Hotchkiss New Head of School Candidate

<p>Anyone from andover can give me some information about Ms. Jane Fried? She's supposed to be the oversear of the admissions, college counselling, research and future planning programs at Andover.
She's one of the New Head of School Candidate for Hotchkiss as Mr. Mattoon is going to retire after 10 years at Hotchkiss. She might become the first female head of school here at Hotchkiss.. She seems friendly but I dont know whether she's a natural leader as many people noticed...her voice is not commanding..at least not as another candidate who spoke to us...
SO anyone from andover can comment on this??</p>

<p>Sorry I can't, but she must be very well qualified if she heads the Admissions Process at Andover.</p>

<p>Do you attend Hotchkiss currently? If you do, what do you think of it?</p>

<p>There must be something good going on at Andover. Dr. Margarita Curtis (also came from Andover) is the new "Headmaster" or "Headmistress" at Deerfield Academy and reviews I have read about her are excellent. If Ms. Fried gets that Hotchkiss' spot, Andover would be 2 out of 2 ... Dr. Curtis is also the first woman in that position at D.A.</p>

<p>Isn't the head of andover a grad from Emma Willard?</p>

<p>So what's the word on the Hotchkiss campus about the new Head of School? It's not every day that a South African who lives in Great Britain is hired to head a U.S. boarding school...</p>

<p><a href="http://www.hotchkiss.org/news/index.asp?pageaction=ViewSinglePublic&LinkID=1590&ModuleID=89%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.hotchkiss.org/news/index.asp?pageaction=ViewSinglePublic&LinkID=1590&ModuleID=89&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>This is interesting. I'm not very familiar with Hotchkiss, but I think of it as very traditional and not too eager to change. If this new Head is going to contribute to the school, I imagine some unusual changes will happen. Is this "The Globalization of the American Boarding School," chapter 2? Chapter 1 was the head of Deerfield going to Saudi Arabia.</p>

<p>he is not well accepted by most of the student body..there was a huge outcry through all school email...the way the school timed the announcement...the day we leave for break is also subject to all conspiracy speculation - they dont want us to discuss about it so we cant object... students' voices were not heard AT ALL during the selection too</p>

<p>Now THAT is interesting. Hotchkiss has been trying to position itself as a more progressive place for some time now.</p>

<p>bearcats, why is he "not well accepted"? What did students not like about him?</p>

<p>there are a few things we dislike about this</p>

<p>-hotchkiss is a new england prep school, though changes at appropriate times are necessary, we probably want someone who has worked at a prep school of this sort to head the school, this is not about hiring a teacher</p>

<ul>
<li>he is totally unaware of NE prepschool traditions which are one of the reasons that make hotchkiss special</li>
</ul>

<p>-hotchkiss is a top notch NE boarding school, not a school for experiment. We want people with according experience. </p>

<ul>
<li><p>it seems that the board just wants to bring change to make hotchkiss seem like a place that changes according to times, globalism and all this stuff. Changes are good when it is necessary.. dont change just for the sake of changing</p></li>
<li><p>he's an nice person, interesting,...but didnt show much leadership or personal opinion. Hotchkiss needs someone with strong leadership because seriously, no offense to Mr Mattoon (current head of school), who's a genuinely nice guy..he doesnt know how to rally the school and get the school to be like a school</p></li>
</ul>

<p>-students voice are not heard</p>

<p>-the board of trustees decided that sending an all school email informing us of this news the day we leave for winter break is an appropriate time....oh well..doesnt this look like something going on? conspiracy? so we cant talk about it and the voice heard will be much weaker when we return??</p>

<p>bearcats: I don't know anything specific about McKenzie or the search, but there are a few things that you should keep in mind. First, the guy has been head of two boarding schools for the past 15 years. They were not U.S. boarding schools, but they were still boarding schools--there are more similarities than you may think. He has a lot of experience that will come in handy. Second, each school has its own traditions, and each new head who comes from the outside needs to learn them, whether s/he's coming from Andover or from Wales. You didn't know anything about Hotchkiss traditions just 2-3 years ago, and now you feel a great sense of ownership, as you should. You picked up the traditions in a very short time, and so will he. Finally, it's the job of the trustees to hire a new head. Students, faculty, staff, alums, all want to pick the head that they like, but at any school, it's up to the trustees to do that. In fact, it's one of their most important roles. Hotchkiss has some very impressive trustees--very smart people with a lot of experience and who care about the school. Give them the benefit of the doubt. They would not have picked him if they didn't think that he can do a terrific job. They're not the kind of people who will let "globalism" dictate their choice at the expense of everything else. So be optimistic! He may well turn out to be a great choice.</p>

<p>yes..it's the trustees choice...
but guess what
bad way to tell the students, absolutely bad timing...
choosing the day we leave to send an all-school email? Sneaky</p>

<p>I agree with bearcats. Of course, if everyone who wanted to got to choose the Headmaster or Headmistress, there would be no ends to debate and comittees and a decision would never get made. Still, the students are the ones living under the Head, and I think it's not very respectful of them to tell the students the day before they leave by e-mail. It may have been, and probably was, an honest mistake with no agenda, but still wasn't great judgement.</p>

<p>I believe the newer, more correct (politically or otherwise) title is "Head of School". </p>

<p>Unless it's at Avon Old Farms, Trinity-Pawling, Salisbury, Woodberry Forest etc. where they will probably never have a distaff head.</p>

<p>I've been in many searches, and the timing of the hiring is usually very hard to control. It typically depends on the candidate, who is given some time to decide and negotiate details after being offered the job. So if he accepted a couple of days before the end of the term, the trustees didn't have much choice regarding when to make the announcement--it would have been impossible and somewhat pointless to try to keep it a secret until students come back in January. These things are typically announced right after they happen. So I wouldn't be inclined to see any conspiracies.</p>