Head of School Search
Head of School Announcement
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Dear Holland Hall Family,
On behalf of the Search Committee and the Board of Trustees, we are honored and absolutely thrilled to announce the selection of Holland Hall’s next Head of School. Mr. Jared P. (J.P.) Culley has agreed to become the 19th Head of School beginning July 1, 2013. Mr. Culley is currently the Associate Head of School at St. George’s Independent School in Germantown, Tennessee. St. George’s is a coeducational, PreK-12th grade school of more than 1,100 students on three campuses in Memphis, Collierville and Germantown, Tennessee.
Mr. Culley, an accomplished and respected educator, has had many roles while at St. George’s, serving as science faculty member, Director of Academic Studies, Upper School Director, Academic Dean, Interim Middle School Director, coach and an announcer at games as the voice of the Gryphons. He has a strong academic background and was a Klingenstein Summer Institute Fellow at Columbia University in 2003 and received a Master of Arts in Independent School Leadership in 2005. His increasing responsibilities at St. George’s show a proven track record and depth of experience; his profound impact is evident in all aspects of the school. A thoughtful communicator, he has shown his innate ability to relate to students, families and faculty members across divisions and campuses. He inspires educators and fosters an environment where innovative teaching is the norm. He is intelligent, personable and energetic and his leadership style supports and advocates those around him.
After a thorough search process — which included survey feedback from our Holland Hall community, input from the Faculty Advisory Committee and Administrative Team, and counsel from search firm Wickenden Associates — the Search Committee and the Board of Trustees agreed that the school identified an ideal candidate in Mr. Culley, who was not only more than qualified, but perfectly aligned with the values and traditions of Holland Hall. It is clear that Mr. Culley is genuinely excited and committed to being a part of the Holland Hall family. He and his wife Mary, a fellow educator, have a four-year-old son named Louie. There will be opportunities to welcome J.P., Mary and Louie in the coming months.
We would like to thank all of our students, parents, alumni, staff and faculty who participated in this search process. It was an extensive and time consuming effort, but we are confident that this inclusive process made it possible to choose the best match for Holland Hall from a pool of elite professionals. We also want to thank Susan Walters and Jim Wickenden of Wickenden Associates for tirelessly coordinating our successful search process.
Holland Hall is a unique and wonderful community with a future as bright as its past. While our school continues to accomplish great things inside and outside the classroom, there is much still to do. Together, we look forward to our best years ahead.
Sincerely,
Roger B. Collins Keith C. Goddard ’87
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Dear Families, Friends, and Alumni of Holland Hall,
Leading Holland Hall toward the conclusion of its first century of serving the families of Tulsa is a tremendous honor for me. It delights Mary and me to join you toward the endeavor of fostering a meaningful community together. You have evolved an essential and strong educational experience for students. Playing a part in the continued growth of Holland Hall excites me, and the notion of our family actively participating in the life of the school and the broader Tulsa community compelled us to make Holland Hall our home. With great anticipation, we look forward to the experience of simultaneously becoming Tulsans and Dutch!
Holland Hall is a remarkable place. An outstanding school with a strong national reputation, its position among elite independent schools is a testament to the decades of hard work and dedication provided by its faculty, parents, students, alumni, and trustees. True to its mission, my discovery of the responsibility it holds in fostering a respect for, and pursuit of, academic excellence, while simultaneously pushing students to excel in the arts, athletics, and service endeavors is, simply put, unmatched.
Holland Hall fosters in its students a sense of self-reflection, a commitment to contribute beyond the walls of Holland Hall, and a willingness to take healthy risks. Too, the relationships I have experienced and learned about during my search are genuine. Such a culture spoke to Mary and me as we considered the next steps in our professional and personal lives. Indeed, it’s a place where we know our son, Louie, will be challenged and nurtured. A strong sense of community and high academic expectations are important to us. We discovered their coalescence while in college at Sewanee: The University of the South, and have felt the same as participants in the life of St. George’s Independent School. Just as so many before us have placed their faith and interest in the future of Holland Hall, we could not be more thrilled to join a place that is so aware and so vibrant.
Becoming your next Head of School is also a humbling experience for me. Deservedly, the pool of candidates interested in embracing your community and leading it toward the 100-year anniversary was impressively strong. As the process unfolded for my family, and we grew to understand better the feel and promise of Holland Hall, it quickly became our top selection as a place for us to truly “be” in community with others, to serve others, and to embrace the traditions of those before us. These three things will be amidst our top priorities as we grow into our work together with you.
From there, I will work closely with various community members to begin work on the priorities outlined in the Charge to the Head of School. Upon my first reading of them, it became clear that Holland Hall also serves as a frame of mind, articulating to its students and the broader community that it’s not afraid to be in a continual state of becoming. Just as living an interesting life derives from broadening our perspectives and engaging in acts of meaning and substance, so does the life of a school community that values doing good work. To join you is an honor. To lead is a challenge and responsibility I relish.
While we hope to create opportunities for me to return to Tulsa in the coming months, appropriately my focus will be on important work to be done here at St. George’s. You have a truly engaged, energetic, wise, and able leader in Richard Hart. I know he and his team look forward to the coming months and the opportunities to further Holland Hall’s goals.
Please accept our best for the holidays and to the opportunities to be had as members of the Holland Hall community. We look forward to becoming active, engaged community members, alongside you, very soon!
Warmly,
J.P. Culley
September 26, 2012
Survey Links
Candidate #3: W. Palmer Kennedy
Candidate #2: James Calleroz White
September 20, 2012
Save the Date – Head of School Finalist Visits Coming Soon
Dear Holland Hall Family:
I am pleased to report that the Head of School Search Committee has made significant progress in our search for a new Head of School.
With input from the Faculty Advisory Committee and the Board of Trustees, we worked over the summer to develop a Charge to the New Head. While still in draft form, click here to download a copy.
The Head of School Search Committee met in August to review resumes of qualified applicants supplied to us by Wickenden and Associates, our search firm, and picked eight semi-finalists to invite for interviews. Interviews with the semi-finalists took place this past Friday and Saturday. The initial eight was a diverse group consisting of four sitting heads, three assistant/associate heads and one well-qualified candidate and out of the box candidate. Some were seasoned veterans, while others are rising stars.
From the group of eight semi-finalists we have invited three finalists and their spouses back for interviews with the entire Holland Hall community. In consideration of each candidate’s current employment and upon the advice of our search consultants, their names and backgrounds will not be disclosed until each visits campus.
Please save the following date/times:
Candidate #1: (Visiting September 27 & 28)
Thursday, September 27
- 3:30 – 4:15 p.m. Open meeting with Faculty & Staff — Holliman Gallery
Friday, September 28
- 8:15 – 8:50 a.m. Open meeting with Parents & Alumni — Middle School Alumni Center
Candidate #2: (Visiting Oct 1 & 2)
Monday, October 1
- 2:30 – 3:15 p.m. Open meeting with Parents & Alumni — Middle School Alumni Center
- 3:30 – 4:15 p.m. Open meeting with Faculty & Staff — Holliman Gallery
Candidate #3: (Visiting Oct 3 & 4)
Wednesday, October 3
- 2:30 – 3:15 p.m. Open meeting with Parents & Alumni — Middle School Alumni Center
- 3:30 – 4:15 p.m. Open meeting with Faculty & Staff — Holliman Gallery
I think you will find each candidate has different strengths. Each is a strong candidate. Each finalist’s resume along with a survey link will be handed out at the open meeting. The survey link will also be posted on the Head of School Search web page. Please give us your thoughts on each candidate; we very much want your feedback. It will assist us in picking the absolute best candidate for our next Head of School.
Sincerely,
Roger Collins
Head of School Search Committee, Chair
June 13, 2012
Head of School Search Update: June Retreat
Dear Holland Hall Family,
I am writing to give you another update on our Head of School search activities. Last week we had a retreat led by Jim Wickenden that consisted of 15 Board members, 11 members of the Head Search Faculty Advisory Committee, and 10 Administrators.
The purpose of the retreat was to discuss the issues facing the school over the next 5 to 10 years that our next Head of School will face and hence what qualities and experience we want in candidates who apply.
This email will not do the retreat justice, but I wanted to give you a brief overview of our discussions.
A few of the issues the next Head of School will encounter are:
• For Holland Hall to continue to distinguish itself both locally (to attract students) and nationally (to place graduates) will require a shared vision that defines who we are from PreK-12 and that connects our divisions and curriculum.
• Need improved communications between divisions and the community.
• Need to refine which measurable criteria/standards we should be benchmarking against. Suggestion arose to compare where our grads are 5 and 10 years out to others. We have a lot of success stories.
• Need to identify what is the ideal enrollment number.
• Role of Alumni? Expand beyond just giving.
• The school will likely revisit whether its move away from APs to Honors and interdivisional studies should be maintained or modified.
Based on the issues, the following qualities were thought important in our next Head of School:
• Charismatic, collaborative consensus builder
— A good listener
— Person that can make decisions with integrity while being inclusive with faculty when making those decisions
— Demonstrated ability to manage change
• Good people management skills – demonstrated hiring experience
• PreK-12 educator experience who is not afraid to be progressive
— Understanding of pedagogy, curriculum and strategic planning
— A vision for what a 21st century student / school will be
— Current on educational trends
• Someone that will respect traditions. Willing to learn our school before proposing change.
• Strong communicator – able to articulate, motivate and energize
— Ability to make donor asks must be part of their DNA.
• Person comfortable measuring against metrics
Jim Wickenden closed the meeting with some observations.
• If we heard him correctly, this was the first time in his years as a recruiter that he has seen a school go through this process of gathering together different constituencies to talk about what is important. He commended us for that.
• We should work to develop a “Charge to the Head” regarding the 3 to 4 items we would like the new Head to concentrate on in his first 4 to 5 years.
• Stories Sell – they are much easier to remember than SAT or AP scores. Have our Institutional Advancement office gather data on how Holland Hall contributed to the successes of its alums. Possibly putting short video testimonials on our website.
• Regarding Head of School candidates – he suggests at this point we remain flexible on experience vs talent.
In addition to the foregoing, I am pleased to report that we finalized our Head of School Opportunity Statement and the document is now available on our website. A preliminary draft was circulated to our Search Committee, Faculty Advisory Committee and Administrators. We have revised that draft based upon their feedback.
Have a great summer!
Roger Collins
Head of School Search Chair
May 21, 2012
Head of School Search Update
Dear Holland Hall Community:
Before we reach the end of this school year, I would like to take a minute to update you on our search for a new Head of School.
As you are aware, Jim Wickenden and Susan Walters from Wickenden and Associates (the nationally prominent secondary school search firm retained to assist with our search) was on campus for two days of interviews a few weeks back. Based on the input they received, they are drafting a Head of School Opportunity Statement to be sent to potential candidates.
Our search timeline is: (i) Wickenden will recruit candidates all summer, (ii) the Search Committee will be furnished candidate’s resumes in August from which it will select 6-8 to visit within mid September, (iii) from those meetings we will invite 2 or 3 finalists back to campus individually the first and second weeks of October to meet with the community.
To assist the Search Committee in this process, we have also formed a Faculty Advisory Committee. It has representation from all three divisions, arts and athletics. We also tried for a variety in the tenure on that committee. I think we came out with a terrific committee. Before we depart for the summer we will be holding a retreat with that Committee, the Board of Trustees and the School’s Administrative Team to review the qualities, characteristics and experience that our next Head should have in order to finalize our Head of School Opportunity Statement. Jim Wickenden will be there to lead that discussion.
As we go through this process, we would welcome any suggestions or thoughts you might have. The best way to contact me is by email or cell phone. You may also email or discuss any suggestions or ideas with a member of either the Faculty Advisory Committee or the Search Committee.
The Faculty Advisory Committee consists of:
Chair: Karen Holmes (US Math)
PS:
Susan Steinmeyer (Support Services)
Brian Underwood (PE/US coach)
Lynne Lopez (3rd gr Teacher)
Sangeeta Panicker (PreSchool)
MS:
Marian Dresser (Librarian / Technology)
Amber Graybill (5th gr Science)
Mark Johnson (7th gr English)
Tommy Sharp (6th gr History)
US:
Art Scrutchins (RE)
Maureen Burke (Languages)
Nathan Parker (English)
Richard Spencer (Math)
ARTS:
Byron Shen
The Board’s Search Committee consists of:
Roger Collins, Committee Chair
Keith Goddard ’87, Board Chair
Karen Holmes, Faculty Advisory Committee Chair
Bishop Ed Konieczny
Susannah H. Adelson ’85
Brittani Bowman
Geoffrey Butler
Rhonda Chastang
J.W. Craft
Bill Freudenrich
Elizabeth Hagans
David Keglovits
Chuck Lamson
Tammie Maloney
Steadman Upham
Have a great summer!
Sincerely,
Roger
Roger B Collins
Email: rcollins@lkam.com
Office (918) 743-2993 ext. 4223
Cell (918) 671-2867
May 1, 2012
Search Survey Link
Dear Holland Hall Family:
This is a follow up to our April 23rd letter. Jim Wickenden and Susan Walters are on campus interviewing various constituents in regard to what challenges we would like our next Head of School to tackle as well as what characteristics we should be looking for in our next Head of School.
Please go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/wasearchsurvey to give us your input. Your input is important as we develop a position description that will be used to recruit Head of School Candidates.
This is an exciting opportunity for prospective candidates and for Holland Hall.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Roger B. Collins
Search Committee Chair
April 23, 2012
Head of School Search Information
Please CLICK HERE to read important information regarding the Holland Hall Head of School search. It is contained in a two-page PDF document download.
