About

Head of School Search

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Poly Prep is stronger than ever. Our students are thriving inside and beyond our classrooms, our world-class faculty and staff continue to expand, and our financial foundation is solid, with giving at an all-time high.

As we embark on our search for a new Head of School, we want to ensure that every voice is heard, every perspective is valued, and every member of our community plays a meaningful role in shaping the future of Poly Prep.

We are dedicated to securing an extraordinary leader who reflects and advances our school’s mission and values. The process will be as transparent and inclusive as possible, valuing insights from our diverse community of students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, and beyond. We welcome your thoughts, ideas, or concerns and invite you to share them with us over the coming months.

WHO’S LEADING THE SEARCH?

Carney, Sandoe & Associates (CS&A), a nationally recognized educational search firm, has been retained to partner with Poly for our Head of School search. CS&A brings a deep knowledge of independent schools from their nearly 40 years of experience placing school leaders, administrators, and educators across the country.

The CSA team (Barbara Chase, Seliat Dairo, and Bob Vitalo) will host various events (on-campus and virtually) to collect feedback from the community and leverage their findings to locate the leader that our community deserves. This is a wonderful chance to voice your expectations for our next Head of School. Your participation is invaluable. See upcoming events for details.

POLY PREP SEARCH COMMITTEE

We formed a Poly Prep Search Committee comprised of parents, faculty, staff, alumni, and trustees to drive the Head of School search, support CSA’s efforts, and help facilitate the school’s decision-making process. The committee will ensure the community’s feedback is incorporated throughout every step of the search.

Harry Bernieri ‘85, P’15, ’19, History Faculty

Robin Bramwell-Stewart, ‘86, P’16, Co-chair, Search Committee; Former Trustee

Laura Coppola ‘95, P’29, ’35, Charles and Valerie Diker Chair of Visual Arts

Kim Davis, Head Teacher, Kindergarten

John Foley P’26, ’30, Trustee

Emily Gardiner P’24, ’27, Upper School Deans Department Chair

Michael Liburd P’21, Trustee

Aiyana Parker, Head Teacher, Grade Four

Jennifer Powers P’24, ‘26, ’28, Trustee

Kareem Raymond P’31, ’33, Trustee

Laurie Rosenblatt, P’23, ’25, Co-chair, Search Committee; Trustee

Daniela Vitale Howell P’20, ‘23, ’25, Trustee

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR IN A NEW HEAD OF SCHOOL?

During their time on campus, Carney Sandoe conducted over 45 meetings and met with over 330 members of the Poly community. They also administered a survey to the community which yielded over 800 responses (a very strong showing) and these results are summarized below.
The results of the meetings and surveys are incorporated into a Position Statement which is being used to solicit hundreds of national, as well as global, applicants. Here is a link to the Position Statement.
In keeping with the feedback received from the survey, the Search Committee is looking to identify the best possible candidate for the position. Therefore, the position description includes a flexible start date to allow for a larger candidate pool.
If you know a candidate who would like to be considered for the HOS position, please have them reach out via email to Bob Vitalo.

HOW WILL THE VOICES OF PARENTS, TEACHERS, AND OUR COMMUNITY BE REPRESENTED IN THE PROCESS?

To incorporate the community’s insights into every step of the search process, we conducted a survey to coincide with on-campus, in-person, and remote zoom sessions with various stakeholder groups and Carney Sandoe.
The Search Committee will be reaching out to the community later in the process to explain how people can be further involved in the process as it advances. Please check this site for additional updates.
To ensure we hear feedback from as much of the community as possible, please feel free to reach out to us via email if you did not have a chance to fill out the survey, or if you would like to share any thoughts, feedback, or concerns with us.
See below for survey highlights, more granular data around survey results to follow.

TOPLINE SURVEY RESULTS

In September, we asked parents, faculty/staff/administrators, alumni, and other valued members of our community to tell us what is important to them as we search for our next Head of School. As always, our community came out in force with 875 diverse voices contributing via survey. This feedback has been analyzed and incorporated throughout the Head of School Position Statement to ensure we find the best person to lead our unique community. Please find below the top-two overall results from each question category. To view this graph in browser, click here.

Head of School Survey Results — **Click here to view results in a new window.**

WHEN WILL THE DECISION FOR A NEW HEAD OF SCHOOL BE MADE?

We intend to have a new Head of School in place for the start of the 2024-25 school year, but finding the perfect candidate who reflects, represents, and galvanizes our amazing community is our priority above all else.

UPDATE JANUARY 2024

Read announcement from the Board of Trustees Chair (1/24/2024)

Read latest update from the Co-Chairs of the Search Committee (1/16/2024)

QUESTIONS ABOUT SEARCH

Your insights matter and we’re devoted to keeping you informed. Should you have questions or feedback, please reach out to the Search Committee directly via our Head Search email. We will continue to inform the community in this space as the process develops.