History Department Chair James Elish will serve as the next assistant principal for academics, starting on July 1. Elish will replace Khalid Bashir, who will depart from the position at the end of this school year.
Elish said he hoped to learn the ropes of the position before making any major changes, although two of his short-term goals are to set clear criteria for what constitutes an upper-level (UL) class and to shorten the add/drop periods to reduce student stress.
In the position, Elish will determine the course of study, manage students’ daily schedules and work with the counseling department to support students.
On Dec. 18, Head of School Russell Shaw announced Bashir’s departure. Bashir will work as principal of grades 11 and 12 at John Burroughs School in St. Louis starting in July.
Elish said Shaw, Interim High School Principal Chris Levy, Assistant Principal for School Life Quinn Killy, Assistant Head for Teaching and Learning Debby Previna and Assistant Head for Equity and Inclusion Marlo Thomas were involved in the hiring process. Elish found out there was an opening for the position prior to winter break, after Bashir announced his departure to faculty.
“At that point, I wasn’t really thinking that I would apply,” Elish said.
Elish said he started to think more about the position as time went on. “[Teaching is] what I’ve known for the last ten years,” Elish said. “Taking that step is a little bit nerve-racking.
“What I would really like to be doing in the job is really getting in people’s classrooms and seeing kind of what is going on in the life of learning in the school so that I have a sense of the heartbeat of what we do here outside of the history department,” Elish said. “Not in a way to be kind of surveilling what teachers are doing, but in a way to really be seeing all the wonderful things that we have going on in our community.”
“I feel like he carries himself in a way that he wants to be more than just somebody who works at Georgetown Day School,” Director of Student Community Programming Bobby Asher said.
“He wants to be helping shape the community, and he wants to be a member of the community.”
“James [Elish] is a very integral part of the community,” sophomore Liv Glendinning—who took Elish’s freshman history class—said. “He knows a lot of names and he knows a lot of things about people, so he can connect with them really easily.” Glendinning said she thinks Elish’s ability to connect with students will help him as assistant principal for academics because the role requires Elish to work closely with the student body.
Elish said one of his goals is to ensure that students know what to expect from UL classes. To do so, Elish said he plans to regularly meet with teachers and department chairs to codify the requirements for a UL class.
Elish said that when several teachers teach varied content for the same course, students struggle to understand what they will get out of a course when they register for classes. “If students are taking the same class—let’s say there are multiple sections of UL U.S. history—and students are experiencing that one section is much more difficult either in terms of grading or in terms of content than the other section, then we run into an issue,” Elish said.
Elish also said he hoped to reduce student stress during the add/drop periods by shortening the duration of the period. “Having multiple long add/drop periods could actually increase student stress because it creates this period without certainty,” Elish said. “I want to try to reduce that [uncertainty] as much as possible.”
“James [Elish] was a good choice because he’s got a good overall sense [of the school], but he’s also got that attention to detail, and I think it’s critical for this particular position,” history teacher Sue Ikenberry said. Ikenberry said Elish’s attention to detail will help him manage course registration.
Elish currently teaches three classes. He said that, in addition to his role as assistant principal for academics, he will teach U.S. immigration history in the 2026-27 school year.
Elish said his first priority was to learn from Bashir in order to adjust to the role. “I’m gonna be, as much as I possibly can, looking over Khalid’s shoulder, not to double check his work, but to learn from what he’s doing,” Elish said.
“There’s certainly ideas I have about changes that I would love to see made, but, initially, my goal is to make sure that the processes that allow the school to function continue to happen,” Elish said.