The Barstow School President Search

Educators Collaborative has worked with independent schools for more than four decades and we are proud of our results in placing hundreds of leaders in independent schools. We especially enjoy working with schools of remarkable achievements such as yours that emphasize quality curriculum, innovation and community. Barstow is an unapologetic model of this approach and a great example of success.

As we prepare to visit campus on August 22, we greatly anticipate seeing the vibrancy of teaching and learning that will soon be in full swing. We gained a sampling in July as we met with members of the Board of Trustees, senior leadership and key stakeholders. While this letter is just now reaching you, we’ve been hard at work with your search committee chair, Tiffany Simpson, and the board chair, Soni Patel, to design the process for your school. Upon our arrival, we will begin building a pool of candidates with the full search committee and other stakeholders, and will also engage the community in a way that honors your voice and participation. In doing so, we hope that will lead to excitement and positive energy around Mr. Foster's successor.

We look forward to spending full days with a cross-section of the the Barstow community in order to confirm our impressions and gain new insights. The school will create a detailed schedule of individual and group interviews. As you can imagine, our favorite part of these visits is our lunch conversation with students and classroom visits.

Concurrent to that, the additional opportunity to share your thoughts about the strategic direction of the school is here in this survey. This survey, due by August 23, is our way to engage all within the Barstow community and provide an access point to the process. We will study this data and feedback, and use it to inform the leadership profile around which we will build our pool. It goes without saying that your input is critical!

The initial job opportunity has been posted nationally and we are continuing to tell the “The Barstow story” to people we think could be the strongest candidates for your school. We will also convene focus groups and hold community meetings along the way. We will discuss the themes of the survey results with various groups along with the profile that will be the guiding interest document for candidates. From there, the process will move quickly as we continue to recruit and vet candidates in preparation for presenting the strongest dossiers to the search committee.

You can review an outline of our progress and plans in this tentative search schedule. We will keep you updated at each key stage of the process, so expect future messages from your search chair or us.

In the meantime, look for finalist candidates to visit in late fall, with the goal of the board making its decision in early December. While we have addressed a lot in this first update, we understand that questions may still come to mind. Some of these questions will be addressed in our forthcoming Frequently Asked Questions document; until then, others can be answered by emailing president.searc​h@barstowschool​.org.

Thanks to the leadership of the search committee and board chairs, The Barstow School is in a position to attract top candidates who will embrace your mission, values and culture. We certainly believe that the school, along with its location and market position, is a “draw” and we look forward to experiencing the Barstow spirit when we visit in a few weeks.

With appreciation,

André Withers

Partner, Educators Collaborative

Carol Santos

Partner, Educators Collaborative