|
 |
5000 Clubside Road
Lyndhurst, Ohio 44124-2595
440.423.4446
12465 County Line Road, P.O. Box 8002
Gates Mills, Ohio 44040-8002
440.423.4446
|
|
 |
|
Meet the Head of School
 D. Scott Looney joined Hawken School as its 10th Head of School in July 2006 with a philosophy that challenges conventional modes of education and implores the need for today's educators to rethink their staid methods and boldly step into the 21st century.
"While the harsh realities of the greater world can sap a child's energies, the best schools work to find inner passion and curiosity in all their students," he said.
"Rather than simply trying to answer what children should know and when they should know it, good schools additionally ask: How can we engage the passion in these kids? How can we move learning forward in a manner appealing to a wide variety of students?"
Looney has over 20 years of experience in channeling students' interests, nurturing their talents and engaging them in ways that not only transform educational careers, but also lives.
Prior to coming to Cleveland, he served as Assistant Director of Schools at Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a K-12 coeducational day and boarding school with over 1600 students, 280 faculty/staff, and five campuses. It was a position that capped an 11-year career at the school where he also had been the Co-Chair of the All-Schools Curriculum Committee, the Co-Head of the Girls Middle School, the Director of External Affairs, the Director of Admission and Financial Aid, a student advisor and a teacher of a 12th grade course in Public Opinion and American Politics. Before Cranbrook, Looney was Director of Admissions at Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest, Illinois, and Assistant Dean of Admissions at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.
"Scott Looney is clearly a rising star among leaders of the independent school world...," said Pat Bassett, President of the National Association of Independent Schools. "If independent schools are truly to be 'built to last,' they will have to have leaders who inspire, reassure, and create. No one does those three things better than Scott."
In just over a year and a half, Looney has led of the some of Hawken's most daring initiatives, invigorating students, parents, alumni and faculty alike. The school's athletic complex was transformed into one of the Greater Cleveland-area's premier athletic complexes, outfitted with field lights and state-of-the-art field turf, and that in only five months, from inception to completion. And now Hawken is set to venture back to University Circle with an extension campus that will place students at the epicenter of the one of the nation's most educationally and culturally rich areas. It is a move that few, if any, schools in the nation have ever attempted.
In addition to his years as an educator and administrator, Looney is a widely published author and frequent lecturer on the affordability and demographic challenges that independent schools will face in future years. He graduated from DePauw University and earned his masters degree from Northwestern University.
|
|
