Greensboro Montessori School is delighted to announce Dr. Kevin Navarro has been named head of Greensboro Montessori School. Kevin will assume his role on July 1, 2017.
Throughout the six-month search process, the School's search committee was impressed by Kevin’s passion for children, commitment to education and inclusive approach to leadership. His sincere respect for Greensboro Montessori School revealed itself early when he wrote in his application: “your image of the child, your respect for faculty, your belief in children’s construction of meaning, and your mission … they all resonate deeply with me. My primary goal as an educator is to empower each individual student and staff member to discover and realize their full potential.” Kevin’s personal and professional values align with our School's rich history and current culture, and his exceptional leadership skills and unique ability to articulate the benefits of experiential learning will help carry Greensboro Montessori School well into the future.
Since 2005, Kevin has served as assistant head of school at The College School, a pre-K through eighth grade independent school in St. Louis, Missouri. The College School provides experiential and thematically-integrated education to 260 students on two campuses, a main, suburban campus and a 28-acre property which serves as the “headquarters for learning beyond the classroom” just 30 minutes down the road. The search committee couldn't help but marvel at the synergies between The College School and Greensboro Montessori School and know Kevin’s reverence for learning beyond classroom walls will significantly benefit our students’ academic success and the Greater Greensboro community as a whole.
As assistant head of school at The College School, Kevin currently oversees long-range strategic planning; technology integration in the classroom; curriculum coordination, development and documentation; faculty and staff hiring, onboarding, goal-setting and professional development; internal and external communications; and accreditations with the Independent Schools Association of Central States (ISACS). Prior to joining administration, Kevin taught language arts as a full-time middle school faculty for eight years.
A lifelong student himself, Kevin recently received his doctoral degree in character education and democratic school governance from the University of Missouri, St. Louis. He presented his thesis work, Vulnerable leadership: Definition and relation to effective character education, at the Association of Moral Education symposium at Harvard Graduate School of Education in December of 2016. Kevin also holds a master’s in teaching and a bachelor’s in developmental psychology with minors in educational studies and Russian studies.
Joining Kevin in his move to Greensboro are his wife, Jessica (“Jess”), and three children ages seven, five and two-and-a-half. The entire family is committed to this next step in their lives. Jess is preparing to begin her own doctoral pursuit in social work and plans to attend either the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill or Greensboro. The kids are looking forward to seeing their cousins beyond their current visits during summer and winter breaks. Kevin’s brothers and their families live in North Carolina, one in Charlotte and the other in Raleigh. The School is confident Kevin, Jess and the kids will contribute to our vibrant community, both as individuals and as a family already dedicated to the mission and values of Greensboro Montessori School.
In our School’s journey to find and hire Kevin, the School's formal search committee completed a methodical and thorough nationwide search in collaboration with Carney, Sandoe & Associates, a recognized educational recruiting firm specializing in independent schools. The search committee first sought input from the entire community on the qualities and skills our School needed in our next head of school. Hundreds completed an online survey and participated in an on-site visit with our dedicated search consultant. Our consultant captured invaluable feedback and crafted a customized position description for our head of school opportunity. After a three-month open application period, the search committee received 20 dossiers from qualified and well-matched candidates. From there, the search committee narrowed the field down to six with whom they conducted Skype-style interviews. They named three finalists who each spent two days on our campus interacting with students, families, faculty and staff.
After his visit and receiving survey feedback from the community, it was evident Kevin possessed an extraordinary combination of professional experience and academic achievement that would provide Greensboro Montessori School with a dynamic leader who has the passion, ability and skill set to gracefully shepherd our students and faculty to new, unprecedented levels of success.
As our community welcomes Kevin, Jess and their children to Greensboro Montessori School, we also want to acknowledge and thank members of the search committee who dedicated countless hours to this process. They channeled their love and commitment to our School to find a leader whom they respect and look forward to working with for many years to come. Most importantly, they wholeheartedly know Kevin is the best leader for the most important people on our campus, our students!
Dear Parents, Alumni and Friends,
As the chair of your Head of School Search Committee, I wanted to remind you that our remaining two candidates will join us on campus for back-to-back visits beginning Thursday, January 26.
We encourage you to attend our Parent Meet and Greet events for our last two candidates. After meeting each of the them, we hope you will share your thoughts through participation in a quick survey which we will email to all attendees of the respective events. The survey will open the day the candidate visits and remain open for two days after the end of the visit.
Stay tuned for more details on our remaining candidates in the upcoming edition of The Pinwheel. In the meantime, should you have specific questions about this process or comments about our candidates, please don't hesitate to contact me.
Best wishes to you and your family!
Sincerely,
David Bouska
Search Committee Chair
Dear Parents, Alumni and Friends,
On behalf of your Search Committee, I wanted to update you on the work we've been doing over the last several months. As we've previously shared, we have been working with Carney Sandoe & Associates (CS&A), a nationally recognized search firm, to help us in our search for the next Head of School.
Over the last four months, our dedicated consultant from CS&A, Marlene Shaw, has identified and reviewed qualifications of more than 30 candidates. The candidates had a wide variety of experiences and skill sets. After much discussion with Marlene, we narrowed the candidate field down to six excellent semi-finalists.
During the first week of January, the Search Committee interviewed each of the six candidates. This was done by teleconference as the candidates are from all over the country. Each candidate possessed skills and attributes that would benefit the entire Greensboro Montessori community.
After lengthly interviews, follow-up phone calls, and multiple discussions, the Search Committee is pleased to announce we have identified our final candidates whom we have invited to visit the School. We will send out information about the candidates via email several days prior to their individual school visits.
After meeting each of the candidates, we encourage you to share your comments through participation in a quick survey. The survey will open the day the candidate visits and remain open for two days after the end of the visit.
In addition to sending our Search Committee updates by email, we are also posting them to this dedicated Head of School Search webpage. Should you have specific questions about the process or thoughts about the candidates, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best wishes to you and your family!
Sincerely,
David Bouska
Search Committee Chair
Dear Parents, Alumni and Friends,
On behalf of your Head of School Search Committee, I wanted to reach out and share an update on our progress. As you recall, we have been working with Marlene Shaw from Carney, Sandoe & Associates (CS&A). CS&A is a trusted and nationally recognized search firm that specializes in independent schools, and Marlene is our dedicated consultant.
We are wrapping up the end of a three-month "silent period" during which Marlene has guided our team in capturing valuable feedback from our whole community, crafted a customized position description for our Head of School opportunity, and recruited qualified and well-matched candidates for your Search Committee to interview.
Before I continue, I want to again thank you for your active participation in this process. Your feedback from the search survey -- as well as the insights shared with Marlene during her personal discussions with you, our parents, faculty, alumni, students and board members -- were essential in creating the position description. More importantly, your guidance gives Marlene the knowledge necessary to accurately represent our school's strengths, values, culture and hopes for the future.
Marlene is preparing the Search Committee for the next phase of the process, and we will begin the first round of interviews in early January. We are excited by the depth and breadth of applicants who have expressed interest. At this stage in the process, all candidates have been assured complete confidentiality. As we advance to subsequent rounds of interviews, we look forward to sharing more detailed information about our top candidates.
The Search Committee is deeply honored and humbled to be charged with this important work for our School. We are progressing within our projected timeline and working toward having a final decision in early Spring, which will enable our new Head of School to take his or her post in July. We will continue to keep you abreast of our progress through email announcements and this dedicated Head of School Search webpage. Should you have specific questions about the process or recommendations for potential candidates, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Best wishes to you and your family during the holiday season!
Sincerely,
David Bouska
Search Committee Chair
Dear Parents, Alumni and Friends,
As the search for our new Head of School gains momentum, I wanted to take a moment to re-introduce the Search Committee and update you on the exciting work in which we’ve been engaged. The Board of Trustees created the Search Committee to help identify candidates for the permanent Head of School position, and we humbly ask the entire community to be involved in this important process. The Search Committee is dedicated to a professional, open and inclusive process and is looking forward to keeping you informed along the way. Our Committee members are listed on the right sidebar of this page for your easy reference.
As announced at Back to School Night and upon recommendation from the Search Committee, the School has engaged the services of Carney, Sandoe & Associates (CS&A), a nationally recognized educational recruiting firm specializing in independent schools. We selected CS&A after thorough research, interviews and reference checks and are confident the School will benefit from CS&A's nationwide network of contacts and industry expertise in Head of School searches.
Another tremendous advantage of partnering with CS&A is the ability to work with a dedicated, personal consultant throughout the entire process. Marlene Shaw will serve in this capacity for Greensboro Montessori School, and we are looking forward to the rich experience and caring focus she will bring to our search.
Marlene is a former Head of School at Chatham Hall School in Chatham, Va. and St. Mary's Episcopal School in Memphis, Tenn. Marlene holds a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education from Louisiana State University and a Masters of Education in Counselor Education from the University of New Orleans. She has also completed postgraduate work in financial stability, advancement and major gifts for independent schools and has attended the Harvard Counseling Institute. For the last four years, Marlene has worked as a senior search consultant for CS&A.
Marlene has already begun working with the Search Committee and School administration to cultivate her relationship with and knowledge of our School. We are excited to welcome her to campus from September 27th through 29th to further her understanding of our unique needs for our next Head of School. While here, she has requested to meet with you, our parents and friends of the School, along with the Teaching Faculty, Administration, Alumni, Search Committee and Board of Trustees.
Prior to her arriving, Marlene would like to gather preliminary views from the community via an online survey which will be sent this Monday, September 19. On behalf of the Search Committee, I respectfully request you make every effort to participate in this survey. Marlene will be recruiting from a large variety of excellent educational leaders who will want to understand Greensboro Montessori School through the eyes of all of us in our school community. Through your survey input and the insights from her visit, Marlene will work with the Search Committee to formulate the formal Head of School position description which will be a primary communication piece used for recruiting candidates.
I look forward to keeping you informed of our efforts and progress throughout the search process. If you have any questions or specific input for me, the Search Committee or Marlene, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me, and more importantly, please take advantage of upcoming opportunities – like the survey and soon-to-be-announced meeting times with Marlene – to provide feedback.
Sincerely,
David Bouska
Search Committee Chair
