New School leader taking Florida job

FAYETTEVILLE — The New School’s president and head of school is leaving in the summer to pursue a similar position in Florida.

Dennis Chapman has accepted a head of school position at The Village School of Naples, he announced Tuesday on Twitter.

Chapman, in an email to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, wrote he was attracted to the new job because he is a native Floridian and has family there.

“I will also be leading a very similar type of school with an innovative STEAM curriculum and a school which is adding a high school on the same timeline as The New School,” he wrote.

STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.

Chapman was appointed to lead The New School in 2014. Before that he’d served in administrative roles at two private schools in Florida.

The New School, a private school that opened in 1971, serves more than 400 children in preschool through grade

10.

The Board of Trustees decided last year to add a high school.

A grade level will be added each of the next two years until the campus has a full high school. Three new buildings to accommodate the expansion opened this fall.

A search is underway for Chapman’s successor. The board expects to name its next head of school by February, according to Chapman.

Chapman wrote in a tweet he and his family will “always cherish” their time in Fayetteville and will be grateful for the opportunity to have led The New School.

Chapman