Dear RGS Community,
I want to take a moment to publicly recognize the extraordinary work that both Rachel Gantt and Dave Ritzmann have done over the past few months. Their incredible dedication and hardwork have played an important role in preparing us to begin school in just a few short weeks. Both Rachel and Dave have been wonderful partners throughout this entire pandemic and I owe them a huge thanks! With that being said, Dave and Rachel have taken on a number of duties that are well outside of the scope of their current job description. I do not foresee these two taking on fewer duties in the near future, so they now have new titles that align with their responsibilities and service to our school.
Dave Ritzmann will be the Director of Technology and Facilities. In past years, Rich Virgin took on the facilities duties as the Director of Finance and Operations. Although not uncommon for the DFO to have facilities under their umbrella of responsibilities, it also takes precious time away from the focus on our school's finances. Dave has spent most of his summer, in partnership with our maintenance crew, Rita and Sam, preparing our campus to be COVID ready.
Rachel Gantt's new title will be the Associate Head for Enrollment and Academics. Rachel will continue to lead the Office of Student Admissions, but her duties will now expand to family communications, teacher support, and instructional practices. Rachel and I will partner in each of these aspects of our school’s day to day activities and in the ongoing growth of our community.
I also want to give a huge shout-out to Anne Moses, our new DFO, for joining us in the middle of a pandemic and hitting the ground running. She has already taken several steps to improve the efficiency of our finance office. I know you will all enjoy getting to know Anne and will find her incredibly responsive to your needs.
Finally, a big thanks to Laura Neutra for being the glue that has held our team together this summer and quietly, but very effectively, continued to take care of all the large and small organizational things that it takes to be ready for the year.
Below is a list of additional updates to this year’s staffing.
Pequenos Associate: Sarah Harrison (Ms. Harrison most recently was the Early Childhood Director for Temple Beth Shalom)
Grandes Lead: Katy Kaiser (Ms. Kaiser was co-lead in Pequenos last year and is excited to be returning to the Grandes classroom, which she helped start many years ago)
Kinder Lead: Jemima Winkler (Last year Ms. Winkler was the associate for second grade at RGS. She has ten years of teaching experience in independent schools and is excited to be back in Kindergarten)
Kinder Associate: Brett Korn (Ms. Korn recently returned to Santa Fe from Chicago where she was a substitute teacher. Prior to moving to Chicago, Ms. Korn was an assistant teacher at the Little Earth School in Santa Fe.)
Second Associate: Mary Ann Pound (Ms. Pound returns to RGS after realizing that retirement is not as fun as it sounds. We are thrilled to have her back!)
Third Associate: Pat Bonner (Ms. Bonner was our Early Childhood Director for the past few years, but she began her career at RGS as a Third Grade Associate. She is excited to be back in this role once again)
Fourth Leads: Katie Schor & Brittany Hagar (This dynamic duo will share lead teaching duties as Katie will be spending some extra time at home with baby Jack this year. Ms. Hagar will be the lead teacher for reading and theme studies and will serve as the associate teacher when Ms. Schor is in the classroom.)
Fifth/Sixth ELA Associate: Maegan Bell (Ms. Bell took on associate teaching duties during the final trimester last year. She will continue with these duties again this year. Ms. Bell recently moved to Santa Fe from Texas. She has several years of lead and associate teaching experience)
Floaters/Subs: Rachel Langone & Robert Walton (Ms. Langone is an RGS alum. She recently graduated with a degree in education and we are thrilled to have her back. Mr. Walton grew up in Santa Fe, but most recently attended art school in New Jersey and prior to that was an assistant teacher at the Latin School of Chicago)
Bookkeeper: Kathy Zizwarek (Ms. Zizwarek will join us later this month and will be assisting Ms. Moses on all things financial. She replaces Peter Ortega as he has decided to return to retirement)
Sincerely,
