Webb headmaster to step down

Albert Cauz has announced that he will leave his position as headmaster of The Webb School in Bell Buckle to accept a position at The Baldwin School in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the end of this school year.

Cauz' departure was announced in an e-mail Friday by Phillip G. Coop, chair of the private preparatory school's Board of Trustees.

"Albert's tenure at Webb was characterized by major campus renovations, improvements in our academic quality, the addition of a highly successful Fine Arts program, and a clearly articulated vision of a future for Webb both as a day and boarding school," wrote Coop.

Cauz was named the school's tenth headmaster in July 2005. He had previously been a residential dean at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass.

"I have appreciated the opportunity to have served as Webb's tenth headmaster at an exciting and challenging time for the school," wrote Cauz in a statement. "It has been my privilege to work with such an extraordinarily dedicated faculty and staff, and such an accomplished student body. The Webb School has a clear plan and vision for the future. Therefore, at this juncture, this is an opportune time to begin a transition in leadership, so that a new head of school can participate and make the school's long term strategic plans a reality ...

"Ultimately, I can only express my deepest appreciation to everyone who has been so generous and helpful to the School and to me personally. I send warm wishes and gratitude to all of our many friends, and believe that The Webb School will continue to produce large numbers of young scholars with uncompromising integrity."

Coop wrote that the executive committee of the Board of Trustees will serve as an ad hoc search committee and will begin searching both for an interim headmaster and a permanent headmaster, in case the search for a permanent headmaster is lengthy.

Coop also dispelled two rumors already cropping up -- that former headmaster Jon Frere would return on an interim basis or that Coop himself, who works in the Memphis area, would move back to Bedford County to accept the position.

"Jon has a thriving consulting business, and, while he is a good friend, he and I agreed that we have all moved on," wrote Coop. As for the rumors about himself, he said the goal is to put "a trained educator" in the position.

Cauz holds a bachelor's degree from Boston College and a master's from Middlebury College. He and his wife, pediatrician Bridget McCabe, have lived on the Webb campus with their son, Sebastian. McCabe will work in public health in Puerto Rico.

Founded in 1870 in Culleoka by William R. 'Old Sawney' Webb, The Webb School bills itself as the South's oldest continuously operating boarding school. It moved to Bell Buckle in 1886 after Culleoka legalized the sale of alcohol.