On July 1, Thomas B. Farquhar joined Sidwell Friends School as its ninth head of school. An experienced Quaker educator, administrator, and teacher, he was most recently head of Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland, for eight years.

Farquhar is well known to many in the Sidwell Friends community, having served as assistant principal and dean of students from 1983 to 1989, and prior to that as a math and science teacher in the Middle and Upper schools and head coach of track and cross country.

He also served as head of Westtown School in West Chester, Pennsylvania, from 1989 to 2002. He began his career as an Upper school math teacher at Sandy Spring Friends School in Sandy Spring, Maryland.

As a Quaker, Farquhar brings a deep and thorough knowledge of Quaker education as well as broad experience in administration and teaching. He is well suited to guide Sidwell Friends into the future: while at Bullis, he led the Task Force on a 21st Century Curriculum for the school to prepare the next generation of graduates for lives of leadership and service.

A graduate of Earlham College, he earned his master's degree in education at the University of Pennsylvania and completed graduate-level applied music training at the Boston Conservatory. He and his wife, Mary Grady, have two children, Kate (Vassar College '06) and Drew (Bard College ’09).