Correction: This article was updated on Dec. 17 at 5:30 p.m. It stated that Randall Dunn had spent one year as head of school at the Latin School of Chicago prior to his arrival at Rye Country Day School. He spent 11 years at Latin.
Rye Country Day School has selected the leader of a Maryland all-girls boarding academy to take over as its assistant head of school.
Chris Hughes, a decades-long private school higher up, will join Rye Country Day in July. He will be replacing Meredith deChabert, the current assistant head of school who has been at the school for 20 years.
Hughes is coming to New York by way of Garrison Forest School in Owings Mills, Md., where he’s been head for six years. The all-girls private school ranks high in academic outcomes – scoring the No. 5 slot in Niche’s best boarding high schools in Maryland this year. Niche — an online publication that connects students and families to schools — also ranked Rye Country Day the No. 1 private high school in Westchester County earlier this year.
“[Hughes] is a true school stalwart who cares deeply about delivering impactful educational experiences that nurture and inspire lifelong learners,” said Randall Dunn, Rye Country Day’s head of school. “We look forward to giving Mr. Hughes a warm Wildcat welcome to the RCDS community in July.”
Hughes announced he’d be leaving his current job in a letter to Garrison Forest School back in October.
“It is with truly mixed emotions that I write to tell you that this will be my last year as Head of Garrison Forest School,” he wrote. “… Although we have decided that the time has come for us to explore new opportunities and horizons and be in a position to support our extended family, that decision in no way diminishes our care for and devotion to this place and to each of you, who make Garrison Forest what it is.”
Hughes holds a bachelor’s in history from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and a master’s in education from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. In the 32 years since he finished his degrees, he’s been working in private school education across the east and midwest.
He launched his career in 1992 as a director of college counseling and dean of students at Saint James School – a private, Episcopal, college preparatory high school in Maryland. From 2001-2008, Hughes was the academic dean of a Virginia girls’ boarding school called Chatham Hall, before serving as the principal of St. Paul Academy and Summit School in Minnesota for 10 years. In 2018 he took over as head of Garrison Forest School. Stephanie Huie, a spokesperson for Rye Country Day, didn’t respond to The Record’s request for Hughes’ salary.
Hughes said he’s looking forward to a culture of kindness, service, and respect at Rye Country Day.
“I relish the opportunity to be a part of this vibrant, engaging community that is clearly focused both on academic and personal excellence,” he said. “As RCDS continues to move forward as a leader in the independent school world and in the field of impactful teaching and learning, I am honored and delighted to join the team.”
This is the second major leadership change at Rye Country Day in the past three years. In 2022 Dunn replaced retiring head of school Scott Nelson, following an 11-year stint at the Latin School of Chicago in Illinois.