Greetings, all, and apologies for the extended lag between posts. Has everyone come down from the conference high, or have you managed to already put into effect some of what you took away? I know it's hard to maintain the momentum once you're back in the daily grind, but we gotta keep pushing to make some change. I'm back with a series of posts on hiring, getting hired, and moving into senior leadership. I hope they'll help push you and your school.
On the second day of the conference (Friday morning), Caroline Blackwell invited heads of color onto the general session stage and asked aspiring heads and senior administrators to identify themselves in the audience, and noted that "unless we have inspired, confident, and culturally competent heads in our schools, our schools will have no future."
It is vital that more of our schools put more people of color in headships and other senior leadership positions. While students of color make up just under 30% of the total student body across NAIS schools (though this percentage can of course vary tremendously from school to school), the number of heads of color at our schools stands at a paltry 6%. For every administrative position other than that of diversity director, the national number is under 10%.
What needs to happen to move the needle? Since PoCC is a professional development conference, there are a number of workshops addressing different aspects of this question. I sat in on the following presentations, each of which had some overlap with the others, and summarize some major takeaways in the following posts. These are by no means an exhaustive recap, but I'm fairly sure that all presenters would be happy to address specific questions if any readers reach out to them. There were additional presentations on this topic, too, so if you went to one (or presented one) and have more to contribute, please add your comments!
- "Color, Capital, and the Climb to Headship," Ara Brown, Cranbrook Schools (MI) [dissertation research presented as part of the pre-conference leadership seminar I wrote about earlier]
- "From Teacher to Head of School: A Road Map of Leadership for Candidates of Color," Ada McElroy and John Faubert, Carney, Sandoe & Associates (MA)
- "Pathways to Leadership in Independent Schools," Elizabeth Brown, Buckingham Browne & Nichols (MA) and Lavette Coney, The Fessenden School (MA)
- "Recruiting and Hiring People of Color: How to Drive Your Institution Through the Pit Stops to the Finish Line," Christel McGuigan, Lakeside School (WA) and Warren Reid, Nemnet Minority Recruitment, LLC (NJ)
Diversifying the Ranks: Moving into Headship
Diversifying the Ranks: Your Resume and the Interview
Diversifying the Ranks: What Schools Can (and Should) Do