Faculty Profile: Charles Miller, Head of Lower Elementary School

Charles Miller is an open book: generous, humble, lively, and eminently amiable. Our conversation began with curiosity—a question about Tiger Pride that demonstrated that Charles gets it. His path to the Lower Elementary headship at GCDS is a testament to his love of elementary education, strong moral compass, facility with language, and the faith others easily find in his leadership. Charles believes, “early childhood is a remarkable time of possibility. In these foundational years, children discover who they are as learners and as members of our school community. GCDS has long been a place where young students are known, loved, and inspired, and it is my priority to preserve the strengths that have defined us while continuing to grow in ways that meet the needs of today’s children and families.”

My conversation with Charles quickly became enthusiastic and free-wheeling (we both journeyed further down exciting side tangents than was probably prudent), but he claimed clear solid ground when he told me that his life was defined early by his family: he is one of five children, and he is two minutes younger than his twin brother Nicky, who was born with Down Syndrome. It’s clear that Charles had a wonderful relationship with his brother, and his parents subsequently founded the Cooke Center for Learning & Development, a school in Manhattan for neurodivergent students. Education, as it turned out, was the family business. Charles looks our youngest students in the eye, speaks to them as equals, and deeply values the experiences of childhood and parenting. He never asks our GCDS parents to do something he wouldn’t or couldn’t do himself, so messages to parents about screen time, the value of reading, and family dinners are borne out of his own lived and practical experience as a parent, just as much as research and best practice.

Charles has worked with students of many ages—even serving as the Upper School Dean of Students at Birch Wathen Lenox School—but finds that he is best suited for younger students.

A serious reader of literary fiction, Charles also cites Frog and Toad as a lifelong favorite, along with works by Jerry Spinelli and Kate DiCamillo. From here, our conversation spun out into a series of back-and-forth book recommendations, ranging from writings by Zadie Smith, Kurt Vonnegut, and Kevin Wilson to his favorite class in graduate school, which was taught by a librarian on the Newbery Committee. His bookshelf is lined with short story anthologies.

A New York City kid with a Berkshire chill, Charles understands and values the hustle and bustle of a place like GCDS, but manages to do so while keenly observing the beauty and meaning of the world around him. This seems to me to be a learned trait of very good readers as well as distance runners (Charles is both), and this quality is particularly evident in his Sunday messages, where he offers practical necessities for the week ahead at the same time that he expresses gratitude for a world with Octobers and “lingering sunlight.” On his favorite days, you might find Charles on a long run along the Hudson in Rockefeller Preserve. Using a runner’s vocabulary, he hopes he “brings pace” to the Lower Elementary, saying with admiration that “we do everything. I am committed to honoring the traditions that make our division special (Kindergarten circus, service learning, 2nd grade Lenape thematic unit, exhibitions of learning) while also embracing thoughtful innovation that reflects current research in child development and teaching practice.” His years of rich experience in independent and public schools give him a balance that seems fundamentally a part of who he is.

For Charles and the Miller family, many paths led to Greenwich, and many erstwhile connections awaited him here at GCDS. Charles’s wife, Christina, is from Westchester, and his father’s first job was as a waiter at Greenwich Country Club. Upper School English teacher Tim Donahue, a long time friend from years of teaching in Manhattan, advised Charles to apply for the position as Lower Elementary Head through a serendipitous conversation with Adam Rohdie. About Charles, Tim notes: “I rarely finish conversations with Charles because his mind is so flooded with curiosity and observations. He’s eternally turned on to the big questions in life, and yet he’s also attentive to the smallest details. I’ve known him to sit with injured athletes hours after practice until their parents come, and I’ve seen him offer high, mid, and low-fives of endless variety. Like this, he lets students know they feel seen.”

Once he arrived on campus, Charles was gratified to reconnect with Keith Williams, a classmate from Colgate; Mary Alindato and Charlie Bour, friends from working in education in the Berkshires; and Jim Cullen, whose first year as a faculty member at Fieldston was Charles’s last as a graduating senior. This ability to connect—with people, with texts, with nature—struck me repeatedly throughout my meeting with Charles.

Charles approaches the leadership of the Lower Elementary division with a deep admiration and love for students, teachers, and the daily work of school. “We underestimate what young children are capable of,” he notes, and his respect for each child as a full person is part of what can easily be described as wisdom. “The biggest reward is the impact,” he notes, extolling the educators in the Lower Elementary and those teaching his own children at GCDS, and it’s clear that the “joy of being a kid” is at the forefront of what he values about early childhood education. As a leader, Charles values “an approach that blends academic excellence with social emotional and character development. When children feel safe and supported, they take intellectual risks, pursue curiosity with confidence, and develop the habits of mind that lead to lifelong learning.

Early experiences shape not only their academic journeys but also the character and leadership qualities they carry into the future.” With care and gratitude for the past and an eye to the future, we are looking forward to this new chapter in the Lower Elementary under the leadership of Mr. Charles Miller.

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