Beloved leader leaving PDS post
Burns lured to alma mater
Lee Burns, headmaster at Presbyterian Day School, will be the next headmaster of McCallie School in Chattanooga.
“I have both deep sadness and grief at leaving PDS and Memphis and great excitement at returning to my alma mater and hometown. It was an agonizing decision,” Burns said in a text Monday.
Burns, 44, has served PDS as headmaster since 2000. He will continue in the job for next year, taking over McCallie on Aug. 1, 2014.
Burns is a 1987 graduate of McCallie. His brother, father and grandfather are all alumni of the school. His grandfather — Major Arthur Lee Burns — is a Chattanooga institution, having served from 1925 to 1972 as teacher, chair of the foreign languages, dean of students and associate headmaster.
“We just knew that he loved McCallie, and we had hoped we could keep him forever,” said Winston Baccus, PDS director of communications. “When we heard they were looking for a headmaster, we all knew Lee Burns was the perfect fit.”
PDS, a private boys’ school at 4025 Poplar,
serves about 630 students in prekindergarten through sixth grade. McCallie, also a boys’ school, has about 915 day and boarding students in grades 6-12.
Burns inspired enormous change at PDS, says board chairman Don Batchelor. “Memphis has not just lost a leader of a school but a leader in an industry that has made a huge impact on our city.”
Burns was instrumental in establishing the Martin Institute for Teaching Excellence in 2010. With a gift from Brad Martin, interim University of Memphis president, PDS offers professional development for public school teachers through its annual conference and scholarships to Harvard University’s summer Project Zero program.
Next summer, Harvard will offer the program here.
Two years ago, PDS began an independent learning program and extended it this year when test scores increased. Under Burns, minority enrollment increased from 4 to 15 percent, largely through an anonymous scholarship that makes it possible for five boys to start PDS as kindergartners and continue through sixth grade.
Burns also helped establish a Mandarin Chinese language program for boys as young as 3, oversaw a $26 million capital fundraising campaign and construction of a $20 million wing for early childhood education.
He serves as president of the Elementary School Heads Association, a group representing 250 K- 6 and K-8 independent schools. He is a member of the Country Day School Headmasters Association and the Visionary Heads Group. He earned his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard.
“We’ll have a year to celebrate him and help him wrap up,” Batchelor said. “We’re excited for him. This is a lifetime goal. To be headmaster at his age at a school as prestigious as McCallie, I wouldn’t say it was unheard of, but it is extremely rare.”
PDS will conduct a national search to replace Burns. Committee members are Batchelor, John Colcolough, Howard Graham, Stephanie Linkous, Steve Sansom and Duncan Williams.