Andover, Exeter Principal Search Process Examined
By KAYLEE CHEN and
LINA HUANG
Phillips Academy Andover announced their 16th Head of School, Dr. Raynard S. Kington, on Dec. 5, 2019. The appointment followed a lengthy search process analogous to Exeter’s, which resulted in the appointment of Principal Bill Rawson in January of last year. Kington will continue as President at Grinnell College until this summer, when he will replace Interim Head of School Jim Ventre. Andover’s Head of School search came after the resignation of John Palfrey ’90, who now serves as President of the MacArthur Foundation.
Last spring, Andover Board of Trustees President-elect Amy Falls ’82 invited the campus community, parents and alumni to give input for selecting the 16th Head of School. Falls held a number of meetings, hosted open conversations and sent surveys to alumni and parents to garner input on a number of potential candidates. As the Board of Trustees commenced its Head of School search, Andover appointed Assistant Head of School for Admission and Financial Aid Jim Ventre as Interim Principal for one academic year.
A Search Committee chaired by Falls and composed of faculty, administrators and trustees then worked in partnership with Spencer Stuart, an executive search firm, to source and vet potential candidates before presenting finalists to the trustees. In all, more than 80 individuals applied or were nominated for the position. The committee eventually filed candidates down to three finalists.
Andover Director of Communications Tracy Sweet noted that the committee came to consensus on approximately 20 candidates of interest “best positioned to lead Andover at this moment in its history.” “As trustees considered the characteristics, skills and experience required of the next Head of School, they recognized that the scale of the Andover enterprise has grown significantly,” Sweet said. “With 1,150 students, a billion dollar-plus endowment, a growing and complex physical plant and programs dedicated to advancing the field of education, the trustees believed that Andover was comparable to a complex small college.”
Sweet said that the Board’s criteria for a Head of School included an understanding of and respect for classroom teaching and strong executive leadership skills. “[The Board] sought a leader who will inspire and relate to teenagers and will advance the mission of Andover both on campus and in the broader field of education,” she said.
The process that appointed Rawson as Exeter’s Interim Principal was remarkably similar to Andover’s Head of School search process.
However, this 2018 search differed from the preceding principal search process that appointed Principal Lisa MacFarlane, taking place from July 2014 to January 2015. “The reasons behind those differences centered on … the very limited amount of time we had to identify the interim principal; Principal MacFarlane made her decision [to leave Exeter] in early February, and [for Rawson’s search], we had to have an interim principal in place July 1, 2018,” President of the Trustees John Downer said. “That brevity of time precluded us from undertaking a comprehensive search for a ‘permanent’ principal.”
Following MacFarlane’s departure, faculty and staff expressed a desire for the community to be involved in the principal search process. This led to one-on-one conversations with members of the community. Search Committee members asked about individuals’ priorities and solicited for requests or preferences on the candidates themselves. Three finalists were eventually chosen, and an opportunity to respond to those candidates was then offered to the community.
After Andover identified 20 candidates, trustees debated the candidacy of each one based on their alignment with Andover’s mission and values. On December 5, 2019, trustees elected Kington unanimously. “In Dr. Raynard Kington the board elected a strategic thought partner whose core principles align with Andover’s mission and institutional values,” Ventre said. “Dr. Kington is an accomplished leader and educator who brings impeccable academic credentials and extensive management experience. He also has experience leading a complex intellectual community and navigating health policy and wellness initiatives.” In his tenure as President of Grinnell College, Kington promoted a commitment to access, need-blind admission and linking students’ intellectual pursuits with their abilities as graduates to effect change.
Exeter’s trustees employed a similar process to Andover’s Head of School Search when appointing Rawson to serve as Interim Principal. Initially, Rawson was appointed to a two-year term, selected from a pool of three candidates. “I was first approached by faculty who asked if I would consider serving as interim principal. Those faculty then apparently suggested me to the trustees,” Rawson said. “The selection of an interim typically is done quickly, with very little process, and the selection often is announced when the need for an interim principal is announced, as was done at Andover. Here, the selection process was much more elaborate than is typical, with a slate of candidates and opportunities for community input.”
However, as the time approached to select Exeter’s permanent principal, the Board of Trustees decided that it would be best for the school to avoid another transition. “I think the trustees felt it was not in the best interests of the school to have another transition after only two years. The formal selection of me as permanent principal was atypical in that I was already here. The trustees were able to reach out to the community in ways that would not ordinarily be the case,” he said. “A national search presumably will be conducted next time, as the trustees have done in the past. The next search almost certainly will be much more like a conventional national search.”
Dean’s Council, a group of students intended to give feedback to the administration, was briefly consulted for student input. “Other former Dean’s Council members believed that the process could have been extended In hindsight, I wish I had the wisdom… to extend the student’s input on this matter from one 90-minute closed-door meeting into an organized and representative sampling of overall student input,” former Dean’s Council member Grace Gray ’19 said. “This is not a critique of Principal Rawson but of the part of the selection system as a whole that I experienced and inherently supported with my quick vote.”
Despite the unorthodox process, alumni valued clear communication to the community. “A search process for the leader of the Exeter community should solicit input from all elements of that community, first as a criterion to be applied to the choice and only later in respect of people who might be candidates,” Matthew Hamel ’78 said. “They won’t please everyone, but transparency is critical.”
Senior and Dean’s Council member Ayush Noori felt that the process was fair. “I think the transition from interim to full time principal was designed to be less comprehensive. But in a way, the two year interim period might have been seen by the trustees as a test of sorts,” he said. “Perhaps, the trustees could have come to full [Student Council.] But I also know the trustees themselves are here on campus for a short period of time, so it’s not always feasible to come to council for feedback directly.”
Rawson highlighted the significance of the principal role, and, by extension, the importance of a transparent and thorough selection process. “The principal provides leadership, helps set institutional priorities, works closely with the trustees, makes key appointments and ultimately bears responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the school,” Rawson said. “We are here for the students, and while I want our students to feel supported in myriad ways by all the other adults in the community, I also want to know as many students as I can and understand as best I can how all our students are experiencing Exeter.”