St. Anne’s Announces New Head of Middle School and New Faculty

Jill Reilly is the new Head of Middle School at St. Anne’s.

St. Anne’s Episcopal School is pleased to welcome five new faculty members this year.  Bethany Otwell of Galena, MD is teaching Fifth and Sixth Grade STEM and holds a B.S. from Elizabethtown College.  Kelsey Main, who is teaching Math in the Middle School, holds a B.S.Ed. in Middle Level Education from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.  Josh Kite is teaching Fourth Grade and holds a B.A. and a B.Ed. from Tabor College (Australia).  Sandy Gauding is joining St. Anne’s part time as an Administrative Assistant and will also provide morning Extended Care; she holds a B.S. in Elementary Education, a B.S. in Special Education, and a Master of Instruction, all from the University of Delaware.

Jill Reilly is the new Head of Middle School at St. Anne’s Episcopal School, replacing Lora Byrd who retired after eight years.  Ms. Reilly holds a M.A. from the Teachers College, Columbia University and a B.S. from the United States Military Academy at West Point.  Before coming to St. Anne’s she was a middle school teacher and most recently was the Dean of Students, Upper School, at St. George’s Independent School in Collierville, Tennessee.  In addition to her role as the Head of the Middle School, Ms. Reilly will be teaching 8th grade Algebra with Quadratics, which will be one of three sections of math offered in 8th grade for the second year.

Photo: St. Anne’s Episcopal School added five new faculty members and staff for the new school year. (from left to right) Jill Reilly (Head of Middle School), Josh Kite (Fourth Grade Teacher), Sandy Gauding (Administrative Assistant), Bethany Otwell (Fifth and Sixth Grade STEM), and Kelsey Main (Seventh and Eighth Grade Math).

“A couple things drew me,” Mrs. Reilly says of her decision to come to St. Anne’s. “I was drawn to the mission of the school.  I like the balance of intellectual, spiritual, physical and artistic.  I was also attracted by the warmth of the search committee; it was clear that there was a phenomenal rapport among its members, and I wanted to join these professionals.  And thirdly, what cemented it, were the students.  During my visit I ate lunch with a mix of students and found them to be engaging and thoughtful.  Some were introverted, some were extroverted, but they all engaged me, and you could see that they cared about their school in what they said, in how they presented themselves, and how they spoke for their classmates.”

St. Anne’s Episcopal School is a co-ed independent day school for children Pre-school (age 3) through 8th grade (https://www.stannesde.org). Founded by visionary educators from St. Andrew’s School in 2002, St. Anne’s academic program is geared to prepare students for a rigorous high school experience and provides a student/teacher ratio of 7:1. St. Anne’s is located on 125 scenic acres in Middletown, Delaware, and is committed to the development of the whole child through intellectual, spiritual, physical, social, and artistic growth.