Independent School Roundtable

Audience: Primary Years Programme
Audience: Middle Years Programme
Audience: Diploma Programme
Audience: Research
Audience: General Interest
Room: Golden Gate Room

Two independent school practitioners will be available to facilitiate a dialogue and answer individual questions regarding issues and challenges facing independent schools. Please note this session is entirely interactive and does not include a presentation.


Joseph Kennedy, Head of School; Diploma Coordinator, Riverstone International School

Joseph Kennedy is the former Head of School and Diploma Programme Coordinator at Riverstone International School in Boise, Idaho. He is responsible for bringing all three of the IB programmes to Riverstone and Idaho. He has been a teacher or administrator in parochial, public, and independent international schools for 23 years. Mr Kennedy holds two degrees from Washington State University - a B.A. in Political Science and a B.A. in Social Studies from as well as a master's in Education from Central Washington University. He will become Head of School at Island Academy (an IB Diploma Programme candidate school) in Antigua in August 2008. He has a wife, Tina, and a daughter, Nikki.

Larry Rankin, IB North America Field Representative,

Larry Rankin lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He retired in June 2006, after having taught for over 30 years with the Edmonton Catholic School District. The last of these 18 years have been as principal of four schools in both the elementary (K-6) and junior high levels (7-9). In the last school, where he was principal, the school received authorization for the Middle Years and the Primary Years Programmes. Larry has provided a number of information sessions to people interested in IB programmes and has been involved as a site visitor on authorization and evaluation teams for the last three years as well as serving as an IB Field Representative.