1. The same trends appear, of course, in CEO salaries, finance, etc., over
this time period. While we work in schools, Head salaries are set by boards
that are mostly composed of people in the business world. It's not
surprising that top-dog salaries set by these folks would follow corporate
trends, especially when the market is (well, was) doing so well.
2. In roughly this period, many schools went through a transition to a more
complex environment, legal and financial. This absolutely made the Head's
job more challenging and hazardous, a far cry from the calm "head master"
mindset. A Head Of School said to me around 2003 that "When they look back
on these years, they'll say that these were the hardest times to be a head
of school". The risk of lawsuit, the trend to accountability that adds
pressure to faculty lives, and the need to justify to parents the cost of an
education that is increasing faster than the rate of inflation, among other
things, were behind this statement.
Of course, many of the items in #2 apply to rank-and-file faculty as well,
but here supply and demand considerations kick in. Looking forward, when
economic conditions are likely to be poor, the importance of having a great
head will increase much faster than the supply. But the supply of people
who might want to teach, given the challenging job market in other fields,
will likely outstrip the need. This suggests, to me anyway, that the
divergence my well continue, or at least stabilize at a relatively large
ratio (though still nothing like the business world!).
Back to grade reports......
---Tim Corica, Peddie School
On Sun, Nov 22, 2009 at 10:50 AM, Peter Gow <pgow@bcdschool.org> wrote:
> Possibly also longer tenures--a couple of decades back we were in an era of
> short-time, "musical chairs" heads.
>
> I would also suggest that job has become much more complex in terms of the
> multiple skill sets required to lead an independent school effectively.
> It's
> a helluva lot more complicated--and with higher stakes for more
> people--than
> what I do, for sure.
>
> And, as Pat suggests, there may not be such a huge pool of fully qualified
> (whatever that might mean) people interested in taking these jobs on. I
> would guess that most of the boomers who wanted to be heads have already
> made the move, while the next generation may not see being an independent
> school head as the kind of culmination or fulfillment that us oldsters once
> thought that a headship might be; or the next generation just may not be
> finding the openings, as boomers (older, very experienced, and hence
> commanding hefty salaries) may be clogging the system for the moment.
>
> Ten or fifteen years from now the leadership profile in independent schools
> may look very different.
>
> Just a thought or two--Peter Gow
>
>
> --
> Peter Gow
> Director of College Counseling and Special Programs
> Beaver Country Day School
> 791 Hammond Street
> Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467
> www.bcdschool.org
> 617-738-2755 <callto:+16177382755> (O)
> 617-738-2747 <callto:+16177382747> (F)
> petergow3 (Skype)
>
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