Search Committee Assesses Principal Application Pool
After obtaining extensive input from various parts of the Academy community, the Principal Search Committee has begun assembling the candidate pool for Exeter’s 15th principal. The committee is currently expanding the pool to include a thorough range of competent and fitting applicants.
"The committee’s mission remains to bring to the Academy trustees a slate of finalists from whom the trustees will select the Academy’s 15th principal," trustee Tony Downer ‘45, co-chair of the Search Committee, said.
Over the course of two weeks earlier this term, the committee hosted multiple listening events for parents, faculty, staff, alumni and students to adequately voice their opinions on the next principal. Equipped with this information as well as the suggestions received through the principal search email, the committee compiled an analysis and a job description with the help of the consulting firm Spencer Stuart. Candidates have come to the attention of the committee either through self-nomination, nomination by members of the Exeter community, or by Spencer Stuart.
"We anticipate that the candidate pool will remain dynamic in its size and its composition up until the time the Search Committee puts together its final recommended slate for the trustees."
"Now that the search process is pivoting to the identification and screening of candidates for the principal position, the Search Committee’s proceedings in regards to the candidate pool must remain confidential," Downer said.
"We anticipate that the candidate pool will remain dynamic in its size and its composition up until the time the Search Committee puts together its final recommended slate for the trustees."
As of now, the committee is geared towards building the candidate list in an effort to include as broad an assortment of talented and qualified candidates as possible
"Looking ahead, we will be narrowing the pool by having the Search Committee, which consists of faculty, staff, a faculty emeritus and trustees, assess how each individual does and does not match up with the candidate profile statement and the needs and aspirations of the Academy going forward," Downer said.
Committee members have begun looking over the resumes and writeups of individual candidates and have contacted them for initial conversation.
"We will continue to assess the candidates to determine which candidates we wish to interview and advance further in the process," Downer said.
Although the search process must remain meticulous and comprehensive, it is the committee’s objective to have the 15th principal ready to commence his or her tenure on July 1, 2015. "We are not going to compromise the outcome of this process for the sake of meeting a deadline," Downer said.
"That said, our expectations remain that we will have the new principal in place by the July 1st target."
To assist in the next principal’s adjustment to his duties and responsibilities at the Academy, current Dean of Faculty Ronald Kim will serve as an assistant principal beginning July 1.
"My primary responsibilities next year are to enable a smooth transition from Principal Hassan to the next principal, and to help the new principal be as successful as possible," Kim said.
The Academy’s principal must already balance many off campus and on campus duties, and the added strain of transitioning into a new occupation seemed too excessive for the 15th principal.
"The job description for the principal indicates the multitude of responsibilities of that position and reveals the prodigious amount of time and energy that Principal Hassan put into his leadership," Kim said.
"It was apparent to Principal Hassan and others who work closely with him that an assistant principal could enhance the success of the next principal and support the success of the whole school."