Head of School searches: How did it go
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Anonymous
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If you recently went through a HoS search, how did it go? Was the change for better or worse?
As a Maret parent I was truly shocked by the selection and feel like the Board made a huge mistake, but am hoping for the best. |
Anonymous
| Related, where did the outgoing upper school head of GDS end up? |
Anonymous
| St Anselms HOS only there two years and no going. He didn’t seem to have any control of the school at all, but don’t think it’s his fault. |
Anonymous
I agree with you. I didn’t like any of the candidates. |
Anonymous
| Langley's new head of school has been fantastic. And the new head of the middle school has been a great hire as well. We could not be happier. |
Anonymous
I was thinking the same thing during the state of the school yesterday. We have been very happy with Michelle. The search process felt long, but I feel like we ended up with a good fit. |
Anonymous
If none of the candidates was strong enough, the Maret search committee should have put an interim in place and started again. I, too, am shocked by the selection and hope the search committee plans to meet with Maret parents (you know, the ones paying tuition) to tell us more about their process like they are meeting with the US students today. |
Anonymous
Not a fan of the sweeping changes she’s made. I recall when Elinor Scully started at Langley, she spent a full year getting to know the community and its traditions before any major changes. This new head has shaken things up from day one with the faux notion that full classrooms entitles her to do whatever she wants. In just one year, Langley is not the same school. Many longtime unhappy families. |
Anonymous
They wouldn't have even needed to appoint an interim head since Marjo is not leaving until the end of next school year. They could have have just announced they were continuing the search and would be looking at additional candidates over the summer with an eye towards presenting them to the community in the fall. Bringing in finalists in the fall is the timeline that most schools follow anyway, when the head gives ~18 months notice of their retirement as Marjo did here. |
Anonymous
| Who is the new head at Maret? Why are they such a poor choice? It would be tough stepping in after someone has been a beloved head for so long. I can’t imagine anyone will last long. |
Anonymous
| New head at Maret is the former head of Whittle who had mixed reviews |
Anonymous
oh wow. That makes more sense as to why people are not thrilled. Maret's announcement completely omits this. |
Anonymous
What did this former HOS at Whittle have to do with the current financial problems? Seems to me like he must have a forward-looking, visionary outlook on education to take a position at Whittle, which is something that Maret could use after years and years of the same leadership. |
Anonymous
| The financial problems started with unmanaged spending in the first year and obfuscation of the lack of funding to anyone who asked why cash for things like classroom resources were all of a sudden gone by March. This wasn't Covid related at all. The folks that came in to restructure after the place blew up reported significant mismanagement. All fingers ultimately pointed to Chris Whittle himself --the easiest target---but one would think a head of school was participant in the mess. |
Anonymous
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The Maret timeline for the HoS search was different than other schools that my kids have attended. Maret sought to identify and confirm a candidate a full year in advance of that person starting so that the person presumably could learn the ropes from Marjo. In all other searches I've been through (I recall three), the current HOS left and then the new person started. In other HoS processes, it seems that the schools take more time before even looking for a candidate. Maret's process felt rushed to me. I would like to think that the Board fully vetted and was comfortable with the Whittle affiliation, particularly knowing that parents had expressed concern. I keep telling myself that I was not on the search committee, that the search committee was composed of a group of educated persons with the school's best interest in mind, and that I do not know what went on behind the scenes.
I keep telling myself that, but we'll still probably apply out. |