Who We Are
“Being good is an adventure far more violent and daring than sailing around the world.”
G.K. Chesterton

We at St. Dunstan’s Academy strive to work towards what John Senior dubbed “the restoration of innocence” by immersing our boys in an environment full of the things that help them, by God’s grace, become good men.
St. Dunstan’s Academy was designed and founded by a group of Anglican teachers, priests, parents, and laymen, who share in common a commitment to training up young men to live faithfully in the Kingdom of God. Most of those involved in the school’s inception live in and around Charlottesville, Virginia, and all believe that education should impart a right sense of reality to those who receive it. Education is formation, and that formation is something conferred on the young first and foremost by their mentors, parents, and clergy. By gathering together others who share this vision of education, we hope to give young men the gift of an inspiring school experience marked by joy, devotion to Our Lord, noble endeavors, and adventures in goodness.
Administration
Thomas Fickley
Headmaster and Founder
Thomas is a native of Charlottesville, Virginia. He earned his BA and MA in History, and wrote his Master’s thesis on the history of American educational philosophy. He has been teaching high school history, philosophy, government, and literature for ten years in independent boarding and day schools, where he also coached numerous sports at the varsity and junior varsity levels. Thomas received his Anglican formation at All Saints Anglican church in Ivy, Virginia, which has been his family’s parish home since 2013.
Thomas’ enthusiasm for mentoring and inspiring young men comes from years of practice in the field, and from the joys of raising six sons and a daughter with his cheerful and brave wife, Natalie. Thomas has won several teaching awards, including two Golden Apple Awards (one at each school he has served in) and the Living Well Award at the Covenant School. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Mars Hill Audio Journal.
Thomas seeks to encounter as much of the Good, True, and Beautiful in his daily endeavors as he can. Aside from teaching, his most enjoyed activities include timber framing, playing bluegrass banjo, reading both the Good and Great books, camping with his family, reading to his children, brewing strong coffee, splitting wood by hand, reciting poetry, and gardening.
Fr. Mark Perkins
Chaplain and Assistant Headmaster
Fr. Mark Perkins recently moved back to central Virginia with his wife and three children to help launch St. Dunstan’s Academy. Fr. Perkins is a graduate of Hillsdale College (BA, 2009) and Trinity School for Ministry (MAR, 2019).
Prior to entering ministry full-time, he taught for nine years at The Covenant School in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he also coached basketball and soccer. He was awarded the Rotary Club’s Mentor Award after his first semester of teaching. In 2019, Bishop Walter Grundorf ordained Fr. Perkins to the priesthood on the Feast of St. Wenceslas (September 28). Before he became Chaplain and Assistant Headmaster at St. Dunstan’s, he served for three years as Curate at St. Alban’s Anglican Cathedral in Oviedo, Florida.
Fr. Perkins played rugby at Hillsdale College and then in a men’s league after college and looks forward to introducing the boys to the sport. His love for the human scale of traditional village life and for regenerative farming emerged during a couple months working on a biodynamic organic farm in rural Upper Franconia, Germany after college. His writing on education, theology, and history has been published in Christianity Today and Public Discourse, among other places. He also serves as Executive Editor for Earth & Altar (earthaltar.org).
The Board of Directors
The Most Reverend Chandler Jones
Board Member
Bishop Jones SSC is Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Province of America and Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the Eastern United States. 50 years old, he is a native of Surry County, North Carolina. A graduate of Emory and Henry College (BA, 1993) and Duke University Divinity School (MDiv, 1996), with graduate studies at Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC, he has been priested for twenty-five years and has served seven congregations in Virginia, Maryland, Florida, and Georgia. For thirteen years, he served as Rector of Saint Barnabas Anglican Cathedral, Atlanta, Georgia. He was consecrated to the Episcopate in 2010. He has also studied English literature at Exeter College, University of Oxford, England and Anglican history at the King’s School, Canterbury Cathedral. A convert to the Continuing Anglican Church movement, he has been a Continuing Anglo-Catholic for over thirty years. He is married to Megan Jones née Baskwill (2000) and has four children.
Fr. Sean McDermott
Board Member
Fr. Sean McDermott grew up in southwest Virginia and is a graduate of Hillsdale College (B.A.) and Trinity School for Ministry (MTS). Before his curacy at All Saints Anglican Church, he taught Latin at The Covenant School for eight years. While teaching, he held a variety of roles from coaching, Dean of Middle School, and assistant to the Head of Middle School. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Walter Grundorf on February 24, 2018, being the Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle and Martyr, and has served as curate at All Saints since August 2018. He and his wife, Julie, have four children and live in Charlottesville.
Randy Caldejon
Board Member
Randy Caldejon is an engineer, innovator, and entrepreneur. His professional accomplishments include serving in the U.S. Marine Corps during the first Gulf War, starting successful technology ventures, and co-founding an Anglican church.
Randy and his wife, Mary, own a small farm and vineyard outside of Charlottesville, VA, where they have raised their two daughters. During his spare time, he enjoys gravel biking, learning about viticulture, and experimenting with agriculture technologies.
Randy holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and a Master of Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). With a keen interest in understanding the theology and ethics of artificial intelligence (AI), Randy is pursuing a Master of Arts in Theological Studies at Westminster Theological Seminary.
Fr. Glenn Spencer
Board Member
Fr. Glenn Spencer, Rector of All Saints Anglican Church, has lived in Charlottesville since 1991, along with his wife Ann and daughter Hannah. No stranger to mentoring and Christian formation, Fr. Spencer has helped over thirty men discern callings to the Priesthood, carry out their training in the church, and enter Holy Orders.
He received a Master of Divinity in 1991 from Duke University, where he studied with Geoffrey Wainwright. After graduating, he completed an internship in Clinical Pastoral Education at Duke Medical Center. Fr. Spencer previously received a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Elon University, where he was mentored by John Sullivan, and he studied the short story and poetic form with Fred Chappel at UNC-Greensboro.
Fr. Spencer takes great joy in celebrating the daily mass and reading theology and philosophy, especially the works of Fr. Eric Lionel Mascall and Fr. Bernard Lonergan. He reads the poetry of Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins, T.S. Eliot, William Butler Yeats, Heather Hartley, and Mary Karr.
Thomas Fickley
Headmaster and Founder