Update on Head of School Search

10/23/2013

Dear Members of the Collegiate School Community:
On behalf of the Head of School Search Committee, we wanted to provide an update on the search process. The Search Committee has been busy, and we are grateful for all of your support in the process and your zealous advocacy of our school. We are pleased with our progress and enthusiastic about the high degree of interest the search has generated from incredibly talented and experienced educators.

This morning, we posted the Position Description for the Head of School position in the Documents section of Collegiate’s website: www.collegiate-va.org/Search. We hope this document resonates positively with your own experience at Collegiate. We also hope the Position Description serves as an engaging and energizing invitation to qualified candidates for this outstanding leadership opportunity. The Position Description also has been posted on the website of our search firm, Carney, Sandoe & Associates (CS&A), as well as some other public venues, and is now available to all potential candidates.

A key Search Committee priority is to involve the larger Collegiate community as much as possible in the process. To this end, CS&A spent two full days here last month, interviewing a wide variety of constituents from the Collegiate community. These interviews included school administrators and groups of students, parents, faculty and alumni to solicit input on the qualities we are seeking in our next Head of School. They also spent a good bit of time meeting with the Search Advisory Committee - a group of administrators, faculty, parents, alumni and students created to assist the Search Committee in gathering feedback and providing input on the search.

In addition to the site visit, our search consultants worked with the Search Committee to create an online survey that was distributed electronically to the greater Collegiate community. The purpose of the survey was to gather input on important qualities for a new Head of School and solicit feedback related to the leadership transition. The survey participation was terrific, and the results were instrumental in helping us craft the Position Description. The survey results also have been instructive as we go about the process of considering whom we should be looking to hire to lead our great school.

Last week, the Search Committee and the Advisory Committee met jointly to review the search process and exchange information gathered over the past several weeks. Advisory Committee members were particularly invaluable in helping the Search Committee think through the questions we should ask of our top candidates for the Head of School position, and the Search Committee is grateful for the Advisory Committee’s contributions.

The search process to date has validated what we know about Collegiate – that it is one of the best independent schools in the country. We are confident that our next Head of School will build on this great reputation.

Many thanks for your continued support.

Very truly yours,

John D. O’Neill, Jr.

Chair, Search Committee

Vice-Chair, Board of Trustees

John L. Walker, III

Member, Search Committee

Chair, Board of Trustees

Back