<p>We are beginning the process of looking at schools and a few of them have recently had a change in leadership.</p>
<p>In your experience, how long does it take for the new head of a school to have an impact? Has the change of head affected your choice of schools?<br>
Has anyone had an experience with a school in which the change in head really changed the direction/atmosphere of a school?</p>
<p>Traditionally, a new head of school takes the first year to get the "lay of the land" although if he/she has been appointed from within that might not necessarily be the case. More changes come in years two and three, and then a head tends to settle in for the next few years. The average tenure for an independent school secondary head is about 7 years. To get an idea of the direction of a school, read its strategic plan; the new head should embrace and continue those directions. You may also want to inquire about how strong the leadership is at the level of the Deans; often these are the people who take care of the school on a day-to-day basis with the Head spending more time on fundraising or other "big picture" items. Much depends on the size of the school as well.<br>
My son currently attends a school at which a new head was recently appointed, and I do not anticipate significant change in the next two years. Hope this helps!</p>
<p>one prominent example would be saint mark's. i never applied, will not, and thus cannot attend saint marks itself but i have a friend going there who is pretty happy with his life.</p>
<p>apparently in the 90s it was one of the it schools, compatible but middlesex but maybe not as famous. i dunno. but then their matriculation went down for some reason and they just weren't attracting fame as much as they used to. with a new head now, they're trying to relive the old days and i think just the TALK of a new headmaster brought a lot of free publicity to the school.</p>
<p>change probably occurs in 2-3 years. my school has changed headmasters once, and though we don't credit him for doing anything, it has seen a lot of remodeling and fixing up and matriculation rise over the past few years. and thank god, or else more people would have left XD</p>
<p>woah posted at the same time XD
listen to siemom. yay. :)</p>
<p>S is a senior at a school w/ a new head of school this year. I don't anticipate any major changes this year -- the new head is, as mentioned above, getting the "lay of the land." She has already had to deal w/ several discipline issues, but I don't believe that has anything to do w/ her being new.</p>
<p>It depends on the new head's plan and qualification. Sometimes school can be worse, sometimes school can be better. In Saint Mark's case, I can tell that school is certainly becoming better.
The new head has changed many thing positively. </p>
<p>However, it takes more than a year until they know if the new headmaster is effective or not. The parents are the first people who will know
the difference.</p>
<p>St Mark's is a good example of a new head making a real differnce, 'tho in SMS' case they could have brought in almost anyone and seen improvement. SMS had a very unusual situation wherein they had co-heads who were husband/wife. We weren't impressed with either, thought it just plain weird, 'tho son loved the school and almost went.</p>
<p>Well, Mr. Hassan has been at Exeter for ages (and indeed served as acting principal when Tingles was on sabbatical), so I imagine the transition would be really smooth - he seems like a nice guy as well, too.</p>
<p>Milton recently hired a new head as well. The newspaper said that previous head had a trouble with lower grade program.</p>
<p>hotchkiss has a new head of school-
the school took the time to send out a newsletter with background info and interviews with him.</p>
<p>It is great to hear that the new head at St. Mark's is making a real difference. In what ways?</p>
<p>I heard that the Athenian school got a new Head...Eric Niles, the assistant head of school from Emma Willard. Anybody have any information on him?
I know Athenian isn't much of a boarding school anymore... I'm just curious about this fellow.</p>
<p>Concord Academy just named a new head: Concord</a> Academy names new head of school - Concord, MA - The Concord Journal.</p>
<p>It's a small world in independent schools. Concord Academy's new head is the man who has been serving as interim head of Milton Academy for past two years. He is a great guy who took care of the school after the previous head left (forced to leave??) after issues with the board and the formation of lower school - see above post. Milton's new head is another great guy was was at Belmont Hill for a time before moving to Ohio where he has been at Seven Hills. Best approach is to know that search committees and boards of trustees work very, very hard to find the right match between the school and the candidates for head and to have confidence that the person they appoint - after long and arduous processes- is right for the school.</p>
<p>The St. Mark's head came from Milton and he has been changing Sait Mark's program so
positively and some lingering problems from several headmasters back are now resolved. St. Mark's went through a tough patch at the end of the nineties. It's now coming back strong thanks to the new head. They reinforced the college counseling office staffs and the college matriculation is becoming better and better every year, and they keep hiring a high quality faculties, and everybody at SMS including parents is happy with the school. Recently they finished many new buildings and they are planning to renovate the main building. Once it is complete, the school will be in much better shape. SMS is certainly an elite school now, and it will be even much better from now on.</p>