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Private & Independent Schools
Female Heads of School
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Anonymous
| Seems that primary/grade schools are more likely to have female heads than schools with high schools. Obviously many/most all-girls schools have female heads but this has always been the case. The only high schools (with boys) mentioned so far are Maret and SS/SA. |
Anonymous
| Maybe it has something to do with boys sports being such a big issue at co-ed high schools. Not that I'm a fan of that reasoning. |
Anonymous
| GDA and Field used to. |
Anonymous
If it's the school I'm thinking of, I don't believe that would be an issue. |
Anonymous
| I frankly do not think this is an issue. If anything, the problem is the opposite. Too many primary/elemenary schools have female heads. What this means is that some primary/elementary schools have difficulty dealing with "active" boys. |
Anonymous
Huh? A+ B = Q? You make no sense. Our school has a female head, and the multitude of active boys are thriving. |
Anonymous
Are you female? A mother? Of a boy? Who is active? If yes, do you manage to deal with your son? |
Anonymous
| Sexism is alive and well. This happens at the college level too. I'm at GWU which is supposed to be such a liberal bastion. They have all old white men in charge of everything and have no rules governing search committees ...resulting in slates of male only candidates. |
Anonymous
| As a leading child pyschologist (a woman) told me, many (not all) primary/elementary schools, especially private ones, are run by women for little girls. Private schools, at least the selective ones, tend to weed out the active boys as part of the admissions process, which highlights the ones that do get through and provides no opportunities for teachers to learn how to deal with active boys. One has only to compare a public K class in a wealthy suburb with a private K class. I have done so, and the difference is simply amazing. Further, most people involved in these schools will tell you that attracting and retaining male teachers at these schools is very very difficult. As for comment about GWU, I might agree. Private high schools and universities are fundamentally different, however. Finally, why do you think some many boys are getting diagnosed with AHHD? One reason (not the only one) is that schools have a hard time dealing with these boys. |
Anonymous
| McLean School of Maryland has had a female head for almost 15 years. The school has many active boys - and would like more girls. For the last 3 years, by some fluke, the kindergarten class has been only cute little boys. |
Anonymous
| Call it old-school, but women tend to not want to work the outrageous hours, put up with unsupportive parents/board, have to have their hands in a million places at one time. It's a highly demanding job, and if you have any school aged kids, well, I couldn't imagine! Reality is, mom's still the home-kid keeper, while dad works the long hrs. |
Anonymous
| In my view, primary schools need more male teachers, leading eventually to more males in administrative roles, etc. I have no idea whether prominent private high schools have the opposite problem, but would not be surprised if that were the case. One, of course, does not get to be a principal at a Big Five, without first getting into private school administration. So, I wonder whether private schools in the area or elsewhere have substantial numbers of women in leading administrative roles, just below the principal level. |
Anonymous
|
Responding to 14:12: Hogwash. That's what they said about women in professional roles 20 yrs ago. I thought we were past that. I'm a mom of 3 kids and a partner at a big firm. Having kids is not a predictor of slacker or worker bee mentality.
Responding to 23:54: I agree we need more male teachers. But you are incorrect to assume that Heads of School have teaching experience. We left our last private school partly because of the inept male Head of School - who had no teaching experience or educational background in teaching. There are many industries that have a problem of lots of women at the lower ranks and then almost none as the responsibility increases. Education is particularly frustrating because of the wealth of female talent in this field. |
Anonymous
I think 2354's point was whether the overrepresentation of women in teaching roles in the younger grades has lead to some of those female teachers to take on administrative roles which eventually might place them in a position to be head of a school or head of a division within a larger school. I likewise disagree with 1412. |
Anonymous
| Not to hijack this thread, but I don't see how anyone rationally could disagree with 1412. No sane person today doubts that a woman CAN be a school head. What I think 1412 is saying is that, statistically, a lot more women than men WANT to be at home at least part time, or at least to have jobs that don't require them frequently to be out in the evenings. Teaching makes that possible, but the job of school head does not. You can't cry "sexism" without knowing what the avaiable qualified labor pool is, and I'd be willing to bet that more men than women are willing to assume the responsibilities of school head, particularly at larger institutions. But I'd welcome any evidence to the contrary. |