Cheney, who will resign from his position at NAES effective June 30, expressed a desire to return to "service within the school world itself."

"Before it is too late, and I am overtaken by decrepitude, I would like to work as an interim leader in one or more of our schools, where my passion for serving young people and for assisting schools in times of transition can be expressed more directly," he said in his August 2006 resignation announcement.

Cheney will assume his new position on July 1 at St. Richard's, a ministry of Trinity Church serving 323 students in preschool through eighth grade.

The Rev. Daniel R. Heischman, D.Min., college chaplain at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, will succeed Cheney at NAES.

NAES, an independently incorporated, voluntary membership organization, supports, serves and advocates for the vital work and ministry of those who serve around 1,000 Episcopal schools, early childhood education programs and school establishment efforts throughout the Episcopal Church. Chartered in 1965, with historic roots dating to the 1930s, it is the only pre-collegiate educational association that is both national in scope and Episcopal in character.