Westfield Friends School Names New Head of School

Jon R. Hall, Ed D will take over as the new head of school at Westfield Friends School in Cinnaminson effective on July 1, 2016, the school announced on Monday. He will begin participating in the transition immediately.

Hall is currently serving as the assistant head of school and middle school head at The Montgomery School in Chester Springs, PA. He will replace Interim Head of School, Peter Pearson, who has served Westfield for the past three years following the retirement of longtime head of school, Bill Probsting in 2013.

“It is our sincere pleasure to announce that our community has come together with great unity to select Jon Hall to be the next Head of Westfield Friends School,” Peter Taylor, Clerk of the Westfield Friends School Board, said.

Hall grew up in Vermont where he received a B.A. in Liberal Studies from Lyndon State College and his Master of Education and Counseling from the University of Vermont. After moving to the Philadelphia area, Hall served 10 years at Girard College in Philadelphia, first as Associate Division Director of Middle and Upper Schools and then as Head of Upper School.

Since 2011, Hall has served as Assistant Head of School and Middle School Head at the Montgomery School. While working at Montgomery School, Hall earned his Doctorate in Education from Seton Hall University, where he specialized in leadership, management and policy.

Both in his early life in Vermont and during his tenure at Girard College, Hall worked closely with several influential Quaker mentors who introduced him to the values and practices of Quakerism.

He said those values resonate with his own sense of personal responsibility, equality, simplicity, integrity, and they attracted him to Quaker education and to Westfield Friends.

“I love the fact that Friends schools value so many of the things I believe are crucial to an education: independent thought and capacity for change, basic human and civil rights, service, non-violent conflict resolution, continual self-reflection and growth, and the belief that every student and person is innately good,” Hall said. “Add to these values Westfield Friends’ many traditions and strong academic program, and you have something invaluable.”

“Jon emerged as a clear community choice to take over for Peter Pearson, whose commitment to Quaker values and educational excellence has prepared Westfield for new heights in the years ahead,” Taylor said. “The Board expresses its’ gratitude to Peter for the wisdom, love and caring he has demonstrated in his years of service to Westfield as Interim Head of School.”

Hall lives in Merion Station, PA with his wife, Jane, an attorney with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and their three-year old son Trey.

The attached image of Jon R. Hall was provided by Westfield Friends School