In times of leadership transition, Head of School Search Committees invariably express a desire to find a leader who will “take the school to the next level.” When asked to describe the “next level,” the picture gets fuzzy. A search team of a half do...
Board Chair: Jill, we’re so pleased you have accepted our invitation to join the Board of Trustees. We believe our Board plays a vital role in the success of the school in obvious and not so obvious ways, in what we do and what we don’t do, and most...
The ProblemA major culprit in the enrollment woes so many independent schools are facing today is the absence of clarity surrounding their identities. To be sure, there are other drivers conspiring to depress enrollment: demographics, charter school...
In an interview for school headship by a search committee, it is an exercise in futility to walk a candidate through their resume if you are trying to understand whether someone is ready for leadership. It is easy to fall into this trap. The resume i...
There are several reasons why so many heads of school are being dismissed early in their respective tenures—declining enrollments, undisciplined boards of trustees, entitled and entrenched faculty, a disconnect between leadership style and the cultur...
