Head of School Search

As indicated in Frank Velocci’s May 23rd message to The Craig School community, I have been asked to chair the Search Committee as the Board of Trustees seeks to identify Tad Jacks’ successor. I very much appreciate the opportunity to serve Craig in this way and look forward to keeping you informed about the progress of the search in the coming months.

As an important initial step, I am pleased to announce that Educators’ Collaborative (EC), a national consulting firm specializing in working with independent schools, has been engaged to assist us with the search. Deirdre Ling and John Mackenzie will be the partners from EC assisting us. Both consultants have themselves headed independent schools, and together they bring over 70 years of experience working in independent education. Of particular note, Deirdre and John are familiar with Craig, as they assisted the school with the hiring of both Tad Jacks and Director of Admissions Nicole Moon during the 2013-2014 school year.

I would also like to take this opportunity to identify the other members of the Search Committee. They are: Frank Velocci, Chris Coates, and Andrea Lustig – all current Trustees and Nicole Moon, Director of Admissions. We will be adding about 2 new members to the Search Committee in the coming weeks and will let you know who they are in our next communication. By design and at the recommendation of our consultants, the Search Committee is small in number, but we are committed to making this process an inclusive one, involving the school community at appropriate points along the way. Towards this end, we ask you to share your perspective on Craig and its future leadership by completing a brief survey that is accessible via this link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CraigHeadSearch

Please complete the survey by Monday, July 15^th.

Beginning immediately our consultants will start to build the pool of candidates by listing the position with appropriate agencies and associations, contacting selected educational leaders to solicit recommendations for the position, and reaching out to potential candidates with whom they and their colleagues are familiar. After the candidate pool has been developed, the Search Committee will meet to review the credentials of the top candidates identified by our consultants.

Our goal is to complete the search process and announce the appointment of a new Head of School no later than January 2020 and perhaps earlier. Through this process, we will seek to find an appropriate balance between involving community input and respecting the privacy of the candidates. This latter consideration regarding candidates is important to help ensure the strongest possible candidate pool.

Thank you very much for your commitment to The Craig School and your willingness to assist the search process in this way.

Sincerely,

Amanda Jahn
Head of School Search Committee Chair