Private School Leader Resigns Amid Controversy

The headmaster at Milton Academy, near Boston, announced her resignation this week amid protests over possible plans to eliminate the academy’s elementary classes, reports The Boston Globe.

Robin Robertson, who was one of the top-paid private school headmasters in Massachusetts, had been at Milton for eight years and had strong supporters as well as detractors, the paper reports. Some credit her with bringing financial and academic stability to the historic school, but others expressed concerns that the academy was becoming less family-friendly under her leadership.

Parents recently fought the potential plan to close the academy’s lower school, which offers kindergarten through fifth grade. They raised more than $9-million to save it, the Globe reports. Milton’s board may still close the elementary school, but its members pledged recently to try to save it.

Ms. Robertson did not comment for the story, but a school spokeswoman said she is not leaving because of the recent controversy. Upper school principal Rick Hardy was named interim head while the board searches for a replacement.

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