Tony Gerlicz

The other day I heard that Tony Gerlicz, the beloved principal of Monte del Sol Charter School, will be leaving. This is the letter he sent out:

Dear Board, Parents, Friends of Monte del Sol

This is an extraordinarily difficult letter to write and tears come to my eyes as I begin this letter. It is time for me to leave Monte del Sol at the end of this school year.

I am happy here, indeed have never been happier in anything professional that I have ever done, all the challenges associated with Monte notwithstanding. I can easily see me staying at Monte del Sol for years to come and helping to move the school to even higher places of effectiveness and prominence in not only the charter school world but in all the educational world. With the help of the entire community, particularly the faculty and Board, the school already occupies a central and vital place of leadership in Santa Fe, in New Mexico, and is beginning to be noticed nationally.

This will continue. I, and the two Boards of the school, will be working extremely hard to ensure a strong and good transition to the next generation of leadership for the school. There will be no lack of highly qualified candidates who will want to lead this school and it will be exciting to meet them.

Over the summer, a colleague of mine informed me that the International School of Warsaw, Poland, was looking for a new Head of School. This colleague urged me to apply, to at least see what that school was like.
So I did; there was an emotional pull. Many of you know that I am an immigrant to this country, and that my parents were born and raised in Poland. In the fall, my wife Diane and I flew to Warsaw to visit the school and go through the final interview stage. I saw a very international school, full of Americans, Poles, Dutch, Swedes, Spaniards, Koreans, Turks, Italians, students and families from 61
countries. I saw a school that began during the dark Communist days of post-war Poland, a school that had grown in recent years along with the rest of the country. I saw a Board of Directors of the school that was desirous of leadership that would place the school at the heart of the country’s emergence into Europe and of someone who had a vision of where the school could go. Recent elections in Poland established the progressives firmly in control, indicated a desire to move brightly into Europe, and escape the shackles of the past. With an economy that grew 7.5% last year, the highest in Europe, and a feeling that perhaps for the first time in centuries, Poland could truly be free and independent, optimism was very high. While there, I saw my mother’s brother and my mother’s father’s name etched on a wall of those who perished in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. It was an emotional, intriguing and exciting visit. As a result of all this I have accepted the position of Director of the International School of Warsaw beginning school year ’08 – ’09.

This all scares me, challenges me, saddens me and excites me. It is very, very hard to think of leaving Monte del Sol. And yet I know that transition is inevitable and that Monte del Sol has been blessed with consistency and competence throughout its existence. At the heart of any successful school are its faculty and its Board leadership. We have an excellent faculty and excellent leadership and competence at the Board level and we enjoy strong community support that will continue. With new leadership comes new ideas, and renewed attention to those areas of the school that need attention. It is all good. I have been involved in past organizations when the founder/s move on and new leadership takes the organization to its next level of greatness. I have no doubt that will happen at Monte del Sol. There are too many good people working here and too many good things going on for that not to happen. The school was already good when Anne Salzmann came aboard and took the school to its next level of greatness. Kaylock Sellers has done the same in our business office and our very dedicated faculty make this school better and better each passing year.

In addition to the normal school functions for the remainder of the year, I will devote all my energies to making this transition as smooth as it can be.

I will be embarking on a great adventure, an adventure to take the concepts we have birthed at Monte del Sol and apply them internationally. For me, it will be more than a professional adventure; it will be a personal journey, a journey to my past, and a journey to a future where perhaps the International School of Warsaw can have a small impact on the emergence of Poland onto the world stage. I do know that in every single step I take there, Monte del Sol will be with me. My wife Diane will keep her practice in Santa Fe and join me for prolonged stretches of time. We are deeply committed to each other and go into this adventure together.

There will be more communication later but right now, please accept my deepest, heart felt gratitude to all of you for all the help you have given the school over the years and please accept my invitation to help make the upcoming transition smooth. A search committee will be formed shortly made up of parents, board members, students and faculty representing the cross section that is our school. This committee will begin the process of soliciting résumés and applications and will look nationally as well as locally.



I remain your servant.

Sincerely,


Tony
Head Learner