



A tuition-free Episcopal school for boys in Kindergarten–5th grade, striving to alter the educational and social trajectory of children from traditionally underserved communities, preparing them for leadership and service in their communities and well beyond.
Welcome to the Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys
A School of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington
News
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
A Letter from Andrew W. Clarke
Chair, Board of Trustees
Dear Bishop Walker School Community,
I am delighted to announce that Dr. Angelina Arrington will become our next Head of School on July 1, 2023.
At the start of its work, our Board’s Search Committee identified its principal goal: to find a strong academic leader with a background in elementary education, a deep understanding of how to make education best serve the needs of black and brown boys, and a dedication to leading an Episcopal school. It was also important to the Search Committee to find a Head of School who is an excellent communicator who is comfortable in any setting and who can quickly develop genuine relationships with our students, our parents, our faculty and staff, and our wider community. The Committee was not convinced that it could identify a Head of School with these multiple and hard-to-find talents in a compressed timeline and had reluctantly concluded that it would need to find an interim leader to serve after Mike Molina’s departure at the end of this academic year. Those of you who met Dr. Arrington during her visits will undoubtedly agree with our Search Committee and our Board that in Dr. Arrington we have found not an interim Head but a leader who embodies every one of those critical qualities and whom we hope will be at Bishop Walker for many years to come. The Search Committee and the full Board of Trustees unanimously recommended Dr. Arrington’s appointment to the Diocese of Washington, which has enthusiastically concurred.
Dr. Arrington’s background reflects exactly the experience that we had hoped to find in our next Head of School. Over the course of her 30-year career in education, she has taught every grade from pre-k to college, which has helped her gain a full understanding of child and adolescent development throughout the school-age years. Dr. Arrington spent 10 years in the elementary school classroom in both public and independent schools in the Los Angeles area, spent a year as a reading instructor at the Sylvan-in-Schools program in Compton, California, and served as a year-long mentor teacher at a charter school in Inglewood, California. She also served as an Interim Admissions Director at Pilgrim School and as the Assistant Head of School for nine years, first at The Oaks School in Hollywood and then at St. James Episcopal School in Los Angeles, where her responsibilities included curriculum development, establishing a stronger faculty evaluation and mentoring system, coordinating strategic initiatives, implementing parent education initiatives, and supervising outplacement for 6th graders. Dr. Arrington has also been a teacher of elementary teaching methods at the University of Phoenix, a clinical student teaching instructor at the University of Illinois, a grant writer and evaluator for the Black Educational Advocacy Coalition, and a leadership development and curriculum consultant for Cairo School District 1 in Illinois.
In her visits to The Bishop Walker School, Dr. Arrington immediately connected with students, parents, faculty, staff, and Board members. The comments we received about her from those who met her noted her “passion for working with our population of scholars,” her “deep understanding of what our scholars need,” her “experience in fundraising,” “content knowledge,” “excellent ideas,” and “thoughtful” and “nuanced” approach to the variety of topics that she was asked to address. We agree.
Dr. Arrington holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Southern California, a Masters of Education from Pepperdine University, and a Doctor of Education in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research activities have taken her to the Caribbean and Africa and she will spend some time in Ghana this spring as a West African Research Association post-doc fellow conducting classroom ethnographies and researching the effectiveness of progressive education reform in formalistic, rural Ghanaian classrooms.
We hope you will join us in welcoming Dr. Arrington to our community. Her official start date will be July 1, 2023 but you may see her around BWS before then as she starts to become a part of our community.
We owe a great debt to Katherine Stuart and Rev. Daniel Heischman of The Education Group, our search consultants who gave us the benefit of their long experience and excellent judgment during the search process. We are also very grateful to our Search Committee—Itea Bell Tanner, Nancy Brown, Cindi Gibbs-Wilborn, Dr. Rodney Glasgow, Sandi Hannibal, Elise Rabekoff, and Vincent Napoleon—who devoted themselves to our search for the past six months and whose focused collaboration was a model for how a Board committee should work.
I would also like to take this opportunity to offer our profound thanks to Michael Molina. Mike has been a transformational Head of School. We will continue to celebrate him and his tenure this spring, and we are glad to know that Dr. Arrington will have the full benefit of transition time with Mike, learning about our school and our community from him. We wish Mike the very best in his return to the Gilman School in Baltimore.
Sincerely,
Andrew W. Clarke
Chair, Board of Trustees
Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys
A Letter from Dr. Angelina Arrington

Dear Bishop Walker School Community:
It is an incredible honor and privilege to be named your next Head of School. My family
and I are excited to become members of the BWS Village. I am honored to build on the
accomplishments of Mike Molina and his three years of leadership during an
unprecedentedly difficult time in history. My extensive conversations with the search
committee, board, parents, and students, and my admiration of the hardworking faculty
and staff solidified my impression of a school poised to continue blaze trails in the
education and social development of Black and Brown boys. I enthusiastically anticipate
learning about Bishop Walker School's culture, traditions, and curriculum.
If there is one thing I want you to know, it is this: I love working with children! My secret
formula is remaining rooted in the potential of every child and finding joy in nurturing
their curiosity. Even during times of great challenge, I continue to believe in the
multitude of good that comes from our schools and the bright future of our children.
Culturally responsive teaching anchors my instructional practice. Creating educational spaces that affirm the cultural capital, funds of knowledge, and home experiences of students of all backgrounds is central to my approach as a teacher and educational leader. Cumulative resources, experiences, and mentorship over the years, as well as my recent scholarly pursuits in Ghana, inform my practice and commitment to the educational, emotional, and social success of Black and Brown boys.
I spent twelve years at St. James’ Episcopal School in Los Angeles, California, focused daily on fulfilling the school’s mission to “inculcate in our students a commitment to ethical behavior and an abiding appreciation for the differences that mark each human being as an individual of inestimable worth and dignity.” Having spent significant time working in an Episcopal School environment, I am confident that I will connect deeply with Bishop Walker’s Episcopal identity and values.
During the transition period, you may see me on campus or at school events. I would love to meet you, so please introduce yourself. I am eager to work alongside the dedicated BWS Village to tackle the critical work ahead. As I think about what it means to lead this excellent school, I wholeheartedly embrace the Bishop Walker School mission, core values, and strategic vision. I look forward to opening car doors at drop-off, playing at recess, and forming strong bonds in support of our scholars. See you soon!
In partnership and service,
Angelina Arrington, Ed.D.