In a Dec. 18 email to the GDS community, Head of School Russell Shaw announced that Assistant Principal for Academics Khalid Bashir will depart GDS at the end of June.
Bashir has accepted a position as principal of grades 11 & 12 at John Burroughs School in St. Louis and will begin in July.
In an interview with the Bit, Bashir said that the main difference between his role at GDS and his position at John Burroughs School is that he will no longer be responsible for student schedules.
“It was just a great opportunity,” Bashir said about his new position. “Working in schools is all about finding a place where you feel like you could have impact and a mission-aligned institution. And I think I found that, both at GDS and the school that I will be serving in the fall.”
Throughout his decade at GDS, Bashir has worked as an English teacher, an 11th-grade dean and now as assistant principal for academics. In Shaw’s email, he said the search for Bashir’s successor would begin after winter break.
As assistant principal for academics, Bashir focuses on student support, academic policies and scheduling. “My current role and my new role function at the intersection of systems and people,” Bashir said.
Bashir said his experience as an administrator at GDS has taught him the importance of being involved in the community. “I think it’s really important that you position yourself among the people that you are positioned to lead,” Bashir said. “It means being in the Forum and picking up trash; it means going on the field trip when someone needs a sub.”
Junior Rhea Ganta said she was disappointed to learn about Bashir’s departure. “Ever since we got the announcement that Russell [Shaw] was leaving, along with Khalid [Bashir], it just made everything a bit more sad because so many of our long-term faculty members are leaving,” she said.
“I just was surprised because I imagined him continuing to do that role and moving up in the GDS ranks,” history teacher Emily Landau said. “He’s so associated with GDS for me that I just was completely shocked,” she said. Landau started working at GDS in 2018, which was Bashir’s third year at the school.
In addition to his work as assistant principal for academics, Bashir currently teaches Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR). In the class, students learn to conduct research and write surveys. At the end of each year, YPAR students present a proposal to administrators about how to improve GDS.
Senior Tessa Fergusson, who took YPAR last year, said she admired Bashir’s commitment to letting students figure things out on their own and only helping when absolutely necessary during their end-of-year project. “In the long run, that really allowed me to thrive in that class,” she said.
“I’m proud of the relationships I’ve been able to create towards the work of supporting kids,” Bashir said. Bashir said he is also proud of the relationships he has helped to facilitate at GDS between families and faculty.
“When he talks about what he does and why he does it, I’ve seen him tear up so many times and get a little choked up talking about what it all means to him,” Director of Student Community Programming Bobby Asher said. “He wears his heart on his sleeve, and he’s not ashamed to let his eyes water up a little bit when he talks about the things that he cares about.”
Landau said she hopes Bashir’s replacement will echo his guiding ethos. “I would hope to see someone with grace and gratitude, who is efficient and good and capable but also human.”
Bashir said he encourages his successor to be curious. “It’s so much more important to find the answer to why than it is the what,” Bashir said. “There’re always gonna be problems; there’re always gonna be conflicts and challenges and people that are upset or people that are hurting. And if you are only worried about what’s wrong, then you will really miss why it matters.”