Should Interim Head of School Roles Raise Concerns?

[Anonymous]

I was reviewing the CVs of the heads of school at the institutions where my child is applying and came across an intriguing case I wanted to share for input. One principal from a private school had previously worked at a school that unfortunately went out of business. While this is not necessarily a reflection of their leadership—since external factors often contribute to such outcomes—the subsequent part of their career raises some questions.

After the closure, this individual served as an interim head of school at three different institutions, each for one year. Typically, an interim head of school is hired as a temporary leader while the school conducts a search for a long-term candidate. What stood out to me is that none of these three schools chose to appoint this individual as their permanent head of school.

This makes me wonder: if this person is so qualified, why did none of these schools see them as the right fit for a permanent role? Could this be a potential red flag about their qualifications or leadership style? I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes the interim head is explicitly not eligible to apply for the permanent position. If this person is new to the school you're considering, I would be mildly concerned, but if they've been there for a few years, I would consider other things when evaluating the school/HOS.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think you can tell anything from that, especially if it’s a religious school.

[Anonymous]

Rules might prohibit hiring an interim. Also some people like to do interim work and want it because it fits their life needs during a period of time.

I don’t see how you can draw any conclusions from interim work.

[Anonymous]

Is it possible that they were using being an Interim as a way to gain Head experience as they built their career? Agree with a PP that unless the interim was appointed from within, they usually aren’t candidates for the permanent job. If your candidates interim positions were their only job at that school and are their first roles as head of school rather than a division head, I probably wouldn’t worry, especially if they were not the Head of the school that closed.

[Anonymous]

The best model for an interim is to not be eligible for the permanent job.

You want someone to come in who is already pre-fired— they can clear the dead weight on the staff, shake things up and leave the school in a better, healthier, position for the new head.

It also gives the school breathing room not to rush the hiring of a new head and converting the new head into an accidental interim who only stays 1-3 years.

[Anonymous]

Interim head in many ways is a very different job and requires somebody who has been a successful head.

[Anonymous]

Which school is this ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interim head in many ways is a very different job and requires somebody who has been a successful head.

Some people kind of specialize in serving as interims later in their careers. Have seen this in the ED non-profit space too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which school is this ?

I can’t believe that no one has worked it out yet. This was discussed at great length on this board last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which school is this ?

MARET

[Anonymous]

Feel free to dig up the Whipple thread, OP. But in general, interim heads are not eligible for the permanent position, so no, I wouldn’t read into that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was reviewing the CVs of the heads of school at the institutions where my child is applying and came across an intriguing case I wanted to share for input. One principal from a private school had previously worked at a school that unfortunately went out of business. While this is not necessarily a reflection of their leadership—since external factors often contribute to such outcomes—the subsequent part of their career raises some questions.

After the closure, this individual served as an interim head of school at three different institutions, each for one year. Typically, an interim head of school is hired as a temporary leader while the school conducts a search for a long-term candidate. What stood out to me is that none of these three schools chose to appoint this individual as their permanent head of school.

This makes me wonder: if this person is so qualified, why did none of these schools see them as the right fit for a permanent role? Could this be a potential red flag about their qualifications or leadership style? I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

Classic overthinking

The Head of NCRC was never an interim head and oh look, he was a lying criminal

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was reviewing the CVs of the heads of school at the institutions where my child is applying and came across an intriguing case I wanted to share for input. One principal from a private school had previously worked at a school that unfortunately went out of business. While this is not necessarily a reflection of their leadership—since external factors often contribute to such outcomes—the subsequent part of their career raises some questions.

After the closure, this individual served as an interim head of school at three different institutions, each for one year. Typically, an interim head of school is hired as a temporary leader while the school conducts a search for a long-term candidate. What stood out to me is that none of these three schools chose to appoint this individual as their permanent head of school.

This makes me wonder: if this person is so qualified, why did none of these schools see them as the right fit for a permanent role? Could this be a potential red flag about their qualifications or leadership style? I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

Classic overthinking

The Head of NCRC was never an interim head and oh look, he was a lying criminal

The head of school is not a pedophile, hence he/she is qualified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interim head in many ways is a very different job and requires somebody who has been a successful head.

Some people kind of specialize in serving as interims later in their careers. Have seen this in the ED non-profit space too.

The school for which I formerly served on the board had this as part of our risk management plan. There is at least one big firm that does both recruiting consulting and interim head placement that we had on speed dial just in case. They keep a stable of late-career or semi-retired former heads ready to go. Some of them are far younger than you might expect and will build a 10-20 year career off of interim positions alternating with recruiting work. So for 3-12 months they might be guiding a school through hiring a new head, and then they repeat the process or are asked to step up as interim head at a school for which they’d be a fit.

It’s a very specific job and I would never want to do it. I’d be happy to have an outside interim head at my school because you know they’re very experienced and will handle things well.