Karen Lassey

Lassey’s primary role during the pandemic is collaborating with Principal Rawson and other administrators to meet their goals and “hold pieces of the planning together”: assessing resources, recommending adjustments, making sure people have what they need to meet deadlines, and communicating as decisions are made or plans shift. She oversaw the creation of Exeter’s COVID-related student guidebook and other interim communications that outlined details of Exeter’s pandemic plan. She supported the medical director, Dr. Katy Lilly, whose work, skill and dedication have been critical to the success of the school’s response throughout the pandemic. She also worked with Exeter’s ITS Department to establish a COVID-19 dashboard on the school website. In the fall, as the campus community adapted to a hybrid term, Lassey moderated virtual “town hall” panels of school leaders to keep parents updated on changes and activities. “It’s something we should continue doing,” she says.

“It’s a way to communicate with families that [allows] parents to ask questions and offer input.”

One of the greatest transformations last fall was around the Harkness table. Lassey, who has taught both physics and math during her 24-year career at Exeter, experienced those changes first-hand when she taught “Transition 1 Mathematics.” The class began fully remote, with students both on and off campus attending via Zoom. In late October, when it was deemed safe to do so, mask-wearing students in the Phillips Hall classroom were separated from one another at the table by Plexiglas dividers. A 360-degree camera sat in the middle of the table, which created greater cohesion and connection between those in-class and students joining remotely. Being back in the classroom, even in this novel form, was a welcome development for Lassey. “It’s been so nice to interact with students in person again,” she says.

The new format meant adjusting some of her teaching methods. “I don’t typically do math instruction,” she explains. “I try to empower students who have a unique way of looking at a problem to speak up and help one another.” To support her students during the fall term, Lassey occasionally created a video of herself demonstrating alternative strategies to solving specific problems, once the students had wrestled with them, to provide additional resources for them — something she would not have done previously. “Teaching remotely doesn’t replicate the classroom but it does draw on new opportunities,” she says. The in-person models that she and some of her colleagues used in the fall will be deployed in 70 Exeter classrooms, across disciplines, when students return in the winter, with more in-person instruction planned for spring term.

Lassey, who grew up in New Hampshire, didn’t envision joining the military. But when she received an Army ROTC flyer during her freshman year at Amherst College she was intrigued. “My grandfather, father and uncle were all in the army,” she says. “I’d never thought about it before then.” She received a ROTC scholarship at Amherst, and after graduation, served as an army engineer during the first Gulf War, supporting the design and construction of temporary roads and facilities in Saudi Arabia. In 1993, she was deployed to Somalia.

“We built roads for dispersing humanitarian relief, and violence escalated while we were there,” she remembers. “There were explosive devices in some of the areas where UN troops were operating, so we adapted our mission to building new and safer routes around those areas.” After returning stateside, she taught at the U.S. Army Engineer School in Missouri and worked in the private sector before coming to Exeter as an instructor. She was named dean of academic affairs in 2012 and became assistant principal in 2017. She remains actively involved in campus life, living on campus, doing dorm duty and advising students. She is also club adviser to the Feminist Union, aka FEM Club, which hosts feminism-centered discus-sions and events.

“I hope to get back into the classroom more, too,” she says.

Before the pandemic, Lassey was facilitating major initiatives for the Academy — coordinating strategic planning efforts and overseeing and supporting the work of the directors of religious services, health services, and global programs. Working closely with Christina Palmer, director of student well-being and Holly Barcroft, general counsel, Lassey manages the school’s response to sexual misconduct allegations. Re-designing this process a few years ago was “a collaboration with a lot of people — deans, faculty, student advisers and the students involved,” she says. “We worked with students to get feedback and design protocols that are trauma-informed. Nothing about these situations is positive, but we try to put in as many supports as possible [for] all students involved and that don’t diminish the agency of the reporting student. We’re trying to create a process that’s the least harming to students who come forward and encourages students to come forward.”

Lassey is also deeply committed to Exeter’s anti-racism work. She completed her doctoral dissertation, which focused on equity and inclusion, just before the pandemic started.

“I was personally immersed in these topics for the last two to three years with an education leadership focus,” she says. She is putting her research into action, with a particular focus on data and equity.

This winter, as part of the school’s anti-racist curriculum, she is co-facilitating a student group discussion entitled, “The Racialization of Scientific Thought.” Lassey is also advising a student with a senior project about equity with regard to education policy in the U.S.

Among Lassey’s takeaways from this challenging year (and something she is familiar with) is the ability to respond to changing conditions — and learn from the experience. “Sometimes, when you’re forced to adapt and adjust, you make leaps and bounds that are greater than when you have the luxury of time,” she concludes.  

— Debbie Kane

Editor's note: This story originally appeared in the winter 2021 issue of The Exeter Bulletin.