June 20, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Dennis O’Shea
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THE LOYOLA SCHOOL APPOINTS RUTSTEIN PRINCIPAL
Veteran Friends School director of academics will join TLS on July 1
Greta Rutstein, a Baltimore educator and school leader for nearly 40 years, will become principal of The Loyola School, a pre-K/elementary school that offers a full-scholarship, high-quality Jesuit education to low-income Baltimore City children.
Rutstein, director of academics at Friends School of Baltimore since 2007, will join TLS on July 1, said the school’s president and founder, the Rev. William J. Watters, S.J.
“Greta brings a wealth of expertise and experience to the leadership of The Loyola School,” Watters said. “Just as important, she is personally dedicated to our critical mission of fostering academic achievement and cognitive, affective, spiritual and social growth in young children from underserved Baltimore families.”
Rutstein will oversee the continuing expansion of The Loyola School – founded in 2017 as a pre-K early learning center — into a school covering all levels from pre-kindergarten through fourth grade.
The transition began in the fall of 2021 with the addition of the first kindergarten class. One new grade level is to be added each autumn through 2025; at full size, the school will have a student population of 200.
Rutstein’s responsibilities will include curriculum development, hiring and supervision of teachers, admissions and budgeting. She also will participate in the ongoing campaign to raise funds for renovation and refurbishment of historic buildings in the Mount Vernon neighborhood that will house the school’s elementary classrooms and other facilities.
Rutstein joined Friends School as lower school principal in 2001 and six years later became its first director of academics, with responsibilities including curricular development and oversight, hiring and evaluating faculty and staff, leading faculty professional development and implementing Friends’ strategic plan.
Her colleagues at Friends credit her with the development of the school’s foundational teaching and learning paradigm, innovations in teaching philosophy, and academic practices that will continue to shape the school for years to come.
“The opportunity to serve the children, families and faculty of The Loyola School, where the Jesuit traditions of academic learning, personal care and spiritual growth are at the forefront, aligns beautifully with both my personal and professional passions,” Rutstein said.
Before Friends, she had been at Bryn Mawr School for 18 years, rising from teacher to lower school curriculum coordinator. She has remained in the classroom while serving in administration; in her career, she has taught subject areas as diverse as language arts, writing, science, mathematics and social studies.
Onetime colleague Peggy Bessent, retired associate head of school at Bryn Mawr and now a trustee of The Loyola School, called Rutstein “a seasoned school leader and an expert in curriculum and pedagogy.”
“Teachers, families and especially children thrive in Greta’s care,” Bessent said, “as she is committed to academic excellence and fostering a culture of belonging.”
The Loyola School is an initiative of the St. Ignatius Catholic Community in Mount Vernon and of the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuit order of Catholic priests and brothers. TLS students and their families come from throughout Baltimore City and represent a wide range of faith traditions. The school’s philanthropic benefactors provide full-tuition scholarships to each student.
“In Greta, we are bringing one of Maryland’s stellar educational leaders to our important work,” said Joe Lombard, a partner in the law firm McGonigle P.C and chair of The Loyola School’s board of trustees. “Welcoming an educator of Greta’s experience and reputation as our principal enhances our ability to meet the needs of underserved children in Baltimore City and their families.”
Rutstein will report to Watters. She will work in collaboration with Erica Meadows, who remains executive director of the pre-K levels of the school. Meadows has headed all early learning initiatives since the school opened, serving with distinction and “laying the strong foundation on which The Loyola School is being built,” Lombard said.
Rutstein graduated in 1983 from Connecticut College, where she majored in English and elementary education. She earned a master’s degree in education from the Johns Hopkins University in 1987, concentrating in administration and supervision, curriculum development and counseling.
The Loyola School currently operates in St. Ignatius Church and in school-owned facilities nearby on St. Paul Street. It expects to begin work late this summer to convert school-owned townhouses along East Madison Street across from St. Ignatius into elementary classrooms, a library, offices and other facilities. The $10 million project includes renovation of the facades and existing townhouses, construction of a new multipurpose center to their rear and installation of a main entrance on Calvert Street. Completion is expected in time for the 2023-24 school year.
The Loyola School recently received Loyola University Maryland’s 2022 Milch Community Partnership Award, presented annually to a community group, organization or agency that contributes to the betterment of the intellectual, cultural, social, or commercial life of greater Baltimore.
The school completes an “ecosystem” of scholarship-supported Jesuit education institutions founded by Watters for underserved families in Baltimore. The schools, which also include St. Ignatius Loyola Academy and Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, will by 2025 cover all grades from preschool through 12th grade. They will enroll more than 650 students, mostly persons of color, focused on going to college and fulfilling the Jesuit motto: “Men and Women for Others.”
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