POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT: HEAD OF THE HIGH SCHOOL

Saint Ann’s School, an independent, non-sectarian day school enrolling approximately 1100 students in preschool through twelfth grade, seeks a visionary, dynamic, experienced, and nurturing leader for its next Head of the High School. The successful candidate will possess the ineffable qualities necessary to form meaningful relationships with bountifully talented and boisterous high school students who hold a multiplicity of identities, come from myriad backgrounds, and engage in the fierce pursuit of knowledge, skill, and artistry. The Head of the High School carries out their work in a way that advances the School’s commitment to diversity, equity, and belonging.

ABOUT SAINT ANN’S SCHOOL

Since its founding in 1965, Saint Ann’s has embraced a commitment to education for its own sake, oriented to the capacities of each individual student and free of the encumbrances of formal grading, prizes, and rankings. At the same time, we are unabashedly committed to excellence in all that we do. With a faculty and staff numbering close to 400, and nearly 1100 students, Saint Ann’s is among the largest and most selective independent schools in New York City. The lives of our graduates speak powerfully to the potential of an education based on these principles to ignite a love of learning and sustain creative energy in every field of endeavor. We accomplish this by bringing together talented teachers with creative and motivated students. Saint Ann’s is committed to centering anti-racism in the life of the school. Seeking to create a community rooted in trust and equity, we invite each other to take risks, pursue knowledge, and celebrate growth.

In the High School, our students are given great freedom—to achieve, to trust themselves, and to find deep satisfaction in learning for its own sake. The high school curriculum is flexible and responsive, so that whenever feasible, our students undertake accelerated or specialized work—in subject areas ranging from music to calculus to Chinese—based upon talents and interests rather than age or grade. The absence of formal grades encourages authentic relationships between teachers and students and encourages artistic and intellectual risk-taking. We know that differences in thought and identity, both in our student body and our faculty, create a mosaic rich with potential for learning and discovery. Our vision as a school is achieved only when all of our students and faculty have a deep sense of belonging and inclusion, and feel affirmed with respect to multiple aspects of their identities. Whimsy, humor, and an atmosphere of intellectual and artistic adventure are seen as valuable aids to daily discovery.

THE POSITION AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Head of the High School reports to the Head of School and serves alongside other division heads and senior administrators as a member of the School’s Core Administration. The Head leads a team that has primary responsibility for being aware of the needs of a given student from many perspectives, facilitating the student-teacher relationship, and managing the School’s partnership between students, teachers and parents. The Head supervises an associate head, three grade deans, a student affairs coordinator, and an administrative assistant. In coordination with this team, the Head of the High School is charged with the comprehensive responsibility for all activities involving more than 350 students in ninth–twelfth grade, and also works closely with other administrators to advise and support faculty teaching in the division.

Specific responsibilities include the following:

• Articulate—at parents’ nights; admissions events; faculty meetings; community wide gatherings among other places—a vision of the high school that reflects the school’s unique pedagogy and educational philosophy and ensures that every student feels fully included in the high school community.

• Shape the division’s priorities and objectives consistent with the school’s mission and in consultation with the Head of School.

• Ensure the academic well-being and see to the guidance of all students in the high school.

• Plan, execute and oversee community-building activities for high school students.

• Ensure the high school office is working effectively with school psychologists, learning specialists, and other student support staff to be aware of and responsive to the educational, physical, social, and emotional needs of individual students and of the high school community and lead efforts to meet those needs.

• Serve as the primary interlocutor with parents and families in the division. Communicate and uphold academic and behavioral expectations necessary to ensure that students, families, faculty and staff are fully informed on these matters consistent with their individual roles. Work with grade deans, teachers and parents to resolve issues or concerns about particular students and about school policies, curricula, and programs.

• Crisis management: Take the lead on significant academic, social, emotional, or behavioral concerns with individual students in the high school and the entire high school community in coordination with the Head of School and supported by the high school office and student support staff. Manage the relationship between students, families, teachers, and the division office.

• Work with the Director of Diversity and Institutional Equity to plan and implement division-specific strategies and activities to achieve the shared goal of an inclusive high school community, including student-focused diversity programming, affinity spaces, and other activities designed to advance anti-racist practices and to sustain a culture free of bias. Serve as a standing member of the Advisory Council on Bias Incidents.

• Work closely with the College Office and the eleventh and twelfth grade deans to ensure effective advising of students in a rigorous and supportive college admissions process.

• In coordination with the Dean of Faculty, advise teachers in matters of classroom management, teaching methods, anti-racist classroom practices, and general school procedures. Participate in hiring, observation, and evaluation of teachers in the division.

• Work closely with the Admissions Office in the evaluation of applicants for admission to the high school.

• Oversee high school office review of annual checklist and narrative reports for high school students and the deans’ preparation of year-end cover letters for all high school students.

• Supervise, mentor, manage, and evaluate the work of a five-person administrative office team.

• Other duties as assigned by the Head of School.

REQUIREMENTS

• Education: Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree(s) preferred.

• Work Experience: Minimum of five years experience in a relevant position that includes work with children in this age group, including teaching, administrative and supervisory experience and responsibility, and student advising.

• Communication Skills: Superb written and oral communication skills.

• Interpersonal Skills: Superior interpersonal skills; the ability to engage effectively with students, parents, faculty, and other members of the school community in a way reflective of the school’s culture; discretion, judgment and maturity.

• Leadership: Proven track record as an institutional leader of faculty, students, and programs in independent schools or other comparable educational settings.

• Equity Mindset: Demonstrated commitment to and experience in advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion work in an independent school or similar environment.

• Charisma, intelligence, empathy, humor and equanimity are essential.

COMPENSATION

This is a full time, exempt administrative position with a competitive compensation package including benefits. Salary range: $190,000-$220,000 commensurate with level of experience.

TO APPLY

Interested candidates should email a cover letter that speaks directly to the school’s mission, a resume, and a professional writing sample to [email protected]. Application deadline: November 10, 2023, with anticipated start date of August 2024.

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY

Saint Ann’s School admits students of any race, color, religion, creed, gender, disability, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation or any other category protected by applicable federal, state or local law, to all the rights privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the School. The School does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, gender (which includes a person’s actual or perceived sex, as well as gender identity and expression), age, marital status, disability, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, familial status, predisposing genetic characteristics, actual or perceived domestic violence victim status, unemployment status, caregiver status or any other category protected by applicable federal, state or local law, in carrying on its educational activities or in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, employment policies, financial aid programs, and athletic and other school administered programs.