Maintaining Equity

As the Academy’s quest for the next principal continues, the principal search committee has been dutifully gathering suggestions and input from all of Exeter’s constituencies: parents, alumni, staff, faculty and of course, students. Not only has the committee hosted listening events for each of these groups in order to adequately hear a wide variety of voices, but the council has also put in place a "principal search email," which any member of the Exeter community can message at any time. Although the committee has gone to great lengths to ensure that the nomination and selection of candidates is as equitable and unbiased as possible, they have fallen short in one area: the search committee itself. Composed of thirteen faculty, staff, trustees and alumni, the group has not one student member; seeing that the position of principal requires leading a school of 1000-plus students, this oversight is concerning.Recently many members of the Exeter community had put forth the idea of Exonians serving on the principal search committee, alongside the 13 current members. The proposal was shut down, largely based on the ideas that students cannot travel to the various committee meetings and that they do not have the experience necessary in selecting the Academy’s principal. Not only should this proposition not have been rejected, but it should not have had to be a proposition in the first place: the instant the principal search committee was formed, Exonians themselves should have been considered as candidates, or at the very least student liaisons. At the end of the day, as much as Exeter is a community, an organization and even a business, we are primarily a school; the reason we are all here today is to learn as students or facilitate that learning experience as faculty and staff.Similarly, although the next principal will have many tasks including fundraising and global outreach, his foremost undertaking should be to guide and improve Exeter as an educational institution. Yes, we students are able to attend listening events and share our opinions, and yes, we are always able to send input to the principal search email, but that is not enough. Because Exonians are the 1000-plus people that are at Exeter to be educated, it only makes sense that one or more of us sit at the table when the selection committee is deciding upon the next head of school.One of the reasons given for why students cannot serve on the committee is that the committee meetings are not always held at Exeter and students do not have the time nor method of attending the get-togethers. This is an inadequate justification. Any Exonians who would be willing to be a member of the committee would understand the time involved and could plan their work accordingly. In addition, students could still attend the search committee meetings on campus, and if a gathering was not at Exeter, the students could still share their voices through the many technological means we have today, like conference calls or video feeds.The second rationale behind not having students on the committee is that we are not experienced enough to have a vote in the selection of our 15th principal. Yet a lack of background in selecting principals should not stop Exonians from sitting on the committee. Obviously, having student members does not mean their voices dominates all others, nor does it mean students even have to have a vote; it just means that there should be students present in some form at every meeting to share and make known the opinions of the student body.The principal selection committee has made an impressive, continual effort to be as extensive and egalitarian as possible during the search process, and to maintain this sense of equity, it only makes sense that the next step includes the involvement of current Exonians on the committee itself.