Barstow welcomes its 18th president and strengthens its connection to KC

By Collyn Robinson

As students, staff and faculty at The Barstow School embark on another academic year, they will encounter a new face on campus: Arthur “Art” Hall, who was welcomed as the school’s 18th president and head of school on Tuesday, July 1. His appointment makes him the first Black person to hold the position in the school’s 140-year history. In addition, the school boasts new marketing partnerships with local KC organizations to bolster their campus offerings and outreach efforts within the community.

Hall succeeds Shane Foster — The Barstow School’s 17th president and second-longest serving head of school — who announced his retirement last summer. Following Foster’s announcement, the school appointed Hall to be Barstow’s president-elect just four months later, in December.

Although the school’s new president hails from Southern California, his career as an educator and administrator has taken him all over the country. After working as a computer specialist at Harvard-Westlake in Los Angeles, California, he became a teacher and varsity basketball coach at Greenhill School in Dallas, Texas. Eventually he was promoted to be an administrator, which led to him holding administrative roles at independent schools in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Texas again and now Kansas City.

Hall found out about the position at Barstow during a career break. He was working with a search consultant who conducts national searches for school leaders. Although he was previously unfamiliar with Barstow, he explored their website and found a great appreciation for its mission. He applied and was selected for the position.

“I had never heard of The Barstow School, but once I was on their website, I got a chance to look at the perspective that they were sending out for potential candidates, and it resonated with me,” Hall said. “When I pulled up and I saw Barstow . . . and I saw the grounds and beautiful facilities and all of the great things that were going on here, I knew that this was the school I wanted to spend a significant amount of time in my career.”

Last year marked a period of significant growth and improvement at Barstow. The school undertook a massive capital campaign which added a second driveway on campus, opened the new Foster Athletic Center — named in honor of its former president Shane Foster — launched Preschool Prep and the Pathways Program, and increased enrollment at IDEA Space KC.

With this momentum in mind, The Telegraph questioned Hall about his plans for the future of the school.

“This first year will certainly be me just kind of kicking the tires and understanding the internal workings of the school,” Hall said. “But we want to stay true to our mission, which is community building and belonging.”

Members of Barstow’s Board of Trustees will support Hall’s transition into the role by collaborating with him on a range of strategic objectives.

This introduction of a new head of school is also accompanied by new marketing partnerships with Sporting KC and KSHB 41 Weather. Barstow entered into these partnerships not only to increase its presence in the community but also because of the organizations’ shared values and missions.

“I never want to hear anybody from North of the River, Lee’s Summit, Olathe say ‘Barstow, never heard of it’,” Lisa Tulp, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Barstow, told the Telegraph. “They are very much a one city, one team, bi-state messaging kind of entity, and we like that. It aligns with who we want to reach through our admission process and to make sure that people know we’re more than just a niche, neighborhood south Kansas City School, we are a resource for the whole community.”