meredith J. deChabert, New Head of School

Dr. Meredith J. deChabert has been named Head of School for The Gordon School in East Providence. deChabert succeeds Dr. Noni Thomas López, who held that position since 2018.

Over the past nineteen years, Dr. deChabert has served in several leadership capacities at Rye Country Day School, including time as the school’s first director of diversity, as middle school principal, as upper school principal, and currently as the assistant head of school for academics and institutional research. Throughout those nineteen years, she sustained a commitment to the classroom, continuing to teach at least one section of English Language Arts.

“Gordon is extraordinarily fortunate to have found Meredith,” said Damian Ewens ‘90, Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Gordon School. “Her deep expertise, her enthusiasm, her joyous spirit, and the overwhelmingly positive feedback she received from the community all led to her being the search committee’s clear recommendation.”

Dr. deChabert will build on the important work that Dr. Thomas López has done at Gordon while furthering the school’s decades-long commitment to giving students a rich academic foundation along with a deep sense of connection in a racially and economically diverse community.

During her tenure, Dr. Thomas López built a deeply empowered and experienced leadership team, which introduced and successfully implemented a new equity-based tuition system, Family Individualized Tuition; created a strategic vision for a more just and sustainable world; strengthened student support with the addition of learning specialists and a full-time counselor; and elevated environmental sustainability as a core value of the school alongside  Gordon’s long standing reputation as a leader in diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

“Since my arrival in 2018, the Gordon community has wrapped its arms around me and my family and made it possible for a state we had never set foot in before and a school we only knew by its national reputation to become our home,” said Dr. Thomas López.  “This decision is made easier by the knowledge that I will be leaving Gordon in a position of strength after six years of unimaginable growth and change, in our nation and on our campus.

“I feel privileged to be a part of this special community, and I will bring Gordon with me wherever I go.  But first, I am ready to make these next thirteen months at Gordon count through good, hard, thoughtful, joyful work.”

“We had the honor of interviewing many qualified candidates from around the country and with varied backgrounds,” said Krystal Tadesse and Ted Trafton ’93, co-chairs of the school’s search committee. “We are so pleased to have found Dr. deChabert, who so clearly understands and, most importantly, lives Gordon’s core beliefs and we look forward to her impact on our community.”

Dr. deChabert is committed to models of education that champion the fact that joy, diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, social justice, social and emotional learning, and academic excellence are inextricably intertwined. She has served on many accreditation visiting committees in New York and New Jersey and on the boards of non-profit organizations dedicated to educational access and opportunity; she founded the Fairchester Diversity Practitioners Network and organized the first New York State Association for Independent Schools workshop for diversity professionals; she has presented at the National Association of Independent School’s People of Color Conference and others; and she has attended myriad professional programs that feed her passion for learning, which she readily shares with others.

“If I could design a school from scratch, it would look a lot like Gordon,” said Dr. deChabert.  “Joy, curiosity, idealism, intellectual excellence, empathy, relationships, positive social impact, and wellness: all of these are naturally a part of the Gordon experience. These ideals are in my core, both as a person and as an educator.”

A lifelong learner with diverse interests, an avid reader, and an animal and nature lover who finds peace on small, local farms and the beach (inspired by her St. Croix roots), Dr. deChabert can also be found hosting gatherings for colleagues to strengthen the community.

“I have been awed by the warmth, commitment, and inclusiveness that characterized the entire search process, all of which I have come to know characterizes Gordon itself,” continued Dr. deChabert. “I am looking forward to taking care of the school that this community loves, and I am committed to helping to realize Gordon’s strategic vision to create the just and sustainable world we want for the future. I can’t wait to get started.”

Dr. deChabert holds a Ph.D. in Education, Culture, and Society from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Anthropology from Columbia University.

About Gordon School:

The Gordon School, in East Providence, Rhode Island, was founded in 1910 as the state’s only non-public coeducational school. Since then, the school has evolved into a progressive institution that offers students academic experiences that have applications far beyond the classroom. With a practical hands-on, real-world instructional approach, each student comes to truly appreciate the value of multiple perspectives. Learning takes place among a diverse population of students and teachers who reflect the many cultures within Rhode Island’s community. Educating children from nursery school through eighth grade, Gordon’s goal is to graduate intellectual leaders and joyful learners who understand empathy, and young people who will make a positive impact on the world. Gordon has replaced the traditional independent school financial aid system with Family Individualized Tuition, a simpler, more predictable system that Gordon created to better reflect the school’s inclusive, innovative mission. For more information, please visit www.gordonschool.org.