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February 22, 2012 

Dear Members of the Episcopal School of Dallas Community:

We wanted to give you an update on the Head of School search and share with you a number of important announcements. 

Appointment of Search Consultant

Advisory Councils

Listening Sessions on March 5 and 6

ESD Dads' Partnership Breakfast 

Community Survey 

Candidates 

APPOINTMENT OF SEARCH CONSULTANT

We are pleased to announce that the Search Committee has unanimously selected Anne Coyle of the executive search firm Storbeck/Pimentel & Associates as our search consultant. Storbeck Pimentel is one of the leading search firms in the United States in the area of college and university president searches, and a rising and highly respected leader in independent school head searches. Anne has over 20 years of experience in executive search, higher education, business, and government. Before joining Storbeck Pimentel, she worked for an international search firm and for a boutique search firm. She has also served as Director of Admissions at the Yale School of Management, Director of Admissions at Cornell University’s Johnson School of Management, manager of McKinsey’s effort to recruit scientists, engineers, doctors, and lawyers, and staff member for the U.S. Senate Budget Committee and the New York City Mayor’s Office.   As a senior search consultant, she has led many searches including Miss Hall’s School (MA) and Hockaday School (TX) in the independent school area. Anne earned her Bachelor’s degree from Harvard in Biological Anthropology and her Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. We are confident that Anne will represent the Episcopal School of Dallas very well, and we eagerly look forward to working with her.

ADVISORY COUNCILS

In an effort to conduct as broad-based, open, and inclusive a listening process as possible, we have created two new advisory groups: the Faculty and Staff Advisory Council and the Alumni Advisory Council. These groups will play an important role in the Head of School search by providing enhanced opportunities for voices within their respective constituencies to be heard, meeting with Anne Coyle, and generally helping the Search Committee to understand the unique perspectives of these two vital segments within our community. We are delighted to announce that Bonnie Tollefson has agreed to serve as Chair of the Faculty and Staff Advisory Council, and Matson Pearce ’80 has agreed to serve as Chair of the Alumni Advisory Council. Bonnie, the Head Librarian for the Lower School, is a very respected and long-serving member of the ESD faculty as well as a recognized thought leader in our community on the role of technology and information resources in our curriculum. Matson, a highly experienced and successful real estate executive, graduated in ESD’s first senior class and is widely known and respected among our alumni for his steadfast dedication and service to the school.  

LISTENING SESSIONS ON MARCH 5 AND 6

Anne Coyle and her associate Julia Patton will be on campus March 5 and 6 for a series of open meetings with various ESD constituencies. During their visit they will meet with the ESD Board of Directors, the Search Committee, the Faculty and Staff Advisory Council, the Alumni Advisory Council, Father Swann, the senior administrative team, various program leaders, and a group of Upper School students. Anne will also lead four open, at-large sessions with faculty, staff, and parents, and we strongly encourage you to attend these sessions if you are a faculty / staff member or ESD parent.  

OPEN SESSIONS FOR FACULTY AND STAFF:

MONDAY, MARCH 5, 4:10 - 4:55 PM
BRAY PERFORMANCE HALL, SUSAN M. FRANK CENTER FOR ARTS & HUMANITIES

TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 3:15 – 3:55 PM
BRAY PERFORMANCE HALL, SUSAN M. FRANK CENTER FOR ARTS & HUMANITIES

OPEN SESSIONS FOR ESD PARENTS:

MONDAY, MARCH 5, 7:00 - 7:50 PM
BRAY PERFORMANCE HALL, SUSAN M. FRANK CENTER FOR ARTS & HUMANITIES

TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 8:30 – 9:20 AM
BRAY PERFORMANCE HALL, SUSAN M. FRANK CENTER FOR ARTS & HUMANITIES

These meetings will help Anne and Julia to understand the Episcopal School of Dallas as well as possible, and thereby prepare them to develop a strong and specific Position Profile to guide the Head of School search. They will also provide another opportunity for members of our community to have an important voice in the search process. 

ESD DADS’ PARTNERSHIP BREAKFAST

We would also like to remind current ESD dads that the two of us, along with Plack Carr, Chair-elect of the ESD Board of Directors, and Ken Schnitzer, Vice Chair-elect of the ESD Board of Directors, will be speaking at the next breakfast meeting of the Dads’ Partnership, on WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, at 7:00 AM, in the Daryl Johnston Family Dining Commons.  Breakfast will open at 7:15 and the program will begin at 7:30.  We welcome your questions at that meeting.

If you have not yet had an opportunity to RSVP, please click here.

COMMUNITY SURVEY

Once again, we would like to express our appreciation to all of you who completed the recent Communications / Head of School Search survey. In all, over 2,000 people completed the survey, representing nearly 50 percent of the more than 4,100 people to whom it was sent.  We are delighted to report your response is nearly seven times the rate expected on surveys of this nature. Thank you.

In our next update to the community, we will provide headline results from the survey for the questions regarding the Head of School search. Please know that the Head of School Search Committee and the Board’s Communications Committee will carefully study the results in detail, including every written comment. This feedback from all segments of our community will play a vital role in the development of the Position Profile that will guide the Head of School search and go out to candidates. It will also inform the ongoing efforts by the ESD Board of Directors and Administration to improve their communications to the community.

CANDIDATES

Anne Coyle as well as other experts with whom we have spoken over the past month indicate that, in most school head searches, a number of highly qualified candidates emerge from direct feedback from within the community. After all, no one knows our school and its needs as well as members of our own community, and the 4,000-plus members of the Episcopal School of Dallas community collectively possess tremendous knowledge and reach throughout the United States and indeed all over the world.  

If you know of someone you believe would be an outstanding candidate to become ESD’s next Head of School, please contact our search consultants at ESD1974@storbeckpimentel.com.  Several members of our community have already given us the names of qualified candidates, and other highly qualified candidates have already reached out to us directly.

We are deeply grateful to all of the many wonderful people who have already made significant contributions to the Head of School search process, including the members of the Search Committee, the members of the two new Advisory Councils, those of you who have reached out to us in recent weeks, and of course the more than 2,000 members of our community who participated in the survey. To all of you, thank you for your dedication and service to the Episcopal School of Dallas. 

We look forward to seeing many members of the community at the sessions on March 5 and 6.

Nancy Perot Mulford                                        

Cullum Clark