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Welcome from Head of SchoolPercy L. Abram, Ph.D.

Welcome to The Bush School! It is a pleasure to introduce you to the dynamic, inclusive, and joyful learning community of The Bush School. I encourage you to explore our website to learn more about the school and our mission: to spark in students of diverse backgrounds and talents a passion for learning, accomplishment, and contribution to their communities.

The Bush School provides a progressive, inquiry-based, student-centered program focused on participatory learning. This engaging learning environment is designed to produce caring and informed students, artists, athletes, thinkers, and citizens who aspire to live rewarding and purposeful lives. Bush students engage with our challenging and robust academic programs, guided by expert teachers who care about their intellectual engagement as well as their development into creative, compassionate, and ethical community members.

Students are asked to confront and solve complex problems in the classroom and on our two campuses in Seattle and the Methow Valley, the greater Northwest, and the world. As a result of these experiences, they learn how to make an impact on their community that is meaningful and enduring. I am hopeful that you will visit us to see how our mission is brought to life daily by students and teachers. It is the best way for you to experience Bush.

Sincerely,

Percy L. Abram, Ph.D.

Head of School

Bio & Education
Bio and education
Percy L. Abram, Ph.D. joined The Bush School in 2014 as Bush’s ninth head of school. He is a true academic, community builder, and life-long learner.

In addition to championing the students, faculty and families at Bush, Dr. Abram started the NWAIS Leaders of Color program for aspiring leaders of color to explore their leadership visions, opportunities and aspirations within and beyond independent schools. He also serves on the boards of Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS), Annie Wright Schools, and Independent School Data Exchange (INDEX). Heads Network

Dr. Abram believes in the power of education and the promise of students as future leaders and changemakers. We are fortunate to have him leading the way for us at Bush and invite you to learn more about his educational approach, leadership, and vision for The Bush School.

Education
Ph.D. in sociology of education, Stanford University
M.A. in sociology, Stanford University
M.A. in education, University of California Los Angeles
B.A. in economics, University of California Los Angeles

Vision

Leading the WayPercy has set a vision for the Bush School that builds on the school’s 100-year old tradition of experiential education that includes a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that informs teaching, learning, community engagement, as well as operational, governance, and fiduciary practices. Our health as a school depends on our fulfilling this commitment.

Scholar

Educational Thought Leader
Percy has been in educational leadership for over thirty years. He most recently wrote an article The Dark Side of Rigor that was published in Independent School Magazine.

Running

Passion & Purpose
If Percy is not at the Bush School, there is a good chance you can find him running on the trails along Lake Washington or Lake Union. He began running in 2013, and now runs four days a week with a goal of twenty-five to thirty miles each week. Percy shared, “I remember all the miles logged, all the routes, and multiple playlists—mostly hip hop with a dollop of Prince. It took me a while to admit to myself that I actually liked running, and now it's a key part of who I am and how I navigate the world.”

Starting in March 2020 to make his way through the ups and downs of leading a school through a global pandemic, Percy modified his running routine and started running a half marathon once a month. He ran the 2022 NYC Marathon on Sunday, November 6 to celebrate his birthday and be a part of this iconic race through the five boroughs of New York City.

Methow Campus

Placed Based Learning
Percy imagined a place where Bush students and faculty could engage in place-based education. In the fall of 2016, the school acquired a twenty-acre campus and educational facility in Mazama, Washington. The Bush School campus extends beyond the urban landscape of Seattle across the Cascade mountains to The Bush School Methow Campus. This campus, located in the region known as the Methow Valley, provides students with immersive experiences that highlight the interdependence between community, environment, and self.

Abram Family

Place & Community
Percy values a shared sense of place and community, and believes that relationships are the foundation of our work in schools. His family is an integral part of his life and an important way that he engages with The Bush School. His wife Nina is a physician and Clinic Chief at UW Medicine. Their daughter Claudia ’21 is a recent Bush graduate, and Carlos ’24 is a senior. Claudia helped to start the Center for Intercultural Action and is now attending Kenyon College. Carlos started at Bush in Second Grade and played goalie on the 2022 Boys Varsity Soccer State Championship team. The Abram-Maisterra family value their time together and when they are not traveling to their favorite spots on Hornby Island, BC, California, or Barcelona, they can be found hanging out together at their home in the Seward Park neighborhood with their family dog Felix.

Leaders of Color

Building Community
Percy imagined a space for emerging leaders of color to come together. He developed the leaders of color community in California and then brought this same program to NWAIS. The program is an affinity space for educational leaders with a commitment to continuing to learn and grow as leaders of color. This includes those leading from all different positions in schools including teachers, administrators, and staff.

Click here to read Head of School Percy L. Abram's Monthly Blog

Head of School Book Club

Head of School Percy L. Abram hosts a book club each year featuring one or two books of note. Community members are encouraged to read these topical books about education, culture, and parenting, and then gather with Dr. Abram to discuss the books. Since 2014, there have been thirteen Head of School Book Club books including Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown, Whistling Vivaldi by Claude Steele, The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs, Overloaded and Underprepared by Denise Clark-Pope, The End of Average by Tom Rose, Loving Learning by Tom Little & Katherine Ellison, Path to Purpose by William Damon, Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance, How to Raise an Adult by Julie Lythcott-Haims, Become America by Eric Liu, Permission to Feel by Marc Brackett, Caste by Isabel Wilkerson, and Dear White Woman, Please Come Home by Kimberlee Yolanda Williams. Listed below is a selection of some of the Head of School Book Club selections:

List of 4 items.

Caste

By Isabel Wilekrson

Caste invites us to discover the inner workings of an American hierarchy that goes far beyond the confines of race, class, or gender.
Read More
How to Raise an Adult

By Lythcott-Haims

A provocative manifesto that exposes the harms of helicopter parenting and sets forth an alternate philosophy for raising preteens and teens to self-sufficient young adulthood.
Read More
The Path to Purpose by William Damon

By William Damon

Drawing on the revelatory results of a landmark study, William Damon brilliantly investigates the most pressing issue in the lives of youth today.
Read More
End of Average: How We Succeed in a World that Values Sameness by Todd Rose

By Todd Rose

In The End of Average, Rose, uses the new science of the individual to reveal the remarkable fact that no one is average.
Read More

Head of School Videos

The Bush School is an independent, coeducational day school located in Seattle, WA enrolling 735 students in grades K–12. The mission of The Bush School is to spark in students of diverse backgrounds and talents a passion for learning, accomplishment, and contribution to their communities.

3400 East Harrison Street, Seattle WA 98112 (206) 322-7978

The Bush School does not discriminate in matters of employment, recruitment, admissions, or administration of any of its programs on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national or ethnic origin, disability, gender, or sexual orientation. In addition, The Bush School does not discriminate in matters of employment on the basis of age or marital status.

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Head of School

Welcome from Head of SchoolPercy L. Abram, Ph.D.

Bio and education

Vision

Scholar

Running

Methow Campus

Abram Family

Leaders of Color

Head of School Book Club

List of 4 items.

Caste

How to Raise an Adult

The Path to Purpose by William Damon

End of Average: How We Succeed in a World that Values Sameness by Todd Rose

Head of School Videos