Shapiro To Take Two-Year Leave
After 29 years of working at the Academy, Dean of Faculty Ethan Shapiro will pursue a career at St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, Florida on a two-year personal leave. Shapiro’s contributions to Exeter include work as a Spanish, Russian and history instructor; wrestling and JV soccer coach; and Director of Summer School and Dean of Students. He has touched and improved the lives of countless faculty and students.
“Having opportunities to do different jobs within a school has given me the chance to both work with different employees and sets of adults, and also to work with kids in different ways,” Shapiro said when asked to describe both the challenges and highlights of having such a diversity with his jobs. He continued to elaborate, calling his time at Exeter challenging but also “a fun and a great experience.”
Shapiro described his future job as an interim head-of-school at St. Andrew’s as an opportunity to experience and experiment with something outside of Exeter. Even after almost three decades of working for Exeter, Shapiro has never had a sabbatical. “This was really a chance for me to try something different, but also to preserve the potential for coming back to Exeter,” Shapiro explained. He stressed the fact that his choice to leave was a personal one, and it had no correlation with any negative attitudes about Exeter. “I have nothing but respect and positive feelings for both the school and my experience in it,” Shapiro said.
“I have nothing but respect and positive feelings for both the school and my experience in it.”
He continued to emphasize that his time spent in Exeter has been for the vast majority of his working career. “I’ve basically lived more than half of my life at Exeter. I was 26 when I came,” Shapiro explained. Shapiro has raised his five children on campus — two of his sons, seniors Greg and Colin, attend Exeter with their sister Maddie, an upper. His two youngest sons, Dylan and Jake, attend middle school in town. “It’s been a terrific place for me to both work and live in as a community,” Shapiro said.
Colin commented on his father’s presence around campus and how Shapiro plays a role in students’ lives, even if his current job deals with the faculty more so than the students. Colin described how his father is always willing to help his advisees, reaching out to them whenever they are in need. “They love him,” Colin Shapiro said. “He [will] give them advice with anything they come to him with.” Colin went on to emphasize how Shapiro serves as a fatherly figure to his peers as well as his own children, as Shapiro is willing to make Exeter the best place it can be by contributing a lot to the community.
Greg admired the respected role that his father plays on campus. “He has worked at this school a long time,” Greg said. “Whether it was as a coach, a teacher or a dean, it didn’t matter because his personality has always been the same.”
Assistant Principal Ron Kim, who has worked alongside Shapiro for 23 years, described many of the great qualities and characteristics Shapiro has brought to Exeter. “The school will miss his thoughtfulness, his sense of humor and his common sense approach to solving difficult problems,” he said. Kim also touched on Shapiro’s deftness in navigating both the “interpersonal and social fabric” in relation to running a boarding school successfully. “He has a genuine appreciation for all of the things people do here to make Exeter special.”
Colin emphasized that while he is sad to see his father go, he knows that the school will always be a familiar and welcoming presence for him. “He will always be a part of the Exeter community,” Colin said. “Just because you have moved on doesn’t mean you are no longer a part of that.” As Colin will be graduating this June, he empathizes with his father’s position. “We are both moving on from a place that’s meant so much to both of us,” he explained.
When Shapiro was first approached with the job offer, he came to his son to ask for his opinion. Colin did not hesitate to push his father to accept the job. “He’s always trying to give me good opportunities in life, so the least I could do was to tell him how good of an opportunity I thought this was for him,” he explained.
Maddie wished her father the best in Florida. Although saying goodbye will be a bittersweet moment for her, Maddie said that she remains confident in her father’s talent at what he does. “I know that he will do an amazing job, and that he can thrive wherever he goes,” she said.
Shapiro remains firm in his confidence for whoever will fill his role. “There are so many qualified faculty members and people who could be a dean, and so I trust that whoever it is will bring their own skills and talents and point of view to what they do,” Shapiro said. He drew attention to the fact that Dean of Faculty is not an easy job, and that it required patience and a sense of humor. “I would just say to the person coming in: remember that the folks who work here and live here almost always act out of good will and trying to do the right thing,” Shapiro said, continuing to emphasize the importance of trusting in the talent and the collegiality of the entire faculty at Exeter.