Montessori Community School Honolulu, Hawaii Head of School July 2016 montessorihawaii.org
The Position Talk about owning a niche! The island of Oahu has almost a million residents, and Montessori Community School (MCS) is the only AMS-accredited Montessori school in Honolulu serving students from age two through sixth grade. Founded almost 40 years ago, MCS is a hidden gem that should not stay hidden any longer. It is a remarkable school: its students go on to great success in all the schools they attend after MCS, and the school’s unbroken record of balanced budgets is unencumbered by any debt. Faculty love working at MCS, parents are thrilled with how happy and successful their children are, and the children themselves can’t wait to come to school.
Mission Our purpose is to educate children two to twelve years old through a non-sectarian, Montessori program which nurtures a lifelong enthusiasm for learning, encourages a commitment to the community, and fosters a stewardship of the natural world.
From this solid foundation, the school has ambitious plans. It is actively seeking a new campus where it can optimize its facilities to equal its great program, paving the way for the school to grow to its ideal size and best represent its story. While staying true to its Montessori values and practices, it is eager to embrace innovation and experiment with new practices within a fundamentally Montessori framework.
Approach
As a member of the American Montessori Society, our approach is to design an environment that is attractive, orderly, and arranged with Montessori materials and developmentally-appropriate activities. Within this prepared environment, the child learns through active engagement with the materials and by making choices. The teacher carefully observes and guides the child in the process of discovery and learning.
The current Head, who deserves great credit for the terrific state of the school, has decided to retire after the 2015-16 school year, her 36th year at the school and 26th year as Head. However, if necessary, she will stay on longer in order to assure that the school finds the right new Head, even if that means postponing her retirement. The school now seeks an energetic, growth-minded leader to partner with the board in leading the school to the renown it has earned. The school’s next great leader must embrace Montessori values and practices, while not necessarily being already Montessori-trained. With 80% students of color, the school is a microcosm of the diversity and unique culture of Hawaii and presents an exciting opportunity for a leader with vision, commitment to educational excellence, and a desire to take a great school to an exciting next chapter in its life.
Fast Facts • Students: 199 • Faculty members: 13 • Student/teacher ratio: 1:5 (toddler program) and 1:12 • Faculty with advanced degrees: 62% • Annual operating budget: $2.3 million • Students receiving financial aid: 18% • Student body of color: 80% • Faculty of color: 60%
School History Montessori Community School was founded to accommodate the needs of one child with Down
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The Montessori Method The Montessori Method is, at its core, based on human cognitive development. The method was developed by Maria Montessori, an Italian physician and educator. Ever a scientist, Montessori based her work on observations of the children she taught in Rome. As she watched children experiment with the environment and materials available to them and form perceptions from these interactions with their surroundings, Montessori made observations about the optimal environment for learning in children. She believed that children—particularly young children—who are free to interact with their environments without constraints are best situated for development. To that end, Montessori developed a “prepared environment” in her classrooms that would allow children to select from a variety of developmentally appropriate learning activities.
syndrome in 1972. Originally founded as Katrice Educational School, the school began as a preschool and saw great success in its infant years. In 1982, the school officially changed its name to Montessori Community School. The school continued to expand over the next several years, meeting increasing demand for quality child care for young students. In 1988, the Nehoa Street Campus opened, and in 1999 all campuses consolidated on Nehoa Street. Now, with enrollment at nearly 200 students, the school seeks its own permanent campus with facilities that match the strength of its Montessori-based program.
The School Beginning with its youngest children, MCS is committed to producing certain learning expectations in all its students: development of the spirit, academic preparation, and cultivation of social responsibility. Through a Montessori-based approach, teachers help students learn and grow at their own pace, developing curiosity, independence, and joy in learning as they understand how to collaborate with others, become caring and compassionate young people, and prepare to make positive contributions to their community. MCS has two Early Education Programs—for two-year-olds and students aged three through six, respectively. Classrooms are carefully equipped with a broad array of materials that help children discover knowledge while developing both independence and social skills. Within a safe environment, teachers provide activities that allow students to explore and discover, promoting their curiosity and fostering development of order, concentration, coordination, and independence. Teachers bear in mind that children mature at different rates, and each The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
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student is allowed the opportunity to progress at his or her own pace, experiencing learning moments organically and joyfully. The toddler program for two-year-olds provides child care that promotes healthy social development and introduces children to the Montessori approach. The program’s orderly and predictable environment, coupled with its caring and experienced teachers, promotes each child’s trust and sense of order, helping them to explore and discover in a safe and nurturing place. In the preschool program for three- through six-year-olds, students form a classroom community. Students gain concrete experiences and information about the world while growing in respect and responsibility. Class topics include practical life, sensory skills, and language, math, and cultural studies. Each child is allowed to choose activities based on his or her interests and abilities, and the credence given to individual interests yields an early and lasting enthusiasm for learning in each student. The Montessori approach to learning continues in the Elementary Program, where children study independently in a program that allows them to work at their own pace. Students work cooperatively with others in a multi-age setting that develops a community spirit, thinking abstractly and using their imaginations through a variety of approaches and open-ended exploration. At this level, students apply the basics they have learned to attempt to answer some of the bigger questions of the world on an ongoing basis. Along with the Montessori curriculum of math, science, social studies, and The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
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language arts, students are further exposed to art, music, physical education, and foreign language. Students may also enrich their studies through extracurricular programs that include gymnastics and chorus.
Honolulu, Hawaii
The capital of and most populous city in Hawaii, Honolulu combines the tropical beauty characteristic of the state with the conveniences of a bustling modern city. Situated on the island of Oahu, Honolulu is a major tourist destination and an international hub for business and military defense. The city’s tropical climate features abundant sunshine and warm days year-round-an attractive draw for residents and tourists alike. Attractions within the city include the Bishop Museum, the Honolulu Zoo, the Waikiki Aquarium, and the Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center. Performing and visual arts venues abound, from the Hawaii Opera Theater to the Waikiki Shell and the Honolulu Museum of Art. ʻIolani Place, the former residence of the Hawaiian monarchs, is a national historic landmark and the only official state residence of royalty in the United States. The city’s pleasant climate allows for plenty of outdoor recreational activities. In 2014, Time magazine named Honolulu the healthiest city in the United States. Beautiful beaches and natural vistas surround the city.
Strengths of the School The new Head will benefit from many strengths of the school including: • The ultimate measure of success: students who do well personally, socially, and academically wherever they go after leaving MCS. • A long-tenured, highly skilled, deeply caring faculty of Montessori-trained and certified teachers and an equally caring, equally student-focused staff of classroom assistants and administrators. A family atmosphere of mutual respect and collaboration among adults who work at the school. • A long tradition of fiscal prudence that has produced annual surpluses and a strong balance sheet. • A school culture that “walks the talk” of diversity, inclusion, kindness, caring, and The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
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peace. Highly utilized after school programs and a summer school that serves many MCS students as well as others who come only for summer sessions. An engaged and supportive parent body. A dedicated and skilled board of trustees that works in a best-practices partnership with the school administration A relaxed, open, accessible atmosphere that reflects both the values of Montessori and the culture of Hawaii.
Opportunities and Challenges The school’s biggest challenges stem from the limits of its current campus facility which, while serviceable, is leased and lacks both the amount and types of space needed to implement the Montessori program most ideally. The Board and the administration have been actively engaged in seeking a new site to either build or remodel to become MCS’s own permanent home. With a solid financial footing and the right skill sets on the board, the new Head will be engaged in envisioning MCS’s future and building its new home. Other challenges and opportunities include: • While the cottage (toddlers) and the Preschool (ages three through six) programs are at capacity, the Elementary school (ages six through 12) would benefit from greater enrollment and more consistent class sizes year-to-year. • Montessori values and practices are at the essence of the school and a key to the success of its students. Nevertheless, the Montessori approach is often either unknown or misunderstood, and the school must undertake a comprehensive branding and marketing effort to better articulate and communicate the benefits that accrue to its students and families. • An excellent faculty is at the core of the school’s success, and several key teachers will be retiring in the upcoming years. • Better current-parent education about the program of the school and more communication would have the dual benefits of: satisfying engaged parents’ desires to know more about their children’s school, as well as better equipping those parents to be effective ambassadors as part of the marketing and recruiting efforts of the school. • There is an opportunity to develop more effective ways for the school to hear and respond to questions or concerns that parents may raise. • Continued attention to curriculum within and across classes, as well as enrichment programs such as arts, music, and foreign language, will assure that the student experience remains one of integrated, consistent high quality across the entire program of the school. • There is an opportunity to better integrate the preschool and elementary school and help preschool parents understand the comparative benefits of their children continuing what they have begun by staying in the school through fifth and sixth grade.
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Qualifications and Qualities of the next Head of School • Experience with and passion for early childhood and elementary school student populations. • While prior Montessori training is desirable, it is not required. Candidates must embrace, believe in, and be able to advocate compellingly for Montessori values and practices, and over time, commit to become certified as a Montessori administrator. • An energetic, compelling communicator able to captivate audiences with the school’s story and eager to be an external marketer for the school. • Financial literacy and experience with school budgets. • Familiarity with and willingness to be an active part of the advancement activities of the school. • A “nose for talent” and a proven track record of finding, attracting, motivating, evaluating, supporting, and retaining excellent faculty and staff. • An innovator with a passion to “build something great,” both physically and figuratively. • Ability to be both a visionary leader and an engaged on-the-ground and in-the-classrooms manager. • An authentic, high-EQ people-person who is able to manage complex relationships among faculty, parents, students, and other stakeholders. Able to help the school community become more skilled at moving through differences of opinions to successful resolution. • Able to strike the right balance between a warm, compassionate, approachable demeanor and clear, firm, and decisive action when necessary. • Eager to embrace the unique diversity and norms of Hawaii’s multicultural population. • Willing to commit to staying at the school at least long enough to smoothly transition retiring faculty positions and steward the establishment of a permanent campus home.
To Apply Interested and qualified candidates should submit the following materials electronically as separate PDF files: • cover letter expressing interest in the Montessori Community School position • current résumé • statement of educational philosophy • list of five professional references with phone numbers and email addresses Skip Kotkins Senior Search Consultant skip.kotkins@carneysandoe.com Carney, Sandoe & Associates 44 Bromfield Street, Boston, MA 02108
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