Shalhevet Board of Directors president Larry Gill was interviewed March 8 by Rose Bern about Mr. Reynolds’ accident and how the school is adjusting. Here is a partial transcript of Mr. Gill’s comments.
Last spring, Mr. Reynolds offered his services when we desperately needed it, and he had a lot of experience, with Shalhevet, with Westlake and then with Harvard-Westlake, and he was someone with institutional knowledge of Shalhevet. He knew when Rabbi Weinbach left that we had a little bit of a vacuum of centralized leadership, and he offered his services… He is a great friend to Shalhevet School.
A couple things have precipitated a modification of his relationship with the school. Rabbi Segal is becoming more involved with the planning for next year on a daily basis, so the need has become very different.
Also, Mr. Reynolds had a very scary automobile accident and thank God he is okay. But it was a serious accident, and instead of wanting him to make the commute on a part-time basis from his home in Ojai, it would be more appropriate for him to work from there, from home.
He is available to us on a regular basis when we need to speak to him, and he is advising on all components…. But in the meantime, his involvement has been scaled back as Rabbi Segal comes more involved with the school. The administrative team is making more decisions under the guidance of Rabbi Segal.
The head of school is Mr. Reynolds, but he is doing so from his home. We are all working together with Mr. Reynolds and Rabbi Segal, and we are well on our way to transitioning the leadership to next year’s structure. The kids will not notice change other than Mr. Reynolds absence.
It’s impossible to know what the future will hold. We are now in a phase where we are seeing the beginnings of what it will look like for Rabbi Segal next year as he implements his own things….
The student body will certainly have a chance to say goodbye to Mr. Reynolds. He is a great friend of Shalhevet, and his important contributions should be properly acknowledged.
