Criteria for hiring how?

[Anonymous]

Many families are puzzled by the HOS hire in our school. What are the objective criteria for recruiting a new HOS? What if the board is just a group of unprepared people lacking the skills to select a good HOS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many families are puzzled by the HOS hire in our school. What are the objective criteria for recruiting a new HOS? What if the board is just a group of unprepared people lacking the skills to select a good HOS?

Your board is made up of mostly highly accomplished professionals and devoted school parents. They have assembled a search committee of mostly highly accomplished professionals and devoted school parents.
A search consultant has been hired. That search consultant is a former head of school with deep ties reaching to every corner of the country, connecting him or her to every independent school, every sitting head, and countless associate heads that are developing all the skills needed to be a successful head. That search consultant has prescreened candidates, and curated a collection of qualified individuals that might serve your school admirably. The search consultant is deeply involved in every interview your school is conducting for its new head, and working with your search committee to help them distill the information they are collecting, and guiding them to make the right decision.

It’s all going to be ok. It is. Really. It is.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, our search consultant helped the school hire a HOS that imploded within 2 years. It doesn't always work out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, our search consultant helped the school hire a HOS that imploded within 2 years. It doesn't always work out.

It doesn’t, but it often does. And this is how it works. Plus when somebody complains about their HOS imploding on this anonymous message board I take it with a grain of salt. Regardless of what happened with your HOS, it seems like the OP wants to be included and micromanage the search process, even though they haven’t been invited to be part of the process in as big a way as they wish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many families are puzzled by the HOS hire in our school. What are the objective criteria for recruiting a new HOS? What if the board is just a group of unprepared people lacking the skills to select a good HOS?

The criteria are whatever the Board decides they are. Most private school Boards I’ve seen are a combo of lawyers, executives, and educators so I’d be surprised if the board is as helpless as you insinuate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many families are puzzled by the HOS hire in our school. What are the objective criteria for recruiting a new HOS? What if the board is just a group of unprepared people lacking the skills to select a good HOS?

Your board is made up of mostly highly accomplished professionals and devoted school parents. They have assembled a search committee of mostly highly accomplished professionals and devoted school parents.
A search consultant has been hired. That search consultant is a former head of school with deep ties reaching to every corner of the country, connecting him or her to every independent school, every sitting head, and countless associate heads that are developing all the skills needed to be a successful head. That search consultant has prescreened candidates, and curated a collection of qualified individuals that might serve your school admirably. The search consultant is deeply involved in every interview your school is conducting for its new head, and working with your search committee to help them distill the information they are collecting, and guiding them to make the right decision.

It’s all going to be ok. It is. Really. It is.

You paint a rosy picture, but the reality is that unless the search is for a top tier school, the pool of truly qualified candidates to choose from is sparse. If it’s a first time headship for someone, they will be learning on the job. And if they are a sitting head, it only makes sense if they are trying to move up to a bigger/more prestigious school. If it’s a lateral move or a step down, there’s likely a problem at their current school unless there is a compelling reason for relocation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many families are puzzled by the HOS hire in our school. What are the objective criteria for recruiting a new HOS? What if the board is just a group of unprepared people lacking the skills to select a good HOS?

Your board is made up of mostly highly accomplished professionals and devoted school parents. They have assembled a search committee of mostly highly accomplished professionals and devoted school parents.
A search consultant has been hired. That search consultant is a former head of school with deep ties reaching to every corner of the country, connecting him or her to every independent school, every sitting head, and countless associate heads that are developing all the skills needed to be a successful head. That search consultant has prescreened candidates, and curated a collection of qualified individuals that might serve your school admirably. The search consultant is deeply involved in every interview your school is conducting for its new head, and working with your search committee to help them distill the information they are collecting, and guiding them to make the right decision.

It’s all going to be ok. It is. Really. It is.

You paint a rosy picture, but the reality is that unless the search is for a top tier school, the pool of truly qualified candidates to choose from is sparse. If it’s a first time headship for someone, they will be learning on the job. And if they are a sitting head, it only makes sense if they are trying to move up to a bigger/more prestigious school. If it’s a lateral move or a step down, there’s likely a problem at their current school unless there is a compelling reason for relocation.

omg. It’s a miracle that schools other than the top tier manage to function with such a lack of eligible hos talent

[Anonymous]

Is this another complaint about the Maret HOS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many families are puzzled by the HOS hire in our school. What are the objective criteria for recruiting a new HOS? What if the board is just a group of unprepared people lacking the skills to select a good HOS?

Your board is made up of mostly highly accomplished professionals and devoted school parents. They have assembled a search committee of mostly highly accomplished professionals and devoted school parents.
A search consultant has been hired. That search consultant is a former head of school with deep ties reaching to every corner of the country, connecting him or her to every independent school, every sitting head, and countless associate heads that are developing all the skills needed to be a successful head. That search consultant has prescreened candidates, and curated a collection of qualified individuals that might serve your school admirably. The search consultant is deeply involved in every interview your school is conducting for its new head, and working with your search committee to help them distill the information they are collecting, and guiding them to make the right decision.

It’s all going to be ok. It is. Really. It is.

You paint a rosy picture, but the reality is that unless the search is for a top tier school, the pool of truly qualified candidates to choose from is sparse. If it’s a first time headship for someone, they will be learning on the job. And if they are a sitting head, it only makes sense if they are trying to move up to a bigger/more prestigious school. If it’s a lateral move or a step down, there’s likely a problem at their current school unless there is a compelling reason for relocation.

Try to be a little more negative.

[Anonymous]

In our school the board consists with of a group of people with experience in the private sector but are completely clueless about education and hiring the most talented people. Their objectives are different from improving the quality of education provided by the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this another complaint about the Maret HOS?

That happened at Maret?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, our search consultant helped the school hire a HOS that imploded within 2 years. It doesn't always work out.

At many schools, the main deliverables from the HoS to the board are a stable budget, operating the school in the black, and increasing donations/ fund raising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, our search consultant helped the school hire a HOS that imploded within 2 years. It doesn't always work out.

At many schools, the main deliverables from the HoS to the board are a stable budget, operating the school in the black, and increasing donations/ fund raising.

That’s absolutely true. That’s why I’m concerned that at my $55K-tuition school, the head of school focuses only on those issues, completely neglecting the academic component, which is just as important — if not more — than the budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, our search consultant helped the school hire a HOS that imploded within 2 years. It doesn't always work out.

At many schools, the main deliverables from the HoS to the board are a stable budget, operating the school in the black, and increasing donations/ fund raising.

That’s absolutely true. That’s why I’m concerned that at my $55K-tuition school, the head of school focuses only on those issues, completely neglecting the academic component, which is just as important — if not more — than the budget.

See, I disagree with this premises. For the head of school, EVERYTHING is a deliverable. And the head of school surrounds themselves with a team to get it all done. The school finances are delivered with the help of a CFO. The fundraising is delivered with the help of an advancement team. Curricular matters are delivered with the help of associate heads, principals, deans, and department heads. There’s a facilities manager. An athletic director. And the list goes on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our school the board consists with of a group of people with experience in the private sector but are completely clueless about education and hiring the most talented people. Their objectives are different from improving the quality of education provided by the school.

That’s what they are hiring a new head to do. The board is not there to understand and improve the quality of the education. Of course they have a responsibility to ask questions and understand the vision that the head is bringing. They have a responsibility to hear and digest information about every function of the school. But as one PP stated their main objective is to keep certain that the budget has been met and that the school is running in the black.