Senior Leadership Team

Rania Maayeh joined the RFS team as Head of School in July 2021. She is a long standing RFS community member having been a parent of three alums, a teacher and a former student. Rania brings with her broad experience in Palestinian education and management that spans three decades.

Frieda was appointed as Lower School Principal in 2016. She is a graduate of the RFS (1983) and a mother of three sons, two of which are RFS alumni and the youngest is attending the RFS. She holds an MA in Peace Education from Notre Dame University in Indiana, where she worked as a teacher assistant and a research assistant for one year. She also worked as case manager with Madison Center – USA. She earned her BA in English Literature from Birzeit University and started her career as an English teacher in 1988 at Ramallah’s Al-Ahliyyeh College, and was later appointed as their first Deputy Principal. She served as the director of the YWCA Vocational Training Center in Jerusalem from 2001 to 2002. She has worked as project coordinator for a local NGO (WATC) on women empowerment. In 2005, she became the Deputy Principal of the Lower School. In 2010, she was assigned as Acting Principal for one year and returned to her previous position until she was reappointed as Interim Principal in 2015.  Frieda attended and conducted various local and international training workshops.

Paul is an experienced academician who brings a wealth of diverse experiences in educational leadership and administration. After receiving his Ph.D., he was offered a position at Elmhurst University (EU) close to Chicago where he taught for 32 years and chaired the department of religious studies for the last 19 of those years. He taught a variety of courses and developed international courses that took students overseas to India, Turkey, Jordan, and Palestine. During his last 15 years at EU, he developed and led many people-to-people diplomacy and learning tours in the region to introduce North Americans to the situation. He has also delivered public lectures to civil society organizations (Islamic, Christian, and secular) about the region. In 2019, he moved to Beit Jala with his wife to accept a three-year appointment with the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). Paul has been engaged with Palestine as a trustee with the Seraj Library Project (headquartered in Ramallah and Chicago) and the Friends of Sabeel North America which is affiliated with the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem. 

Adele was appointed as Deputy Principal of the Lower School in 2016. She is a mother of three daughters, one of whom has graduated from the RFS and the younger two are RFS students. Adele was a counselor at the Lower School during the period of 2001-2016. In 2007, when the Problem Solving Program was launched at the Lower School, Adele was in charge of training all Homeroom teachers and students about the program as an integral part of RFS’ Quaker Values.

 Adele graduated from the Evangelical Lutheran School of Hope in 1993.  She earned her B.A in Psychology and Education from Birzeit University in 1998 and her M.A in School and Psychological Counseling from Jerusalem University in 2006, and is currently working on her second M.A in Psychotherapy

“You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth”

                                                                                                Jibran Khalil Jibran

I am honored to serve as a member of the Ramallah Friends School team. Inspired by Jibran, I believe that education is about empowering our youth with the knowledge, values and skills to pursue their passions in life and to give back to their community wherever they may set foot. The RFS is unique in providing a rich experience for our students that allows them not only to carry with them their heritage and roots, but also to embrace the beauty of difference and originality. I believe too that only by all of us - staff, parents, and leadership - collaborating together, we can continue to foster the environment needed to inspire our students to carry forward and be the living testimony to our core RFS values of excellence in education, equality, mutual respect and social responsibility in Palestine and around the globe.

I wish everyone a prosperous and productive year.