[Saint Mary’s School] The Saint Mary’s School Board of Trustees announced on January 18, 2012, the appointment of the Rev. Dr. Smokey Oats as interim head of Saint Mary’s School in Raleigh, North Carolina, for the 2012-2013 school year. Dr. Oats will serve as head of school while the school’s Board of Trustees continues its national search for the 13th head of Saint Mary’s School, to succeed Theo Coonrod, who retires as head of school on June 30, 2012, after 12 years of distinguished service.
Dr. Oats has served on the Board of Trustees at Saint Mary’s School since 2009. He is serving for 2011-2012 as interim head of school at St. James Episcopal School in Corpus Christi, Texas. He was the founding head of school at Trinity Episcopal School in Charlotte, where he served from 1999-2011. Prior to his 12 years at Trinity, Dr. Oats was headmaster and rector at All Saints’ Episcopal School in Morristown, Tennessee.
Dr. Oats is a graduate of the University of the South (Sewanee) and holds a Master of Divinity degree from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Chicago and a Doctor of Ministry from Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta.
Dr. Oats has been married to his wife, Sharon, for 35 years. She is a faculty member at the Charlotte Latin School. The Oats have two grown daughters.
“The Board of Trustees and the Saint Mary’s campus community have come to know Smokey as affable, personable, collaborative in leadership style and effective in administrative skills,” says William G. Taylor of Charlotte, chair of the Saint Mary’s board of trustees and chair of the head of school search committee.
“He is passionate about education and has become quite knowledgeable about and fond of Saint Mary’s. We believe he will be an awesome mission keeper in this interim period.”
Saint Mary’s School in Raleigh, North Carolina, is an independent, Episcopal, college-preparatory, boarding and day school, dedicated to academic excellence and personal achievement for young women in grades 9-12.