Update on Leadership Transition

July 2021:

Update:

The Search Committee, composed of current and past parents, as well as Old South Church staff, read some forty applications and interviewed a small group of finalists. The search led to an in-house candidate who has been at Old South since 2002. The torch of leadership will officially be passed to Summer Marsh. Summer and Carolyn are working together as co-directors this summer to ensure a smooth transition. Summer is well-equipped to continue the tradition so faithfully established and maintained by Carolyn these past forty years, while also looking toward the future. We are convinced that she has the heart and the head to be our next Director.

February 2021:

Old South Preschool is officially announcing that our beloved director Carolyn Davis has announced her intention to retire following this school year. Carolyn began her career here at Old South Preschool over forty years ago, and has had a hand in educating thousands of young people. Parents of alums (now in college) still sing her praises enthusiastically and credit Carolyn with helping their family understand one another better. We are so grateful for her long, steady, and thoughtful leadership – and will be naming her as Director Emeritus in recognition of our appreciation and gratitude. We imagine she will be present at Winter and Spring recitals as well as Parent Gatherings.

In hopes of securing a smooth change in leadership, we are quickly forming a search committee to help hire our next Preschool Director. We hope for the process to begin in early February and for a decision to be made by the end of the school year, giving us the summer time period to pass the torch of leadership securely.

We are also forming a group of people who will help direct us in properly celebrating and appreciating Carolyn for her leadership over the decades – something that we could never fully express! For this Celebration Committee we will need people who are creative party planners, folks who have connections and ideas, and anyone who is willing to put in some elbow grease! We have no idea what safety constraints we will continue to observe this Spring/Summer, so we will have to be nimble in our planning.

We are so grateful for the ever-hard-working Carolyn, and hope that you will express your appreciation of her as the next few months roll along. Until her retirement she will continue to lead us and help to prepare us for the future.