Farewell

Dear Branson Community
Dear Branson Friends, Families, and Alumni,
The cover of this magazine really tells the Branson story. Great educators like Brenda Brown and
Steve Henrikson are what Branson is all about. Great schools are made so by great, dare I say even
transformational, teachers. Scores of students can attest that Brenda and Steve have been transformational
in their lives. Nearly everyone who has been blessed to have worked with or studied with
Brenda or Steve describes them with stellar adjectives: amazing, fun, energetic, and perhaps most
frequent, passionate.
Bob Herbert, columnist for The New York Times, wrote about the importance of great, passionate
teachers in a recent column, “Where the Bar Ought to Be.” Here he quotes the school’s principal:
“Deborah Kenny talks a lot about passion — the passion for teaching, for reading and for learning. She has it.
She wants all of her teachers to have it. Above all, she wants her students to have it.
“ There is an overemphasis on ‘the program elements,’ she said, ‘things like curriculum and class size and
school size and the longer day.’ She understood in 2001, when she was planning the first of the schools that have
come to be known as the Harlem Village Academies, that none of those program elements were nearly as important
as the quality of the teaching in the schools.
“If you had an amazing teacher who was talented and passionate and given the freedom and support to teach
well,” she said, “that was just 100 times more important than anything else.”
That about sums it up. Amazing, passionate teachers who are given the freedom and support to teach well
make Branson such a very fine school. Steve and Brenda grace the cover of this magazine because they are retiring
from full-time work at Branson at the end of this school year (Brenda for a second time, and both will still
be around campus teaching the occasional course and working on various projects). Teachers like Brenda and
Steve are great educators, and their retirement is a grand occasion to celebrate and salute them and their decades
of good work. But their leave-taking is a reminder to us all of how very grateful we should be for their presence
and influence in our lives and in the lives of hundreds of Branson students over the years. Teachers like Steve and
Brenda are not to be taken for granted.
Branson is fortunate to have many great teachers, and no challenge is greater or more important than insuring
that the high standards set by Branson’s best teachers is maintained when they retire. Branson would not have
such a fine teaching corps if we did not pay our teachers well, provide them a work environment where their craft
is respected, and support them in their continued professional and personal growth and development. This is
where you can help. Your support, through the annual fund, supports professional development opportunities that
help keep our excellent teachers fresh, engaged in best practices, and rewarded with opportunities to learn and
lead in workshops, conferences, and symposia in their academic disciplines or areas of interest. Generous support
from a pair of key donors created The Project for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, a teacher led and developed
process for reflecting on and improving classroom practice that has drawn national attention. In another donor-led
initiative, full-time teachers at Branson have received a generous quality-of-life bonus at the end of the calendar
year to show appreciation for the good work teachers do, to encourage them to remain in the profession, and to
make a tangible contribution to improving the quality of life for the teachers who do so much for others.
Great educators are the heart and soul of the Branson community. Two of our best are retiring. Let’s celebrate
Brenda and Steve and thank them for their contributions. Even more importantly, let us do our part to ensure
that this remains a community of great teachers working with motivated students.
With all best wishes, I am
Sincerely yours,
Thomas W. Price, Head of School
2 BRANSON SPRING 2012