ADDISON TWP. – After nine years of leading Kingsbury Country Day School through good times and challenging times, Tom Mecsey, the head of school, is leaving.

“I will miss the kids a lot,” he said.

Mecsey is heading for Colorado to finish his career and be closer to his family, particularly his grandchildren.

“They’re young and I want to be around them while they’re growing up,” he said.

This decision was sparked by the April 19 passing of his 93-year-old father Bert, a World War II veteran and former science teacher and principal. “He was sharp right up to the end, so it was a good life,” Mecsey said.

He spent a lot of time with his dad during those final months and this “rekindled” in Mecsey “a desire to be near family.”

Mecsey has enjoyed his years at Kingsbury “immensely.”

“I’m going to walk away with no regrets and a wealth of knowledge,” he said.

“I think Tom has done an amazing job for our school,” said Oxford attorney Christine Stephens, president of Kingsbury’s board of directors. “He helped us grow. He helped us transition from a private school to a charter school. He’s well-loved by everyone in the community. He’s just so kind. He’ll be greatly missed.”

Stephens will miss Mecsey’s “wisdom” the most.

“Tom gives the most inspirational speeches,” she explained. “I could listen to him for hours. He inspires so many people with his words.”

Mecsey has worked in education since 1984 and prior to Kingsbury, he spent 22 years with Cranbrook Schools.

When he came to Kingsbury in 2008, he found a school in trouble. Both the nation and the world were gripped by economic crisis and as a result, there were many families who could no longer afford to send their children to Kingsbury, which was a private, independent school at the time and had been since opening in 1953.

In an effort to increase enrollment, shore up the school’s finances and ensure future growth, Kingsbury made the monumental decision to become a tuition-free, charter public school that receives per-pupil funding from the state like traditional public schools.

Not only did this change allow the school to keep its doors open during the toughest of times, it helped Kingsbury “flourish” and allowed many students access to a unique educational experience their parents couldn’t otherwise afford, Mecsey said.

During the 2012-13 school year – Kingsbury’s last year as a private school – there were only 84 students enrolled.

Today, as a charter school, it has 260 students, ranging from kindergartners to eighth-graders.

“We bring in students from 15 different school districts,” Mecsey noted.

Looking back, he believes going the charter route “worked out well for Kingsbury.”

“After 60 years of being an independent school, it was time for us to take the next step and go to the next level. I think by opening our doors in the way that we did, it allowed our small community to grow and yet still remain small,” Mecsey said. “Our core values center on us remaining a small, community school.”

“If we hadn’t made that decision, it would have been an extreme challenge to keep (the doors) open under the same (model) – strictly dependent on tuition,” he added.

To Mecsey, there are many things separating Kingsbury from other schools – its small class sizes, its “rural setting,” its strong environmental science program and of course, the fact that the whole school – students, faculty and parents – spends the day skiing at Mt. Holly every Friday during the winter months.

But the one thing that really makes the school special, in Mecsey’s mind, is something called “the Kingsbury way.”

It’s basically taking an approach to education that comes straight “from the heart.”

“It’s a community where the people really, really care about the students,” he said. “We take care of each other’s kids. We know where each other’s kids are at all times.”

Mecsey felt he would be remiss if he did not mention what a truly dedicated staff Kingsbury has. He’s learned “a great deal” from them and “come to admire” them.

He’s always been grateful for the active role faculty members are willing to play in helping lead Kingsbury and that the school “cherishes democratic” decision-making.

“I was rarely in a position where I was making a decision on my own,” Mecsey said. “The teachers stepped forward. They wanted to have a voice and be heard. I was fortunate that Kingsbury is that kind of school.”

In the end, Mecsey believes his time at Kingsbury led to some valuable personal growth.

“It’s helped me become a much more patient person,” he said. “I’ve always been energetic, more of a go-getter. I get an idea and I want to move quickly toward it.”

Developing meaningful relationships with students over the years taught Mecsey it’s okay to slow down.

“It takes time to build relationships,” he explained. “There’s more to running a school than just the administrative part of it. It’s important to build relationships with students in order to get what we call ‘the Kingsbury kid’ – the kid who is thoughtful, the kid who is reflective, the kid who is a positive risk-taker.

“They have to be able to trust all the adults in the building and that takes time. This taught me there’s a lot of value in waiting and being patient.”