Publisher’s note:  The Talbot Spy has long hoped that it could work with the community’s young people to not only help them engage in journalism and storytelling, but reach an audience well beyond their school’s population. So it is particularly gratifying to begin a new periodic column dedicated to Talbot County students to share news stories and area profiles to accomplish those objective. Our first episode starts with The Country School’s India Smith and her questions for the school’s new head of school, Jay Parker. 

Talbot County students are encouraged to contact the Spy if they would like to participate by emailing us at [email protected].

Jay Parker is the newest head of Easton’s The Country School. I had the pleasure of sitting down for an interview with Mr. Parker. I learned a lot about Mr. Parker, from why he became a teacher to his plans for TCS.

My first question for Mr. Parker was, “Why did you decide to be a teacher?” Mr. Parker attended St. Albans School, a school similar to the Country School, as a child. He has fond memories of St. Albans, especially his high school history teacher, Mr. Suitor. Mr. Parker recalls, “He had a great sense of humor and connected with the kids. When I did decide to be a teacher, which was in my early twenties, I thought back to Mr. Suitor, and, you know, connecting with and caring about kids goes a long way.”

Next, we talked about the schools he worked at before coming to The Country School. Mr. Parker’s first job in education was in outdoor education. He worked for the Cape Cod school district and lived in Massachusetts. “It was fun to do outdoor ed because I got to teach the same thing every week to different groups of kids, so I could get better as a teacher.”

He left outdoor education and worked at Boys Latin in Baltimore for five years, then moved to Calvert School for ten years. He has been working in Colorado for the past four years as a middle school principal at Dawson School.

I was curious to know whether he had worked at any other jobs besides being a teacher. He thought for a moment and said he had pretty much been in education his entire career, but he did run a summer camp for twelve years. “I’d be able to spend most of my summers in Colorado or New Hampshire leading hiking trips, and that taught me a lot about everything from making websites for my business to doing the marketing and the accounting side of it, which I enjoyed, but I enjoy working with kids more than those types of things.”

Although he has close relationships with both Ms. Brune and Mr. Mufson, Mr. Parker has stated “Rule number one of being a head of school; don’t follow a previous head because everyone compares you to that head of school.” However, he said that “I’m very fortunate to have them as friends, because they’re amazing people.”

When asked how the job was going, he answered; “I feel blessed every day… Overall, what has blown me away is how inviting the school is. The teachers are all very caring and the people here work very hard all the time to support the kids. When people walk into our school, they can feel the love right when they come in.”

When I asked him what the main thing he’d like to accomplish in the job is, he said that TCS has a history of long term heads and that he had only ever worked at schools where the headmaster had been there at least ten years. “I feel like we’ve accomplished a lot this year, but you can’t really leave your mark on a school unless you’ve been there at least ten years.” Mr. Parker explained that he did not envision TCS ever adding a high school, but might add a program for kids aged 2–3.

“I think we’re going to own that idea of… tradition meets tomorrow… so, just filling in the gaps with better programming everywhere and ensuring the legacy of the school lives on.”

Then I asked a few less school-related questions. I was curious to know what his wife’s job was as well as what his family thought of Easton.

Mr. Parker explained that his wife was a counselor and had worked for Ms. Brune as a school counselor for nine years.

He said that he was originally from Maryland, so it was easy to adjust. “It’s also so cool that some people’s jobs are to be watermen or fix boats, and everyone in Talbot County is so connected to each other.”

Mr. Parker says he and his family are very happy in Maryland, and plans to spend the next decade at TCS, a time he believes is necessary to leave a lasting impact on the school and its students.

India Smith attends The Country School as lives in Easton. 

This video is approximately 12 minutes in length. For more information about The Country School please go here.