Leadership

A Letter from the Trustees, June 2026

Dear Cambridge Friends School Community,

 

We are heartbroken to share that the Trustees have made the painful decision to close Cambridge Friends School at the end of this school year. After more than 65 years, Cambridge Friends School will close on June 30, 2026.

 

When we wrote to you last month, our hope was to keep the school open for one final year. Since then, enrollment has continued to decline. The Board has had to face the reality that we can no longer provide the education, care, and community experience that students and families rightly expect from Cambridge Friends School.

 

We know this news will bring grief, shock, disappointment, and many questions. It comes after an already difficult year, and we are deeply sorry for the pain this causes our students, families, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends.

 

For families who expected to attend CFS next year, Head of School Katie Marion is available to help with the transition to a new school community. We will do everything we can to support students and families through that process.

 

We also know that this community deserves time to gather, mourn, remember, and give thanks. At a future date, we hope to bring the community together to honor Cambridge Friends School and all it has meant across generations.

 

Though this chapter of Quaker education is ending, the spirit of Cambridge Friends School will continue in the lives of its students, teachers, families, alumni, and all who have been shaped by this community. The Trustees will continue their discernment about the future of Quaker education in Massachusetts, holding closely the values that have guided CFS for more than six decades.

 

In peace and with heavy hearts,

Beno Chapman & Jan Nisenbaum

Co-Clerks of the CFS Board of Trustees

For questions, please contact Katie Marion at k.marion@cambridgefriendsschool.org

Head of School

Our Head of School, Katie Marion, is the face of Cambridge Friends and an important leader for our faculty and staff, families, and students. We are fortunate to have Katie Marion as our Head of School! She has been at CFS for over 25 years, and she brings those years of experience as a classroom teacher, administrator, committee member, and parent to her role as Head. Her nuanced understanding of how to build curriculum that fosters critical thinking and deep learning, how Quaker values are woven into the activity of the classroom, and how essential our teachers are in this work is vital to achieving our mission. Her intrepid leadership helps shape the day-to-day running of the school and inform the longer term trajectory set by the Board of Trustees. The faculty and staff, students, and families are under the care and the responsibility of the Head of School.

Board of Trustees

Our Board of Trustees is a dedicated group of individuals who come from all areas of the Cambridge Friends community: Quakers, parents, local community leaders, and more. The Head of School is an ex officio member of the board, and the board has two faculty representatives as well. As part of our definition as Quaker school, at least 51% of our board must be practicing Quakers.

The Board of Trustees is entrusted with the long term vitality of the school and primarily focuses on strategic direction, including finances and sustainability, fundraising and major giving campaigns, major building projects, in line with our mission. The Board is also responsible for supporting and overseeing the work of the Head of School. 

Much of the board’s work is accomplished by committee and ad hoc task forces on specified issues as needed. Committee membership and leadership is determined by the Committee on Trustees. The current committees are:

• Executive Committee

• Finance Committee

• Development Committee

• Diversity Committee

• Buildings and Grounds Committee

• Marketing Committee

• Quaker Life and Outreach Committee

• Committee on Trustees

Contact the Clerks of the Board of Trustees at clerksoftheboard@cambridgefriendsschool.org.