Our New Head of School

Introducing Dr. Noni Thomas López: Poly Prep’s New Head School Effective July 2025

We’re thrilled to announce the appointment of Dr. Noni Thomas López as our new Head of School, effective July 2025.

Currently serving in her 6th year as Head of School at the Gordon School in East Providence, Rhode Island, Dr. Thomas López has 30 years of experience in independent education and represents the first woman and person of color to lead our diverse community.

Dr. Thomas López returns to New York where she spent 20 years teaching and leading in the city’s independent school system. Her scholarship, passion for mentorship, and sense of history will help foster a community centered on inclusion and achievement.

Thank you to everyone involved in the search process—and a special thank you to John Rankin for his invaluable leadership. John will continue to serve as our Head of School through the end of the 2024-25 school year, working with Dr. Thomas López to ensure a seamless transition.

We are beyond excited to welcome Dr. Thomas López to Poly Prep and look forward to her positive impact on our school – and Noni is excited to join our community in kind:

“I am thrilled to begin the next chapter of my professional journey at Poly Prep – not only because I am returning to a city that has played a central role in my personal story and my family history, but because I am joining a community that shares in my belief that schools should be sites of joy, intellectual engagement, belonging and purpose.

While my last place of residence in New York was the Boogie Down Bronx, BK holds a special place in my heart. From signing my first New York apartment lease to walking home across the Manhattan Bridge after the Twin Towers fell, my time in Brooklyn was a time of becoming, for me and the borough. Poly embodies that spirit of becoming as well, a community that, in your own words, wants to open out to the world and be open to the world. What an audacious, beautiful, and necessary aspiration for a school today. Advancing Poly’s commitment to diversity and academic excellence is an endeavor that I do not take lightly, and it’s one that calls for the engagement of every member of the community. I am looking forward to 2025 and joining students, families, faculty, staff, trustees, and alumni in the good work of pulling forward the best of Poly’s past to envision and create an extraordinary future together.”

Head of School Search Committee and Process

Read a special thank you note from the Head of School Search Committee.

To learn more about how we incorporated the diverse voices of our community into the Head of School search process, please visit this page.