The Jewish Day School Head Search Process: Strategies and Resources

Embarking on the search for a new educational leader of a Jewish day school is a daunting task, particularly in today’s marketplace. Yet the process offers unique opportunities for strengthening the school. Since a school’s professional leadership embodies and realizes the educational vision of the school, in taking up the search process, the lay leadership and other school constituencies have an opportunity to re-visit and re-energize the vision that guides the school.

Going through a search process is an important occasion for institutional assessment and review. It is a time to ask: who are we now and who do we hope to be ten years from now? What type of person or persons can lead us there? Clarifying the school’s goals, financial circumstances, assets and challenges is a critical prelude to writing a coherent job description that will attract the right candidate to a school.

This publication advocates for maximizing the reflective opportunities afforded by the head search process. It is not intended as a step-by-step guide through the process. There are existing publications (see the bibliography) which cover this ground in depth. This publication attempts to bring together some strategies and key resources that may prove useful to a Jewish day school undergoing a search process.

 

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