Milton Academy's head to step down

Milton Academy head Robin Robertson announced yesterday that she will step down July 1, following weeks of protests by parents, faculty, and alumni angered by the possibility of closing the historic school's elementary grades.

Robertson, one of the highest-paid private headmasters in Massachusetts at more than $370,000 a year, broke the news at an emergency faculty meeting, where she calmly read a brief statement and left, to polite applause.

Though the board of trustees recently pledged to try to save the lower school, the board still could decide to close it. Parents had set a deadline of today for the board to formally reaffirm Milton's mission as one of Massachusetts' few K-12 private schools.

The fate of the lower school has consumed the sprawling campus south of Boston in recent weeks, capping several rocky years for Robertson. In eight years at the helm, she has weathered a student sex scandal and concerns over an increase in the percentage of boarding students in the upper school.

Robertson declined to comment yesterday. School spokeswoman Cathleen Everett said that Robertson is leaving because she wants to pursue other interests, including archeology and anthropology, not because of the uprising.

"Of course it was difficult. But she's had a far greater than average workload and energy level for eight years," said Everett. "She just decided that she wanted to move on and leave that behind."

In recent weeks, though, the protests took a toll. Parents launched a website and raised more than $9 million in an effort to save the K-5 lower school, which serves 162 of the school's 965 students. They deluged the board of trustees with hundreds of letters, threw a rally on campus, and then posted the footage on YouTube. An alumnus in town from Switzerland pledged $1 million for the cause.

Rick Hardy, upper school principal, will serve as interim head while the board conducts a national search for her replacement.

Robertson's departure is the latest development in a philosophical battle over the future of the 209-year-old private school south of Boston. To her supporters, Robertson was a strong leader who jetted as far as Hong Kong to court donors and steer Milton to a stronger future, financially and academically.

However, many parents worried she was transforming the family-friendly school into a more buttoned-down preparatory school such as Phillips Academy in Andover.

Franklin W. Hobbs, president of the trustees, declined to comment, speaking through Everett, but he praised Robertson in an e-mail to parents and others . During her tenure, Milton's endowment soared from $120 million in 2003 to $180 million. She also supervised a construction campaign that included two new dormitories and a student center and increased the percentage of boarding students at the high school to half the population, as had been the case in the past.

"Robin has devoted eight years of round-the-clock energy and vision to Milton Academy, and we are grateful for her accomplishments," Hobbs said in the e-mail.

Stephen Clem, executive director of the Association of Independent Schools in New England, said Robertson survived longer than many heads of school, who struggle to forge relationships with parents, trustees, and students, all while raising money and living on campus.

"The head is supposed to be everybody's best friend, on top of all the other stuff," Clem said. "It's a very demanding job emotionally as well as physically."

But many parents and others felt Robertson and many trustees failed to grasp Milton's unique culture. Unlike many boarding schools, many Milton Academy parents live in the area and are a regular presence on campus, cheering at ballgames and running fund-raisers.

With tuition ranging from $16,700 a year for kindergarten to $36,775 for upper school boarding students, many parents are eager to opine on school issues. But some parents said they did not always feel that they were heard.

"She's tone deaf to the importance of the lower school, to the actual community of Milton Academy," said Larry Moulter, former president of Boston Garden, who sent two children to Milton. "It hurt her."

Milton's lower school also offers most students guaranteed admission to the upper school, while outsiders must compete to get in.

After Robertson's announcement, Harold Janeway, a state senator in New Hampshire and trustee emeritus, said he hoped that Milton would now focus on academics.

"From a distance, it was clear that the situation had become polarized, and so perhaps this is what's needed to bring everybody back together," he said.

Maria Sacchetti can be reached at msacchetti@globe.com.