Wheeler names new head of school

ALLISON GAINES Pell has been named head of school at The Wheeler School. / COURTSY THE WHEELER SCHOOL
ALLISON GAINES Pell has been named head of school at The Wheeler School. / COURTSY THE WHEELER SCHOOL

PROVIDENCE – Allison Gaines Pell, former head of school at New York City’s Blue School, has been named head of school at The Wheeler School, according to an announcement by the school’s president of the board of trustees on Friday.

Of her new position at the school, Gaines Pell said: “I was immediately drawn to Wheeler for its commitment to individuality, diversity, creativity and powerful academic thought, and seeing those values in action was profound. Warmth, curiosity, intellect and an abiding spirit of innovation so clearly fuel the life of the school, its professional community, families and students. We are so honored and excited to join you in Providence next summer. I cannot wait to get to work.”

A 1996 graduate of Brown University, Gaines Pell has a master’s degree from Harvard University in school leadership and development. She founded Arts & Letters, a student-centered public school in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood, in 2005 with 80 sixth-graders. Eleven years later, the school has enrolled more than 500 kindergartners through eighth-graders.

Gaines Pell has been at the helm of Manhattan’s Blue School, a pre-K to eighth grade school, for the past five years. Her accomplishments include increasing enrollment and diversity among students and leading the school’s first strategic long-range plan.

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Dan Miller, current head of school, will remain in his position through the end of the 2016-2017 school year and will leave once his youngest child, a member of the Class of 2017, graduates.

Gaines Pell and her family, husband Ben and two children, will join the school community on July 1.

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