What Does It Take To Be a Head of School Today?

While attending an ISACS Head’s Conference in 1988, Rowland McKinley, the retiring twenty-five year Headmaster at the University School in Cleveland, stepped to the podium and proclaimed in a commanding, brusque voice, “I am a dinosaur!” His bigger than life, marine-like appearance with his penetrating eyes staring in my direction stunned me momentarily, reminding me of several school masters I shuttered to remember. I abruptly sat at attention quickly realizing that he spotted our table where four of us youthful and eager HOS were dining together. Rowland’s voice boomed once again, “Yes, you are the ones, the HOS who must carry on and deal with the new, independent school parent. You will not have the luxury that I enjoyed; when I spoke, everyone listened.” Well, I had no clue what Rowland was talking about except we knew we were far from being like this burly, drill sergeant headmaster complete with crew cut. Moments later it occurred to me that it was his very presence and voice that commanded immediate authority, something Rowland later claimed would no longer be a useful headmaster skill.  

A month later, I attended a workshop at an NAIS Conference where Rod Snelling, President of Independent School Management (ISM), offered his prediction, “Prepare for the Parents of the 90s.” His thesis was simply this: the children raised by post-1960s parents were offspring during the “Pepsi, ‘Me’ Generation.” In essence, it meant that parents would come to expect HOS to retrofit the school’s mission and educational program to the needs of the parents’ demands.

As part of a new breed of HOS, most of us took heed of Rod’s and Rowland’s predictions, not really knowing what such a parent might look like. A few years later, I knew their predictions had come true when a parent demanded, “I am paying thousands for this education, so I expect you to give me what my child deserves.” For a brief moment, my mind flashed back to Rowland picturing him saying in his day, “Well, m ‘am, your son is getting our very best here, so you can take him or leave him…” Quickly snapping back to reality, I asked, “Can you help me better understand what you mean by ‘what he deserves?’”  I did not respond like a dinosaur, but instead, I listened carefully to the parent so that I might adjust to meet the child’s needs.” How right Rowland and Rod were about the new and demanding parents who were by the late ‘90’s defined as “customers,” a far cry from the days when Rowland like dinosaurs roamed the hallowed halls of our independent schools.  

Now, I am a Rowland-like dinosaur in comparison to the parent of the 21^st century. Today’s parents, although nice enough, have no pangs about saying, "I am here to advocate for my child." Comparably more parents are now used to negotiating with school personnel to get their childrens' needs met, regardless of restraints or extra cost to the school, not to mention stretching the school’s mission to do so. Several years ago, I encountered a situation that told me I was on the onset of becoming a dinosaur. A new parent said she was not reenrolling her kindergarten child for the next year, because she and her husband did feel accepted at the school, although her child, after a bumpy start, was adjusting well with lots of friends. I said, “You mean you would pull your happy child out of school after one year because you are not happy in our school’s community?” It dawned on me that the new parents of the 21^st century not only were looking for their children to be accepted, but it mattered to them that they were accepted, too. I remember her saying, “Zack is fine, he loves it here, but this is just not the school for my husband and me.”

As a dinosaur, I have had to come to grips with adjusting to not only the newest iteration of parents as Rowland did but also to certain other trends complicating the present independent school landscape. To Rowland’s credit, he retired at an expected age of the times. But, today’s retirement age is a moving target. Today, HOS are faced with prolonged careers forgoing retirement, which means in some cases adjusting to a newer breed of parent more than once in their careers, in addition to facing other new trends, which I see as the following:

• Managing board and staff hard for greater effectiveness in achieving highly publicized goals and expectations.
• Strengthening the strategic function of boards in order to achieve certain outcomes.
• Opening up once closed processes in order to become more fully transparent to stakeholders.
• Utilizing social media and networking to understand the informal communication lines operating in your school.

Although the days of the Rowland dinosaur that we still may revere are long gone, I too can now say to the X-Generation HOS, “It is up to you.”  You must manage your staffs aggressively by monitoring their achievements rather than hiring good people and just letting them do their jobs well. You must identify strategic thinkers in your community to join your boards rather than filling positions by merely identifying needed expertise only. You must create transparency in all aspects of your organizations to the extent you can by utilizing a multitude of means and forums of communications. Finally, you must play by the dictates of the new social order arising out of the social media and networking by becoming a player and communicating firsthand about the good things going on in your schools.

The benefits of doing business in this way will far outweigh the tried and true old methods of overseeing people left to do their jobs and reacting to whatever comes along. Although our generation of HOS learned long ago that whatever we said was not going to be taken as gospel, we did surround ourselves with people who would do their jobs well and deliver the messages. Now, it is expected that the HOS closely monitor the progress and detailed achievement of the school’s personnel, knowing full well that Facebook and Twitter can be used to communicate these small but important little achievements in a less controlled environment.

Not long ago, I hired an employee who, in spite of a background check, was reported to have harassed someone in a former school. I had no sooner stepped out of my classroom when a reporter and parent were at my doorstep. The speed of light with which social media took up this issue and presented to me only serves to illustrate a HOS leadership in such situations is automatically compromised: no time to get the facts; only the recipient of a community who has already tried and juried all those involved. HOS today know not what is in store for them, but they do know that whatever comes their way, they must adjust with lightning speed to the situations at hand.  In doing so, heads will be accorded a certain amount of respect in the school’s community. However, I will say to future heads: it is a decision, but no longer a choice, to be an actor on social media networks.

What more do you think it will take for a HOS today to keep from being a dinosaur in this second decade of the twenty-first century?

Charles F. Clark is Head of School at the Nantucket-Lighthouse School (MA).

Comments

[Gary Gruber]

Charlie has hit the proverbial nail on the head and sometimes it may well have been the head of the school who gets hit with all kinds of strange requests from parents. I am among the oldest, still somewhat active, dinosaurs,a prosauropod to be specific and I can recall the seismic shifts in the head's office and role over the past 50 years. I still think we sometimes cater too much to the whims of parents to keep them engaged, happy and enrolled. One of my favorite lines, after several meetings with parents, was,
"Mr and Mrs Jones, we have made our decision. Now it's time for you to make yours. We would be delighted to have you stay but if we're not meeting your needs (or your child's) then we will gladly help you find another, more appropriate school."

[Mark Silver]

I had to smile when I read Charlie's comment about the parent pulling their child because the parents do not feel like the community is appropriate for them. As one of those new Gen-X Heads of School, even I have been stunned by those types of comments. While I certainly appreciate the need to create a warm and welcoming community, I am increasingly concerned that in our zeal to create community we are spending more and more time catering to parents personal needs. Until our mission changes - in our case, "provide an extraordinary educational experience that fosters a love of learning and provides students with the skills, knowledge and confidence to reach their highest individual potential in school and in life" - I will be hard-pressed to prioritize even more social gatherings for our parents over the educational needs of our children. Fortunately, I actually think the vast majority of our parents agree. What's more, as a parent of three young children, I am focused on letting my children's lives be their lives, while I live my own. After all, I've already had my childhood. It's their turn.