SJS News

After more than 30 years of dedicated service, Father Dunnan has announced that he will retire in two years, in June of 2027, marking the end of a significant chapter in Saint James School's history. The Board of Trustees has formed a search committee and is actively planning to ensure a smooth transition in 2027. Concurrent with the search we will celebrate Father Dunnan’s transformative leadership of Saint James. 

Please read below a letter from Tod Salisbury (Chairman of the Board) to the community as well as Father Dunnan's letter to Mr. Salisbury. To view FAQs and updates on the search process, visit: www.stjames.edu/search.

July 11, 2025

Dear School Family,

Below is a letter from the Headmaster advising me of his intention to retire in two years. During that time, the Board of Trustees will be actively planning to ensure a smooth transition. That planning began with the selection of a search committee at a Board retreat in late June and will continue with the retention of a consultant to assist the committee. Fortunately, we have plenty of time to perform a successful search.

Concurrent with the search we will celebrate Father Dunnan’s leadership of Saint James. Father Dunnan has been a transformational Head and is leaving the School in excellent shape. Indeed, all facets of its operations have greatly improved during his tenure. 

Happily, Father Dunnan will still be here for the next two years to carry on the good work of his headmastership. He will oversee the construction of the new boys’ dorm, Dunnan Hall, as well as overseeing the day-to-day operation of the School. 

In the late spring of each year, Father Dunnan delivers a homily at morning chapel about saying goodbye. He tells the students to thank those at the School who have helped them and say farewell. We have been greatly blessed by Father’s decades of outstanding leadership and now is the time for us to follow his advice.

Of course, we will be sorry to see Father Dunnan leave but we have good reason to be optimistic about the future of Saint James.  The School is thriving and should have no trouble attracting an Episcopal priest to carry on his good work. As always, the Board is grateful for your loyal support. We will be in touch periodically as the search progresses.

With warm regards, 

Tod Salisbury '70
Board President & Chairman

July 5, 2025

Dear Tod,

I write to confirm our understanding that I will remain Headmaster of Saint James School for two more years, retiring in June of 2027.  My hope is that giving the School two years’ notice will allow the Board sufficient time to conduct a successful search and give my successor time to make the move to Saint James.

When I arrived 33 years ago today, I came to a school in some distress, but the community welcomed me and immediately supported me in all my efforts to rebuild and strengthen Saint James.  Happily, this shared effort has continued for all my time here, and I look forward to continuing this good work for two more years to come.

Specifically, we have doubled and greatly diversified our student body, built, bought, and/or renovated every building and field on campus, purchased c.440 acres of surrounding farmland to preserve our rural setting, grown our endowment by a factor of 12, increased our operating budget by a factor of 10, and substantially increased our faculty and staff salaries and benefits.  With the help of this growth, we have dramatically improved our academic, athletic, arts, and extracurricular programs, and established ourselves as the smaller, more age-appropriate alternative to the other leading boarding schools. 

To achieve these goals, we have solicited increasing support for the Annual Fund, the endowment, and a progressive list of ambitious and transformative capital projects.  Happily, the company of our supporters has continued to grow, and I personally could not be more grateful to my hard-working colleagues and to the many committed and thoughtful donors like you who have given so generously to make this miracle happen.

I have also sought to serve this community to the best of my ability as a priest in the Catholic tradition of the Episcopal Church, in which Saint James was founded and to which Saint James has remained remarkably faithful.  In this capacity, I have sought to know and care for our students, alumni, parents, staff, and faculty, and to make real for them, to the best of my ability, the sustaining presence and loving purposes of God.  
 
I have enjoyed the fullness of priestly ministry here, preaching and celebrating every week, and baptizing, marrying, and burying too many to count.  I have also been blessed to advise, befriend, and teach two generations of students, which has been and will continue to be the greatest joy of my “job.”

It will therefore be hard for me to leave Saint James when the time comes, but that is two years away.  Happily, Saint James is much more substantial and enduring than I am, as the fact that we will celebrate our 185th anniversary in that year will remind us.  Because of our remarkable history, I am the tenth in a long line of devoted headmasters, four of whom like me served for over twenty years, and I have no doubt that our successors will continue to guard, preserve, shepherd, and improve Saint James for generations of students to come.    

I am also the middle of five children with 12 nieces and nephews and 20 great nieces and nephews, and that number is growing.  I have made many friends during my time here, and there is a host of former and present colleagues, students, alumni, and past and present parents with whom I hope to stay in touch.  

But when that moment comes, I will be 68 years old, which feels like the right age “to retire,” and I will have served Saint James for 35 years, which seems enough, as I will be the same age as the last class that I will induct into the Half Century Club.

Most importantly, a year of completion in the Bible ends in 7.

Yours faithfully,

The Revd. Dr. D. Stuart Dunnan
Headmaster
 

For updates on the search process, key milestones, and opportunities for the community to engage, please visit www.stjames.edu/search.