Bishop’s welcomes new head of school

Bagpipes played as an audience of nearly 1,500 gathered to officially welcome the new head of school, Aimeclaire Roche, to The Bishop’s School on Sept. 16.

Joseph Rascoff, president of the board of trustees, called it the largest gathering in the school’s 100-year history.

The search for a new leader to succeed Michael Teitelman, who served from 1983 until June of this year, began in spring 2007. Rascoff told the audience that 50 candidates from around the world expressed interest in the position. But it was Roche who won out and was elected by the board last October.

She came from Groton School in Massachusetts, where she was assistant head of school. Richard Commons, who is headmaster of Groton and was her boss, spoke at the ceremony of how he was pleased to lose Roche to The Bishop’s School - “one of the finest schools anywhere.”

Daniel Roach, headmaster of St. Andrew’s School, also spoke fondly of his friend and former colleague.

“She will show you what it means to be a student for a lifetime,” Roach said.

Then Roche took the podium. She peppered her remarks with the Greek of Homer.

“I have been buoyed by the stories with which the classical languages are replete,” Roche once wrote.

And though being head of school at Bishop’s wouldn’t be the Trojan War that Odysseus faced, Roche said that any challenges encountered in a person’s environment can hone one’s skills as a leader.