Sounds like you made some great, if not always popular, decisions for
your middle school. Hat's off to you, your head and the team.
Best,
George Swain
Head of Middle School
Poughkeepsie Day School
-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Bill Ivey
Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 12:48 PM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: One Answer to Pat Bassett's Closing Question in his January
Blog Post
Hi!
Maybe it's because I have friends who are Heads of School, or because my
wife is an administrator who may one day decide to try to move into that
position, or because I'm over 50, or maybe it's just because I'ma =20
contrarian. For whatever the reason, I'm finding some assumptions
running =20
through this thread that bother me more than a bit. Lots of people (not
all!) seem to be starting with a given that Heads of School are too old,
out of touch, and/or focused on the bottom line to be able to serve as =20
effective instructional leaders. Greedily awaiting their next paycheck,
they at best ignore and at worst deliberately stifle legitimate attempts
at =20
creativity. To which I say, really? It's that bad out there??
At my own school, in the past decade, we have started a new middle
school =20
program which was deliberately conceived to be progressive and
innovative. =20
There was indeed push back from some alumnae (I myself got a scathing
email =20
from one woman explaining in great detail how we had no clue how to
educate =20
young adolescents or provide them with proper supervision and we were
going =20
to be responsible for actually damaging kids if we continued with our =20
misguided plan which clearly was only intended to make money, nothing
more. =20
Wow.), currently enrolled students, parents who had somehow expected us
to =20
be more traditional than we said we were, and others. And our Head of =20
School stood firm and said we knew what we were doing and she stood by
our =20
program. And gradually, we converted most of the skeptics and built an =20
identity and a solid reputation. This year, with support and
encouragement =20
from our current Head of School, who sought and won Board approval, we =20
eliminated grades from the middle school, going to a standards-based =20
reporting system. Have I been able to do everything with the middle
school =20
program exactly as I'd like? No, of course not. I'm sure every person =20
involved (administration, faculty, students, parents) would tweak the =20
program, few of us in the same exact ways. In the end, though, we're a =20
community, and the middle school program has to reflect a reasonable =20
consensus in support of the mission statement. And again, none of this =20
would have happened without Heads of School who were open to new ideas,
creativity, innovation.
Certainly, there are some Heads of School who do a poor job. I'd never =20
argue otherwise. But I would argue there are other Heads of School who
are =20
doing solid work - balancing all the various interests and needs of
their =20
schools as best they can, generally with overall positive results. Like
Peter, I wouldn't dream of taking it on for any amount of money, and I =20
respect those who jump into the fray and try to make a positive
difference.
So to me, the question becomes what makes for an effective Head of
School, =20
and how do we best support them and encourage that?
Take care,
Bill Ivey
Middle School Dean
Stoneleigh-Burnham School
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