Mrs. Keidel, Agnes Irwin’s fourteenth Head of School, was originally a French teacher but has mainly worked in admissions. She is dedicated to making Agnes Irwin the best school it can be.
When she’s not working, Mrs. Keidel loves to read and do photography. She enjoys spending time with her husband, two children, and dog. In the summer, Mrs. Keidel loves to vacation on an island in Maine, where she spends time outside and collects rainwater to do the dishes because there is no electricity.
Mrs. Keidel’s bond with her eleventh grade math teacher inspired her to become a teacher. She first taught French at Chatham Hall, an all-girls boarding school in Virginia before working in the admissions department of various boarding schools for seventeen years. She came to Agnes Irwin in 2007, where she served as Head of Admissions before becoming the Assistant Head of School in 2012. In 2014, she left to become Head of School at the Montgomery School.
Mrs. Keidel’s children encouraged her to take the opportunity of applying to be Agnes Irwin’s Head of School. Mrs. Keidel says that once you become part of the community, “there’s something about Agnes Irwin that becomes part of you,” and she became increasingly excited to return to Agnes Irwin the more she talked with the Board of Trustees.
Mrs. Keidel regrets that she was only able to visit the Lower School in person before Agnes Irwin shut down in March. She wants to keep individual connections between students and faculty alive even if classes are virtual, and reminds all students to take movement breaks from their computers and practice self-care.
Mrs. Keidel says her return to Agnes Irwin feels familiar but also different, as much has changed since she left. As the new Head of School, Mrs. Keidel is excited to get to know the interests and passions of Agnes Irwin students. One of her biggest priorities is staying involved and present in the community. She hopes to connect with students and faculty by visiting classrooms, speaking to students in the halls, and attending important community events.
Over the course of her tenure, Mrs. Keidel hopes to base her goals off of the Agnes Irwin community members’ feedback, wants and needs, and thinks the school needs to reevaluate itself in order to be the best it can be.
Mrs. Keidel wants to strengthen inter-grade and inter-division relationships, and uphold Agnes Irwin’s core values in doing so. She wants girls to go home every day proud of themselves and having had a good experience at school, but acknowledges that Agnes Irwin needs to work to achieve this. Mrs. Keidel plans to consider how the curriculum needs to be changed to best support its students of color, and support the changes being made by each subject department. She hopes that Instagram account @blackmainlinespeaks and Agnes Irwin’s investment in listening to the experiences of alums and students of color will give Agnes Irwin opportunities to be anti-racist.
One of Mrs. Keidel’s biggest goals to help support Agnes Irwin’s Black students and other students of color is to use their feedback to create anti-racist action. She wants to continue the work that began with the Summit on Racial Justice in July. Mrs. Keidel thinks that affinity groups such as those that happened during the Summit on Racial Justice will give the community an open place to share their thoughts and experiences.
To make Agnes Irwin an anti-racist institution, Mrs. Keidel wants the school to also help white students become anti-racist, and ensure that members of the community can find safe spaces to talk about difficult topics and to have meaningful conversations about race.
Mrs Keidel admits that she does not have all the answers to how the school will handle racist incidents and address the grievances suffered by Black students and other students of color. She says that Agnes Irwin needs to handle such incidents in a better way. If a racist incident occurs between two students, teachers need to, in the moment, support the victimized student and educate the perpetrator in such a way that the incident does not happen again. Mrs. Keidel plans to work closely with the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee regarding the actions that Agnes Irwin still needs to take.
