The Hillsdale K-12 Education Office recently expanded its staff to support their member and candidate schools, according to Kathleen O’Toole, assistant provost for K-12 education.

“As the number of schools grows, our office must grow too, so that we can know them well and continue to serve them with excellence,” O’Toole said.

Seven new hires fill both new and old roles including assistant director of board governance, assistant director of curriculum, and director of communications.

According to O’Toole, the K-12 Education Office seeks to provide a classical education in the liberal arts to new or aspiring schools. With 30 member schools in 17 states, the office supports and guides initiatives to start classical schools around the country. 

“We work very closely with these schools, and they are locally operated, which we think is an important element,” O’Toole said. “Our relationship with them is purely voluntary, and we’re bound together by our common pursuit of the same mission.”

Assistant Director of School Leadership Development Colin Mullaney joined the team in July. Previously, he founded a classical school in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Mullaney said he visited Hillsdale Academy to learn about its curriculum, which then inspired the growth of his own school.

“The engagement of the students, the depth of the learning, the coherence of the curriculum, and really the end goal of what the classical education is all about — supporting young human beings in human flourishing and helping them to love what is good, true and beautiful — just inspired us,” Mullaney said.

Mullaney said he kept up the connection with O’Toole after she came to visit his school. 

“We support our member schools by visiting them, working alongside their teachers and headmasters and board members,” O’Toole said. “They come to the college, too. This is very human work, possibly only within a community of friends working together.”

Lyna Heaton, the new teacher support lead, experienced these relationships firsthand when the Hillsdale K-12 team visited her affiliated school where she taught.

“Instead of criticism, they focused on how they could assist me, showing a genuine warmth and commitment that left a lasting impression,” Heaton said. “Their supportive approach is something I carry with me, and I am eager to bring that same level of encouragement to my new role.”

Heaton’s role involves building communities of teachers and connecting them with a national network of classical educators.

The K-12 Education Office also provides free course curricula to private and public K-12 schools that want to use it, according to O’Toole. 

Mullaney said K-12 Education team members are excited to see the effect their developments might have on education across the country.

“I think with the growth of the office, we are in a position to really have a quantum leap in the impact we have with schools,” Mullaney said.