It has been nearly a year since NDB’s last Head of School, Maryann Osmand, left NDB. Dr. Linda Kern has been the Interim Head of School since Osmand’s departure. In this past year, the Board of Directors established the Head of School Search Committee, a team that will search for a new leader for the school.

The search committee is composed of alumnae, staff, parents and Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. The new Head of School will start work for NDB in July of 2022. This means that the current seniors will likely never meet NDB’s new leader.

“July is that time when everybody’s sort of working to get ready for the next school year,” Interim Associate Head of School Jolanda Breazeale explained. “You want to make sure you can have them available so they can learn the basics.”

The Board has hired the search firm Carney Sandoe & Associates to help find the ideal individual. Both current staff and external candidates will be considered for the role. On the school website, a 12 page position description is posted. This acts somewhat like a school profile. The first half is an overview of NDB and the second half describes who the school is looking for.

When the Search Committee was first put together in May 2021, a survey was sent out to students, parents, staff and even alumni. The survey asked community members about what qualities they would like to see in a Head of School and what they are looking for from a leader. Although the survey closed in June, those with questions can still email [email protected].

The survey results are available on the website. They state that one of the most important traits of NDB is the school’s academic excellence, and that the new Head of School should focus on “Recruiting, Retaining and Compensating Quality Faculty” as well as being “Honesty, trustworthy, transparent”.

The NDB Head of School Search Committee sent an email to all members of the community regarding the criteria they are looking for in the interview process. They hope to find a mission driven, relatable, collaborative and communicative leader. The specifics of what each of these criteria entails is described in the email and the new tab on the school website titled “Head of School Search” under the “About Us” section.

The process began with a team collecting and reading the applications for the job. The initial check was to see if the applicants fit the general requirements for the position. NDB provided them with questions and a chance to share their personal statement. The six candidates who moved on from that step completed a panel via Zoom with members of the Board.

“Our questions give us insight into the person’s strengths,” Breazeale explained. “And then, based on that, we narrow it down.”

The next step of the process has the students involved. The final three candidates will visit NDB to see how they interact with students, faculty, staff, and NDB’s location as a whole. At this stage of the process, each student and staff member who had the opportunity to interact with the candidates will be sent a survey at the end of the day where they can talk about their experiences interacting with the prospective Head of Schools. This way the candidates being reviewed are seen in person, where their character and suitability for the school can be better judged than it could from a paper resume.

“The idea with that part is to get students to meet the people, parents to meet the people, the Board of Directors gets to meet the people that we’re looking at,” Breazeale said. “Because again, you can only get so much from paper.”