The President of Jackson Academy will be the new CEO at Gulliver Schools in Miami. Jackson Academy sent this email yesterday:
August 21, 2017
Dear JA Family,
I
write today to share with you that our President, Cliff Kling, has
accepted the position as President and Chief Executive Officer of the
Gulliver Schools effective January 1, 2018.
Gulliver is the fifth largest school in the National Association of
Independent Schools serving over 2,200 students on four campuses in
Coral Gables, Pinecrest, and Miami, Florida. While we are certainly
disappointed that Cliff will be leaving us, it is a testament to the
high caliber of Jackson Academy's leadership team that our President
would be selected to lead one of the nation's largest and most
prestigious independent schools. We wish Cliff the greatest success in
his new position.
Cliff
has faithfully served Jackson Academy for over 17 years, first as Chief
Financial Officer and General Counsel, and he is currently serving in
his fourth year as President. His contributions to JA have been immense
and include:
- spearheading the acquisition of the Oaks Apartments, doubling the size of the main campus;
- overseeing the design, planning and construction of over $25,000,000 of campus improvements and upgrades including a state-of-the-art Performing Arts Center, football stadium renovation, tennis complex, and a modern Learning Commons;
- providing financial leadership and vision to help facilitate the implementation of JA's Apple one-to-one program, which led to JA's designation as an Apple Distinguished School;
- implementing a STEM curriculum for grades 1 - 8 and installing three new STEM labs;
- leading the processes of creating and adopting a new mission statement, the "JA Way" educational philosophy, "All for One" branding identity, and a new JA crest and seal;
- recently negotiating the refinancing of JA's existing bond and other indebtedness at a savings of $165,000 per year for the next 15 years; and
- working closely with the development office staff to raise record amounts in the JA Annual Fund each of the last two years, including over $420,000 this past school year.
Even
in view of these many accomplishments, Cliff is most proud of the time
he spent with the most important members of the JA family - our
students. Cliff invested many hours meeting with our students in small
groups in his office, interacting with them on campus, and attending and
supporting our students in performing arts, sporting, and other events.
"I
am so grateful for my many years at Jackson Academy, and I will always
love this school," said Cliff. "JA has afforded me such incredible
opportunities for both personal and professional growth. I've had the
privilege of working with the finest colleagues anyone could hope to
have. Our school is blessed with great students, wonderful families, and
an incredible faculty and staff. Heather and I are especially grateful
for the many teachers who have nurtured, inspired, and equipped our
daughters who have attended JA since they were three years old. As
parents, we can testify to the truth of how JA has been All for One for
each of our girls."
I
am also pleased to share with you that Jack Milne has been unanimously
selected by the Board of Trustees to succeed Cliff and lead Jackson
Academy as Head of School effective January 1, 2018.
Jack was the obvious and clear choice following so closely after the
national search process that we conducted last year, which resulted in
our hiring Jack for the role of Vice President and Dean of the School.
We considered many high-quality candidates during our search, including
sitting heads of school. Even with such outstanding candidates, Jack
stood out head and shoulders above the other candidates. We recognized
when we hired Jack that he has the skills, qualities, and attributes to
lead a school as Head. More than that, we recognized what a great fit
Jack is for JA, and his time on campus since joining us has certainly
confirmed that. Jack came to Jackson Academy after serving as a teacher,
Middle School Head, and Associate Head at the Bolles School in
Jacksonville, Florida where he served for 17 years. Jack holds a
Bachelor of Arts in History from Vanderbilt University and a Juris
Doctor from the University of Florida College of Law. Jack and his wife
Caroline are enjoying their transition to Jackson and are getting
settled into their home on Sheffield Drive just down the road from the
school. For additional information about Jack, visit this recent post.
Jackson
Academy is in an enviable position of leadership succession with its
next Head of School already on campus, which will allow Cliff to spend
this semester working with Jack to continue to orient him to Jackson
Academy and the responsibilities of leading the school. I congratulate
both Cliff and Jack on their appointments.
All for One,
Gregory M. Johnston, Chair
Board of Trustees
31 comments:
Good luck with the crazy Miami prices for everything!
Cliff Kling and his family will be missed-- he has done great things at JA-- but we are thrilled to have Jack Milne at the helm and even happier to have Jack and his lovely wife Caroline in the neigborhood. Congrats and best wishes to the Klings and the Milnes! Good things ahead for both Gulliver Schools and JA.
I was sorry to hear about this. Good luck to Cliff and his family.
Jack is the right man at the right time...divine intervention here...
Growing up, I knew a few fellows who attended Gulliver Prep. Gulliver prep was, over thirty years ago, and remains an excellent school with an equally excellent academic reputation.
The college track and cross country coach, at my alma mater, previously coached at Gulliver Prep and had outstanding academic credentials (Princeton grad) in mathematics. As I recall, he could make almost as much tutoring Prep students for the SAT as he did from the day job.
Though I know next to nothing about JA or Gulliver Prep, I wish the new directors all the best in their knew positions.
Good riddance to Cliff. He will not be missed.
Cliff, you know you're living right when the B teamers come out to hate on you in the comments section of JJ. Best of luck.
Interesting that both Prep and JA will be searching for a new headmaster at the same time.
I've known Cliff a long time and he is a great guy. He'll be missed.
@1:34
Kling's replacement is already in place, a new hire from the highly-regarded Bolles School in Jacksonville, FL: Jack Milne. I am a JA parent who was happy with Kling and am equally happy with what I have seen so far of Milne. Best wishes to both!
If you read the letter, JA already has their replacement.
"Interesting that both Prep and JA will be searching for a new headmaster at the same time."
Not they are comparable but SA is searching for a new head to start at the end of this coming year.
Not comparable? I have been told the cheerleaders are just as hot at SA.
Did Gregory Johnston just learn cursive?
5:18: Why are you making fun of that dude's signature? Can't you see that something must be wrong with him? Maybe he's slow. Or maybe he graduated from JA.
There's always David Sykes. He's worked at most private schools in some capacity or other. Surely he still a few ballpoints with ink left in them.
So is this like the seg academy equivalent of getting called up to AAA ball? Not bad for head of the fifth best school in a small city!
Not bad for head of the fifth best school in a small city!
Name the other four. Put up.
6:27 you are crazy. It's the 4th best. Assuming you include the entire metro and are talking high schools. But I agree if talking all grades. MRA still less than in every respect.
6:27 isn't far off, honestly. St. A is a lock for #1 in the city and state. After that, Madison Central and JP are neck and neck.
I'll concede that JA battles with Germantown, MRA, and St. Joe for 4th Place. But in any given year, the expectation is about 5th. Five years from now, I'd guess Germantown would be solidly ahead.
JA is not in an enviable market position. If you're going to drop $10K per kid, why not go ahead spend a little more on SA? If $10K is a stretch, why not just move to Madison? If you must go to an "academy," why not the one across the river in "safe" Rankin County?
and miss dodging sinkholes on the morning commute? That sounds terribly boring.
$10k per kid? LMAO Thanks for disqualifying yourself as knowing anything.
10:26
We wish JA was only $10K year! JA, Prep and SA are all in the $15-$18K range now.
Booster #14 @ 8:26.
It cracks me up when all the old people brag about SA. Most of the kids there have drug problems, and struggle to fit in with society when they graduate.
8:26 here. You're absolutely right: I don't know the exact price.
We did price SA a long time ago, when our oldest was starting elementary school. So clearly my numbers are outdated.
We didn't bother with JA and JP because, why would we? We live in Madison, so we just roll that money into the kids' college funds, which we've topped off before 9th grade. If they're lucky, they won't need them, since their teachers are awesome, and they already have very high ACT's in middle school.
But hey, if you're proud of spending more than I do (and spending as much as St. Andrew's on a school that isn't in SA's league) I guess that tells us something about JA families, no?
If you have to try that hard to convince yourself that MC or Germantown and their classes of 400+ are in the same ball park as some of the private schools in Jackson, then you probably already know the real truth. I'm not saying those are bad schools either but when you take into effect the entire experience, academics included, it's just not that close.
Interesting that you can't come out and say what you mean, 10:59.
As a parent, what I know about the total experience at MC is that 90% of the kids are great. They produce boatloads of National Merit finalists, and more 30+ ACTs than some schools have students. They send kids to Harvard and Yale, and tons of next-tier schools like Baylor and Emory. They generally have few conduct issues. They beat JA and JP at things like quiz bowl, academic decathlon, and debate.
There are a lot of kids, sure. But there are a ton of excellent teachers, and class sizes are very reasonable.
I'm not knocking JA (or JP). You have some nice folks there. But I have to ask, by "entire experience," what exactly are you referring to? Just say it plain for us.
10:59 you are the one who has no idea! I have had kids at JA and graduated from JA. Madison County Schools are far superior to JA now days. Cliff Cling has destroyed all that JA use to be. The fine upstanding school that it once was. Hopefully the new gentleman that was brought in to replace Pat Taylor(another joke)and now set to replace Cliff Cling, will turn the school back around. Trust me I have ties back to the school that are older than me.
Bring the Brannings Back!! Integrity will follow! Great man great family! He still has eligibility! Retired to young! Come on Gregory, show you are the Pres you've been elected to be!
Madison Central doesn't compare to Prep or JA. I will say that JA will be losing students because of its location. Same for First Pres Day School. Parents are questioning the safety of the city and many are thinking about moving their kids. Prep might be teased by JA calling it Flowood Tech for being in Flowood, but those kids are much safer than being at JA.
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