Hillbrook Founding Head of Upper School

Hillbrook seeks a mission-aligned high school expert to join the team and lead the exciting work of founding a new division. Progressive, student-centered, inquiry-based educators who have dreamed of designing and building a high school program will find a high-functioning, supportive leadership team and community ready to support this project. Collaboration, persistence, and creativity are essential dispositions, as well as experience with project management and team building. To learn more, please click here for more in depth information.

Opportunities and Challenges include:

• Join a stable and vibrant school. The founding Upper School Head at Hillbrook will build upon the successes of a JK-8 school that has navigated the pandemic with a strong and healthy culture, robust enrollment, and palpable excitement about extending the Hillbrook Way into a new division. This unique opportunity to design and establish a high school, hire faculty and staff, and create engaging and relevant curriculum evolves from a clear vision of educational purpose and the urgent need for “justice in action.” The school has invested the resources to develop and update business plans to support the Upper School Head in laying the groundwork for a transformational high school.

• Enjoy the support of a strong leadership team. Members of the leadership team share a strong work ethic, respect for a plurality of voices and experiences, a culture of honest discourse, care and respect for one another, and a desire to continually improve. They support each other as thought partners, mentors, sounding boards, and collaborators, and they appreciate the power of laughter. Committed to collaboration, the Upper School Head will value authentic and rigorous debate, welcome a diversity of perspectives, and support the working norms of the team.

• Lead a Start-up in the Heart of Start-up Country. Partnering with a passionate and hardworking group of innovative educators, the founding Upper School Head will balance the creative idealism of envisioning a new approach to high school with the necessary pragmatism of timelines, processes and budget. The Upper School Head will communicate vision and value as well as oversee the day-to-day operations of the new division.

• Establish a New Campus. While the JK-8 campus is nestled in the idyllic hills of Los Gatos, the new high school will be located in downtown San Jose. The founding Upper School Head will help envision the classroom learning spaces as well as the city as a classroom. While supporting the school community in navigating the various transitions associated with the urban campus, the Upper School Head will develop and strengthen ties with downtown community-based organizations and business to build upon the good neighbor partnerships formed by the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship over the years. The Upper School Head will preserve and evolve Hillbrook’s culture as the school extends its mission to a new division.

• Reinforce and Deliver on the School’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The founding Upper School Head will team up with the Scott Center for Social Entrepreneurship to expand Hillbrook’s social impact curriculum to high school and will work to recruit and retain an adult and student population that reflects the diversity of downtown San Jose.

Desired Qualities & Qualifications:

• Experience developing an innovative and successful high school curriculum, an understanding of existing research and best practices, and what constitutes standards of excellence in programming;

• Passionate believer in and advocate for progressive, student-centered approach to high school education with an ability to articulate persuasively its advantages;

• Strong interpersonal and communications skills;

• Entrepreneurial risk-taker able to meet the day-to-day demands and opportunities of a start-up;

• A track record of building a diverse and inclusive organization;

• Significant and successful classroom teaching experience and demonstrated success as an effective instructional leader and manager;

• Grounded and fluent in cultural competency, equity, and inclusion work;

• Soft front, strong back. Confident decision maker and strong communicator of why;

• Inclusive of faculty and student voice;

• Wisdom from lived experience and a willingness to listen;

• Strength in building and maintaining connections and community between colleagues, divisions, parents, and students;

• Thorough and demonstrated understanding of and love for working with students with great energy, warmth, and humor;

• Able to manage a range of personalities with strong EQ and emotional bandwidth;

• Comfort with ambiguity and a sense of humor.

To Apply:

Interested candidates may contact the consultants for additional information and a discussion of the position. To be considered, applicants will need to submit (electronically as separate PDF documents) the following materials:

• Cover letter expressing interest in the position;

• Current résumé;

• List of five references with name, phone number, and email address of each (references will be contacted later in the process and only with candidate permission) to:

Chaya Keefe
Search Consultant
chaya.keefe@carneysandoe.com

Karen Whitaker
Senior Consultant
karen.whitaker@carneysandoe.com

Tagged as: High School