On Monday, July 1, a new era began as this year’s Upper School administrative team, composed of the Director of Upper School Dr. Melanie Arias, Assistant Director of Upper School Ms. Kerri Epps, Administrative Assistant to the Upper School Ms. Kali Spicer and Dean of Student Support Ms. Bonnie Pais Martinez, officially got to work after previous Director of Upper School Mr. Gary Baldwin’s departure. They spent the summer team building, getting to know each other, and familiarizing themselves with each other’s work styles. It was an opportunity to set goals and plan for the start of the school year.

Roles of the Upper School Office:

Dr. Melanie Arias, who was previously the Associate Director of the Prep Division at Windward School, is Westridge’s new Director of Upper School. She described her new role: “If you think of all the Upper School parts as a wagon wheel with spokes, I’m like the little part at the center. Things come to me, but also go through me. I reconnect with people.” Dr. Arias helps supervise faculty, meets with parents at each grade level, and supports college counseling. 

Working alongside Dr. Arias, Ms. Kerri Epps, who teaches Chamber Orchestra, is Westridge’s new Assistant Director of Upper School. She is the “point person” for parents when they have any questions or concerns, and is also responsible for events like field trips and Discovery Week. 

Ms. Kali Spicer, who was the Westridge Student Leadership Assistant from 2016–2019, has returned as the new Administrative Assistant to the Upper School. She supports Dr. Arias and Ms. Epps by managing Westridge communications—making sure everything from the Outlook calendar to the Veracross page is updated and clear.

Ms. Bonnie Pais Martinez is the Upper School Dean of Student Support. She is responsible for managing the advisory system and works with class deans to conceptualize advisory activities based on grade level. Additionally, she meets with teachers of grades nine through 12 to ensure that students are succeeding academically, socially, and mentally. 

With many team members new to their roles, they are focusing on reassessing the effectiveness of current systems before implementing any changes: “If it’s working, great. Sometimes being new doesn’t mean you have to change everything. I think for me, especially my position, I’m just trying to learn as much as possible about what has been and how it’s functioning and seeing, ‘okay, this is working well at serving our community,’ or, ‘oh, this needs attention,’” Ms. Epps said.

Ms. Martinez, Ms. Epps, and Ms. Spicer have experience with working at Westridge and are familiar with the school’s values, while Dr. Arias brings a fresh perspective and new ideas as she learns about the school’s processes.

Together, they tackled field trip management and the add/drop period, two concerns of top priority.

Before this year, it was challenging for teachers to plan field trips because of the uncertainty in organization. “There’s a lot of moving pieces,” Ms. Epps said. The amendments to field trip planning have clarified both the requirements for teachers as well as the administration office’s procedures. Ms. Epps believes that things are already moving more smoothly, and she’s able to improve the process further thanks to feedback from faculty.

Additionally, over the summer, the office worked on changes to the add/drop period with Registrar Mr. Jackson Bueno. Updates to the process meant that this year’s form was processed online, which allowed the office to better match students with classes if spots opened up, update enrollment more quickly, and provided the school with additional data for future Add/Drop periods.

Ms. Spicer has been working on improving communications and processes to help Westridge students and faculty work efficiently by keeping information clear and accessible on Veracross and the Outlook calendar. “I’m looking at it with the eye of, how do we communicate really well? How do we make sure all of our systems, [and all the] places where students might find things, are up to date and accurate and helpful?” she said.

While the team is currently focused on how to improve the school’s existing programs, they are  excited to implement new initiatives in the future. They hope that the changes and improvements they make now will allow students, faculty, and administration to succeed and thrive.

Dr. Arias quoted a lamppost sign outside of her office, in front of the breezeway, saying, “The one that I talk the most about is an ‘Infinite Space for Unstoppable Girls.’ What does that look like to support [the] faculty and to partner with parents to make sure that that infinite space is realized?” She continued, “I just hope some of the seeds that are planted by having good systems give more space to think about being infinite and to think about being unstoppable.”

Dr. Arias also noted that the Upper School Office frequently communicates with other departments to best support student needs.

“I’m talking to them all day, every day,” Ms. Epps said, joking that she gets her daily steps in by walking back and forth between the offices of Dr. Arias, Ms. Spicer, and Ms. Martinez down the hall.

Ms. Martinez added that four of them are in close contact with the class deans and department chairs. “It’s all interconnected,” Ms. Martinez said. “There’s just a lot of layers. And hopefully…[we] make sure we don’t fall through the cracks.”

12th Grade Class Dean Ms. Laura Hatchman, alongside the other class deans, meets with Dr. Arias, Ms. Epps, Ms. Martinez, and Director of Counseling and Student Support Dr. Lisa LaFave during their frequent dean meetings. In her experience, most processes are similar to last year, but she attributes this to a period of transition and novelty, as it’s only been a couple of months since the start of the school year. “It’s different, so I think everyone is adjusting to their new roles and new personnel,” Ms. Hatchman said. “And so we’re all just getting to know each other and figure out how we all work together…[and] so far, so good.”

11th Grade Class Dean Coach Allison Clark expressed similar sentiments: “This year, because I am a dean, I have gotten to interact professionally with [Dr. Arias] quite a bit. Any change is hard, but we have so many new people in the Upper School, so it was always going to be rocky. I feel like people are working hard, adjusting to feedback from the community, and genuinely trying to do what is right for Westridge.” Coach Clark hopes that students keep giving faculty and administration constructive feedback as the year progresses.

Students are also in the process of getting to know the new office members and their goals. ASB President Kayla A. ’25 said that while she hasn’t had the opportunity to work closely with all of the office yet, she has interacted with Ms. Spicer in passing. “I know [Ms. Spicer is] really knowledgeable about ASB, and that’s something that’s important to me obviously, so I do appreciate her support on that end.”

Because Ms. Epps has taught orchestra at Westridge for the past five years, 12th Grade Class President Isla R. feels comfortable knowing that she’s part of the team. “Ms. Epps is my queen,” Isla said. “I love Ms. Epps. I think she’s doing an amazing job as Assistant Director of Upper School. For me, I’ve worked with her since Middle School in orchestra, so it’s definitely nice to have a very friendly face, or someone I know, in office, especially since there’s all these new people.”

While the administration team remains optimistic about the positive changes they aim to bring to the school, student reactions to some recent efforts, including new policies on uniform enforcement, have been mixed.

“I’ve heard a lot of stuff about dress code and how it’s changing a lot, and they’re trying to get more strict with it. And I guess I’m just kind of like, ‘why all of a sudden?’…I’m just interested to see where [the office’s] priorities are,” Amanda S. ’26 said.

Although Kayla herself likes the uniform, she said, “I feel like people [have been] a lot more adherent to the uniform [this year]…There’s more direction to be on top of us, which I don’t know how I feel about, because I do love the independence Westridge gives.”

Building a new team takes time, but the Upper School Office is dedicated to making constant improvements. As a fun way to celebrate their successes, the team places a paper star in a jar for each achievement, no matter how big or small.

For Further Reading:

Baking and Cooking Enthusiast Ms. Kali Spicer Rediscovers Westridge’s Welcoming Community