After six challenging years in and outside of Mullica Hill, the Board announced that there would be a new Head of School in the 1980s.  Ken Erdley had worked hard to move the School beyond its founders, and he had succeeded. Many institutions fail and collapse when the early founders depart, but staff, teachers, parents, and students all worked together to keep the school moving forward even...

The mid and late 1970s were hard times for the United States and they were equally challenging for Friends School.  Tuition had doubled over five years, and enrollment had declined significantly. When Ken Erdley became the second Head of School, as mentioned in the last post, there were over 260 students, but that number declined to about 200 by the late 1970s.  In 1975, the Parent-Teacher...

As mentioned in an earlier post, the Founding Head of School, Mary Clare Wohlford, announced that she planned to resign and move to Virginia at the conclusion of the 1972-1973 academic year.  In March 1973, the Board of Trustees named Ken Erdley to follow Wohlford as the second Head of School. Research across many schools suggests that the transition from a Founding Head is always a challenge,...