Friends School Mullica Hill

After a long search for a new Head of School, the Board chose English-born Quaker, Alex Horsley.  This was the beginning of a truly new era for the School. Many of the founders had departed in one fashion or another, and the School’s enrollment had been declining steadily.  The new Head of School had to find a way to increase enrollment and turn things around. In a message at the end of his...

After six challenging years in and outside of Mullica Hill, the Board announced that there would be a new Head of School in the 1980s.  Ken Erdley had worked hard to move the School beyond its founders, and he had succeeded. Many institutions fail and collapse when the early founders depart, but staff, teachers, parents, and students all worked together to keep the school moving forward even...

The mid and late 1970s were hard times for the United States and they were equally challenging for Friends School.  Tuition had doubled over five years, and enrollment had declined significantly. When Ken Erdley became the second Head of School, as mentioned in the last post, there were over 260 students, but that number declined to about 200 by the late 1970s.  In 1975, the Parent-Teacher...