Life at North Whitfield Academy, a grade 9–12 college preparatory school located in a small Northeast city, became unsettled when a longtime head of school left for a new headship and the trustees struggled to find the right successor. Heads would depart one or two years after they arrived, and while the faculty endured the changes, it was hard for the students, parents, and trustees not to take notice of the lack of leadership stability.
After three heads had come and gone, deans and assistant heads started coming and going as well. Around this time, C.K. White (a teacher on staff at North Whitfield) completed his master's of education (M.Ed.) and was able to step into the dean of students’ role. The former dean of students’ moved into the role of assistant head and another temporary head joined the school. Eventually White, by a process of succession, became head of school. The community was pleased because White was able to provide the school with the consistency in leadership that it had been missing.
As a former teacher at North Whitfield, White appreciated the way the school supported his rise to headship. He brings a strong sense of community and pride for North Whitfield to everything he does. During his tenure, White learned that two North Whitfield teachers with excellent leadership skills were pursuing M.Ed. degrees, and both were interested in joining the school’s leadership team. So, as positions became available, White hired them as the assistant head and dean of students. Finally, North Whitfield had a strong leadership team in place. The fresh team’s relative youth also offered the school the possibility of many years of dedicated and uninterrupted service in these essential roles. Everyone was relaxed to see that the leadership team worked seamlessly together and valued the community as highly as White did. White had every confidence that everyone was in place to make North Whitfield the best school it could be for its students.
But White had a dilemma. Isabel London, a dynamic fifth-year teacher at North Whitfield, was just completing her master’s program — and it was clear that she, too, was looking to begin the next phase of her career. London served as the girls’ soccer coach, chaired the student honor council, and chaperoned for the annual service trip overseas. She was also always eager to team up with other faculty for coteaching opportunities. She epitomized the ideal North Whitfield educator, exuding pride and commitment to the community and, like the members of the leadership team, a high level of professionalism. In short, she was perfect for a leadership position at the school.
London had an informal sit down with White to talk about her next chapter at North Whitfield. She expressed interest in a leadership position, but given the young leadership team in place, White was unable to offer London an easy answer about her leadership prospects. London understood, but she also let White know that she would start looking at nearby schools to see what might be available to her. She did not want to leave the North Whitfield community, she said, but she was eager to put her degree to work — both for her professional and personal growth.
White considered the short and long of this staffing issue. On the one hand, he worried that if he didn’t find ways to support London now, he would lose her from his teaching staff. He wondered what he might be able to do to support some of her needs now to keep her invested in the school so that when a place on the leadership team became available she could step into that role.
On the other hand, offering London a position with more administrative authority now would be a financial stretch for the school, and it would establish a precedent that would be hard to maintain with other talented teachers. While White knew keeping London would be good for the community, with budgets what they were, he had a hard time imagining that the trustees would cover much of a salary increase to satisfy her, even if he could carve out new responsibilities to keep her advancing professionally. White hesitated even to ask the trustees to consider such a proposal. Growing leadership from within has proven best for the North Whitfield culture, but White recognized that there will likely be other teachers like London down the road, and he might not be able to do the same for them. He wasn’t sure that he was ready to set a precedent that he probably couldn’t stick to.
In the end, White decided that he didn’t want to do for one teacher what he couldn’t do for the next talented prospect who surfaces. He was honest with London that he’d love her to stay, but that it could be a number of years before a position opened on the North Whitfield leadership team. If this meant that she would want to pursue a leadership position at another school, she would have his full support and recommendation.
London remains on staff at North Whitfield and continues to interview for leadership positions. She has yet to find the right fit.