Setting the Line for 2026-2027

By Brendan Largay, Head of School
Post Date: September 11, 2026

Welcome back, Belmont Day! The school year is off to a terrific start. Our returning students and families haven’t missed a beat since we said so long to them in June. Our new students and families are being welcomed with open arms and are fast becoming part of the community. And our faculty, both new and returning, are bringing our values to life with every lesson and activity. 

What a way to start our hundredth year!

For me, preparing for the new year began in late June. The Class of 2026 (who, by the way, are doing great in their first days of high school!) had just graduated, and I flew off to Boise, Idaho, for a unique professional development opportunity: five days of camping and whitewater rafting on the Salmon River with twenty-one fellow heads of school, and the executive directors of AISNE (Association of Independent Schools in New England) and the World Leadership School.

The challenges and joys of five days camping were abundant. Everything from bone-cold weather (45 degrees and raining) to late starts (on our first night we started our trip at 8:30 p.m. to arrive in total darkness at our first campsite) to glorious fly fishing and bright, beautiful sunshine. Amid this inspiring environment, we spent each evening reflecting on our leadership, the direction of our schools, and our purpose as their heads. 

One of my most substantive takeaways was how to approach a river rapid. The process is called ‘setting the line.’ Every rapid is shaped differently by the location of the rocks beneath and the pace of the water above, and as such, the line you choose to take will look different based on your knowledge of the river and your goals for the ride. So, while you might approach one rapid beginning at the top right and finishing at the bottom left (and thus navigating your raft from one point to the other), the next rapid may start in the middle and end at the bottom right and so on.

Among a group of heads of school, it didn’t take long to draw the analogy to the school year. How do we hope to set the line for our school year? Where are the parts of the year where the river may speed up on us a bit? Where might there be a rock or two beneath the surface that we need to navigate? Where are those moments of glorious sunshine and a more comfortable pace?

All of these questions (and more) greeted the faculty last week as they returned to prepare for another wonderful year along the mighty river that is Belmont Day School. Through the expertise, creativity, innovative spirits, and hard work of faculty and leadership, we have set the line for the 2026-27 school year. As our school marks its first century this year, there will certainly be some places where we know the rapids may speed up a bit, and, always, there will be plenty of sunshine. As for the rocks beneath the surface, may they be few and far between, but that’s why you set the line in the first place–to navigate successfully from this side to the other.  

So, too, with the school year. Your children will be expert river guides by next June, and, just as importantly, there will be a great deal of fun to be had along the river getting there. Let’s all take a seat, grab our paddles, and push off from the shore. 

Welcome back, everyone!

Postscript: Reflecting on the 25th Anniversary of 9-11

This edition of the Scoop appears on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

Twenty-five years ago, I was starting just my third year of teaching and was working at the Park School in Brookline. The school year had just begun, and I was still learning my way around the teaching profession. How do you manage a classroom? How do you establish guidelines and rituals to help shape a year together teaching and studying English? By 10 a.m. that morning, those questions had changed for me, and for all schools, forever.

How do you meet the first critical promise of keeping your students safe enough to learn? How do you answer questions that children have when you yourself don’t know the answers?  

That morning reshaped our understanding of the way the world worked, and in so doing, it reshaped how we think about education too. It showed us the worst and best of humanity. It also touched the lives of countless Boston-area families who were connected in some form or fashion to so many of the victims of that morning’s tragic events. I still struggle to believe twenty-five years have passed since that fateful morning, and for those who lost a family member, friend, colleague, or neighbor on that day or in its aftermath, please know we are thinking of you.