By Daily Press staff
Students aren’t the only ones who receive awards. Bob Riddle, assistant headmaster and dean of faculty at Crossroads School in Santa Monica, has been selected by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) to receive an NAIS/Edward E. Ford Fellowship, which is awarded to educators who have demonstrated exceptional leadership ability.
The fellowship supports the professional development of independent school administrators through intensive programming, mentoring and specialized projects. NAIS/E.E. Ford Fellows develops their leadership capacities and helps them learn about the major issues facing independent schools today, education officials say. The program prepares individuals to take on future leadership roles. Riddle is one of 68 fellows for 2005 through 2006. The 68 individuals hail from NAIS member schools in 24 states.
Riddle was born in Chester, PA and attended Penn State, where he received a dual degree in math education and psychology. He taught junior high math in Haverford, PA before moving to Los Angeles where he taught for a short time at an Orthodox Jewish all-boys school before being hired to teach middle school math at Crossroads. After two years in the middle school, Riddle transitioned to teaching upper school math and soon took on a position as the academic dean for 9th and 10th grade. In the 1993 to 1994 school year, he received a year-long Klingenstein Fellowship at Columbia in New York. The fellowship, essentially an administrative training program, is designed for experienced independent school teachers and resulted in his earning an MEd. After his time in New York, Riddle returned to Crossroads to become the 11th and 12th grade academic dean and assistant director of the upper school, and later, the upper school director. In 2003, Crossroads headmaster Roger Weaver tapped Riddle to be the assistant headmaster and dean of faculty.
NAIS is a voluntary membership organization for more than 1,200 independent schools and associations in the United States and abroad. Independent schools are distinct from other private schools in that they are independently governed by boards of trustees and they are funded primarily through tuition, charitable contribution and endowment income. To be eligible for membership in NAIS, schools must be accredited, nondiscriminatory, 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 28, 2005. Read the original PDF.