Photo Gallery: Important People in US Head Hiring Process

Tucked into the corner of the Upper School office on the third floor, nearly invisible to Upper School students roaming the halls, sits one of Assistant Principal and Interim Upper School Head Ruth Jurgensen’s two offices. This is the one where she plays the role of Upper School Head. Though Jurgensen’s belongings have filled the space for less than a year, this office will soon be stripped in preparation for a new occupant. The search process for the next Upper School Head is now in the works.

According to Principal Dan Frank, the national-scale search will be “very similar” to other recent administrative searches. The process started November 1, when the job description was posted to independent school websites such as the National Association of Independent Schools, the Lake Michigan Association of Independent Schools, and the Independent Schools Association of the Central States. “There’ll be a steering committee – a joint committee of teachers and administrators that will help conduct the early phase of interviews and then when we bring candidates to campus it’ll be the same as we’ve done in the past,” Frank said. “We want it to be a very inclusive process where we get a good feeling for each candidate, but also each candidate gets a good feel for Parker, so that we end up with a really good match.”

Frank would like the search to be finished by mid-February, although the exact time frame is unknown. “Candidates begin to start to look for opportunities usually in November, and December we will start the resume review process,” he said. “Maybe December, certainly into January, start some of the screening, invite candidates to campus, so that’s part of what January and February might look like, and hopefully we’ll have a good decision by then.”

The job description deems the Upper School Head “responsible for overseeing all activities involving students, teachers and parents in the division,” noting that the Head “will work in close collaboration with faculty, staff, parents, other division heads, and members of the administration.” It recognizes leadership qualities such as “Progressive Education in an Upper School Setting,” “Communication Skills,” “Management Experience,” and “Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.”

Applicants for the position are also required to have at least five years of administrative (such as Principal, Division Head, etc.) experience, “preferably in an independent school,” as well as a master’s degree in a similar field, a “proven record of success” as an educator of high-school aged students, “demonstrated technological proficiency,” and – this is encouraged – to prior experience as an US Head.

Upper School history teacher and Director of TIDES and Cross-Curricular Pedagogy Martin Moran has facilitated discussion among faculty to establish consistent qualities teachers are looking for in the next US Head. “The most common things that we hear are around communication,” he said. “The idea of being a good communicator is a big thing the faculty seems to be interested in. The idea of emotional intelligence is something that’s important too, to understand the emotional needs of any given moment, and then consistency and the ability to address and resolve conflict are the things that tend to come up the most.”

Jurgensen found a different quality to be most important to her. “You have to be well-organized,” she said, “and understand that everything is important.” Even so, she recognizes the necessity of strong communication skills in an administrator. “I try to be as transparent as possible, particularly with faculty, who really need to know key aspects of things going on in order to be the best prepared to provide the education in the classroom,” she said. “There are things that may be informing how students are feeling that they need to be aware of so that they’re not blindsided when dealing with a certain topic in a classroom or trying to implement a test or an assessment and kids are reeling because something has occurred.”

Jurgensen is at the center of this search as someone who holds two prominent administrative roles, one being the position for which Parker is trying to find a candidate. “I think one of the benefits of being in the position currently is that I know what the job is,” she said. “Not to say that I didn’t know that the first time around. I have been an Upper School Head, but I was a little bit removed from the day-to-day aspects of the Upper School Head job…I feel like I have a better understanding of the type of person, the qualities and the experience that one would really need to bring in order to make the positive impact that we want.”