Sarah Barton Thomas

Teach2Connect is Sarah Barton Thomas, the Lower School Chaplain and Dean of Community Life at Trinity Episcopal School in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her twenty-five-year teaching and learning journey has taken her from the music classroom, the opera world, the computer lab, and the coaching field to the principal’s desk and the leadership table, and now, following the Holy Spirit's call, to school chaplaincy. She is a born and raised Marylander who took detours in Missouri, Iowa, California, Ohio, and Texas before making her way back home again to teach in the metro area at St. John’s Episcopal School and Norwood School before serving as Middle School Director at The Montgomery Academy, Upper Elementary Division Head at Trinity School, Atlanta, and Head of Lower School at Sandy Spring Friends School.

Sarah was an NAIS Teacher of the Future for 2014-2015. She has grown her brain through classes at Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Klingenstein Summer Institute and was an OPERA America Fellow for Education in 2002. Sarah is a proud Bearcat of Northwest Missouri State University, holding a BS. Ed in vocal music education, and a cheerful Blue Jay of Johns Hopkins University, where she obtained her MS.Ed in School Administration. Sarah is currently a doctoral student at Virginia Theological Seminary, pursuing a Doctor of Educational Ministry with a concentration in Educational Leadership. In her work, she explores how deep spiritual practice aligned with a school’s mission can foster community and belonging.

In her spare time, she is on the Vestry of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church; she enjoys singing with the Charlotte Master Chorale, running, reading nerdy-teacher books, exploring the woods, snuggling with Toby, and drinking coffee.