December 21, 2024
Dear Odyssey School Community,
As we move into the holiday season, our Head of School search process is moving forward and we are pleased to provide an exciting update on our progress to date.
Over the past several months, the Search Committee, in partnership with our consultants from Carney Sandoe & Associates (CS&A), has seen a very strong pool of talented candidates with an impressive breadth of experience from all over the eastern seaboard. The quality of the candidate pool has benefited greatly from the significant and thoughtful input provided by the entire Odyssey School community, and we thank you all for your partnership in this effort.
After reviewing over fifteen resumes and holding numerous candidate discussions over the past weeks, a group of eight “semi-finalists” were invited to an interview by Zoom with the Search Committee. We are pleased to announce that the Committee will invite four excellent candidates from this group to introduce to the broader Odyssey School community during January. Finalists will each be on campus for two days that will be filled with individual and group meetings with members of our Search Committee, Academic Leaders, and Board of Trustees. They will also participate in group meetings with students as well as open forums with faculty and staff, current parents and parents of alumni, alumni, as well as special friends of Odyssey.
Please mark your calendar for the following forums, which will provide you with an opportunity to hear from our finalists and also engage in a Q&A session.
Current Odyssey parents, alumni, alumni parents, and friends of Odyssey can register for sessions by clicking the button below.
CANDIDATE FINALIST FORUM SCHEDULE:
1/7-1/8/25 (Candidate #1):
Wednesday, 1/8/25
8:10 a.m. – 9:10 a.m. Forum with current parents
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Forum with alumni, parents of alumni, and friends
1/9-1/10 (Candidate #2):
Friday, 1/10/25
8:10 a.m. – 9:10 a.m. Forum with current parents
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Forum with alumni, parents of alumni, and friends
1/13-1/14 (Candidate #3):
Tuesday, 1/14/25
8:10 a.m. – 9:10 a.m. Forum with current parents
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Forum with alumni, parents of alumni, and friends
1/22-1/23 (Candidate #4):
Thursday, 1/23/25
8:10 a.m. – 9:10 a.m. Forum with current parents
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Forum with alumni, parents of alumni, and friends
Finalist names and bios will be released to the community two days prior to their respective visits and, after each finalist visit, we will administer a feedback survey so that all members of The Odyssey School community have the opportunity to share their thoughts. We strongly encourage everyone to attend a relevant forum for each candidate and to utilize the survey to provide your feedback. As always, survey responses will be anonymous and compiled by CS&A. The Search Committee will use this input to inform its final recommendation to the Board of Trustees, which aims to appoint our new Head of School by the end of January 2025.
On behalf of our entire Search Committee, we thank you again for your support of and engagement in this process. As always, if you have any questions or feedback please reach out to The Odyssey School, or email our consultants directly. Chris Boyle can be reached at chris.boyle@carneysandoe.com and Kim Peeples is available at kim.peeples@carneysandoe.com
We wish everyone a happy and safe holiday, and look forward to seeing you in January.
Sincerely,
Terri Smith, Chair of the Search Committee
Search Committee Members:
Yael Allen
Cheryl Bernard-Smith
Crawford Hubbard
Janice Lepore, Psy.D
Kevin McAllister
Corey Paige
Chris Pope
Suzanne Riedel, Board Chair
Michael Weinfeld