By James Irwin
Father John Payne, longtime academic leader and administrator at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, died Thursday night, according to the school’s website.
Mr. Payne, an Augustinian Friar, had been at the school since 1995 in various capacities, including dean of students and director of student affairs. He had taken over as head of school in August following the departure of Rory Pullens.
Mr. Payne was 53.
"Everyone who knew Father Payne regarded him with the utmost respect," Charles Barber, president of of the school’s board of directors and deputy general counsel at the George Washington University, wrote in a statement on the school's website. "He was a brilliant, loving and courageous man who had a passion for helping children."
A native Washingtonian, Mr. Payne began his career at Ellington as director of the He Rose Project, where he worked to reduce suspensions and expulsions and helped increase scholarship opportunities for African-American male students, according to his biography on the school’s website. Mr. Payne also was involved in the 2000 agreement with the city that allowed the Ellington School to remain in the public school system while also creating a governing board and formal partnerships with the GW and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The Duke Ellington School of the Arts, established in 1968 as a GW summer workshop by Peggy Cooper Cafritz, B.A. ’68, J.D. ’71, became a school in 1974 taking over the building that formerly had housed Western High School. The school is undergoing a two-year renovation of its Georgetown campus.