Park Day School Oakland, California Head of School July 2017 www.parkdayschool.org
The Position Think creatively, learn deeply, act compassionately, and live fully. More than a motto, these goals give shape to all aspects of students’ experience at Park Day School. Since its founding in 1976, PDS has not only prepared children for the rigors of high school and beyond, but has guided them to become thoughtful, considerate, open-minded agents of change in their world.
Mission At Park Day School, dedicated teachers and engaged students collaborate to create a dynamic and joyful learning community for mastering academic and interpersonal skills. Students construct meaning and deep understanding through inquiry and discovery-based teaching. Our practices promote critical and creative thinking, artistic expression, and a commitment to diversity and social justice. In the spirit of partnership and service, students expand their perspectives through participation in the broader community. Continuing the legacy of the progressive education movement, Park Day School prepares students to be informed, courageous, and compassionate people who shape a more equitable and sustainable world.
Park Day School has long been a leader in progressive education. While many independent schools today apply hands-on and projectbased learning approaches as components of a 21st century curriculum, PDS has embraced active, student-led instruction for 40 years. PDS teachers strive to build genuine excitement for learning, inspiring students to actively inquire, explore, and pursue knowledge. The academic program combines with a reflective approach to building community within the school to provide the foundation for a critical understanding of societal inequality and a willingness to work confidently towards greater justice for all. Together, Park Day School’s progressive approach, academic rigor, expert teachers, and diverse school community foster the healthy academic, social, and emotional development of the students. PDS graduates are confident, caring, and creative—prepared to be active participants in a diverse society.
Fast Facts •
Established: 1976
• School Mascot: The Mighty Apples • Total number of students: 308 • Grades served: K-8 • Student/Teacher Ratio 10:1 • Total size of campus: 4+ acres • Average PDS faculty tenure: 10 years • % of faculty holding advanced degrees (master’s or beyond): 25%
Park Day School seeks a new Head of School, effective July 2017. The ideal candidate will • % of faculty of color 32% be someone who genuinely loves interacting • Total financial aid awarded in 2015-16: $1.3M with children, who will embrace the School’s progressive mission and values with authenticity, and will understand what is required to foster a truly open and diverse community. With its steady and sustained growth over four decades, Park Day School offers an outstanding opportunity to continue to lead the way in progressive education and to help a passionate and committed school community define and distinguish what it means to be a part of PDS in the 21st century. • % of students of color: 39% self-identifying
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School History From its very beginnings, Park Day School has been committed to providing young people with a child-centered, progressive education. Founded in 1976, the School has grown steadily over four decades while maintaining the close-knit, open-minded community and commitment to social justice that set PDS apart. In its first year, four teachers instructed just 28 students at PDS. By 1982, Park Day School had more than tripled in size, with 90 students in Grades K-6. This prompted the school’s first relocation to Temescal, a neighborhood in North Oakland. By the mid-90’s, PDS had purchased two acres of land on 43rd Street for its campus. During this same time PDS faculty developed a comprehensive framework for the scope and sequence of their curriculum that resonated with and attracted new families throughout Oakland. In 1996, after renovating one building and constructing another, PDS added an additional class at every grade level, bringing enrollment to 225 students. With a deep focus on child development, Park Day School believed strongly that children in the sixth grade still needed the structure and support of elementary school. As many schools migrated their sixth grades to middle school divisions, PDS—together with three like-minded schools in the area—opened a private middle school in 1998 called The Community School of the East Bay. This new school offered students in Grades 7-8 an educational experience that aligned with Park Day School’s progressive approach, and nurtured the unique social and emotional, as well as academic, needs of adolescents. In 2006, PDS merged with The Community School, the latter becoming the Park Day Middle School. The PDS middle school remained on a separate campus until 2010, when a new building was added to the lower school’s four-acre campus to accommodate Grades 7 and 8, unifying a student body of just over 300. Since then, the PDS community has thrived as a child-centered program that remains true to its core mission.
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The School Academics Building on a century of research in progressive education, their own four decades of experience, as well as contemporary shifts in pedagogy, the teaching faculty at PDS craft thoughtful, energizing classroom experiences that encourage student engagement in academics and the development of three key sets of 21st century skills: learning and innovation, information media and technology skills, and life and career skills. Park Day School’s curriculum matrix tracks key content topics and overarching goals across grades and subject areas. Designed to be cohesive as well as responsive, the curriculum matrix enables teachers to adjust instruction based upon student progress and needs. This academic map is made available in full depth on the school’s website, and this transparency provides parents with exceptional insight into their children’s academic path. Teachers direct their instruction toward defined learning outcomes, with the intent to meet or exceed curriculum guidelines. More than experts in their field, PDS teachers are also experts in the developmental traits and markers of the age groups they teach. They are able to recognize milestones and challenges, and adapt the learning experience based upon individual student needs. Park Day School’s programs are grounded in a respect for childhood and a determination to protect and honor each child individually. For PDS students, academic rigor emerges from intellectual power and critical thinking, as well as personal resilience to overcome setbacks. Students are held to high expectations, but this is intentionally balanced with social-emotional learning and strong emphasis on social justice. One key way Park Day School develops and grows its academic program is through a solid, inhouse, professional development system of teacher leadership. New teacher mentorship, academic coaching by content specialists, collaborative planning, and peer review opportunities all contribute to the strength of the School’s academic program.
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Social Justice at PDS Social justice is at the heart of Park Day School. A key priority is for students to develop a sense of agency, to understand that they can make a difference in the world—and they have a duty to try. PDS graduates are equipped with an understanding of who they are within the context of a wider world, and are empowered to be active participants in a democratic society. Park Day School has continually worked to be a leader in developing students’ political awareness and social engagement. Social justice at Park Day School is pervasive, integrated into the curriculum. At each grade level, teachers engage students in intentional, ageappropriate discussions of relevant social issues, often drawn from current events. These explorations are woven into academic units of study, service learning projects, and community-wide initiatives. Starting in Kindergarten, students are challenged to probe and openly acknowledge the existence of bias in society and to recognize how it manifests as discrimination and oppression, both in the past and present-day. In the non-judgmental space of the classroom, students learn to identify ways in which they are alike and different from one another, and to grasp how tensions can arise from such differences. By the eighth grade, students have developed social perspectives as well as the agency to thrive—and lead—as members of the adult world.
Social Justice Mission Statement Park Day School believes everyone’s efforts are needed to realize our stated mission to “prepare students to be informed, courageous and compassionate people who shape a more equitable and sustainable world.” To this end, in partnership among teachers, students, parent/guardian, board and staff, Park Day School has embraced a comprehensive approach to realizing our commitment to inclusion and structural equity with the creation of a Social Justice Initiative (SJI). The SJI is a vehicle for everyone to further these commitments as it develops resources, programs and collaborative opportunities that promote the goals of our school’s mission. The SJI manifests our belief that promoting social justice, equity and inclusion – through our practices and policies, and throughout the school climate – is everyone’s responsibility. The SJI breathes life into the school’s broader mission and provides the guidelines toward a better, more just, future.
Athletics Students in Grades 6-8 are also encouraged to participate in middle school athletics, even if they have never played a sport. This program includes flag football, cross-country, soccer, basketball, volleyball, track and field, and ultimate frisbee. The PDS “Mighty Apples” compete in the Middle School Sports League (MSSL) as well as in occasional games with schools nearby in Oakland, Alameda, and Berkeley. In 2013, the Mighty Apples ultimate frisbee team won their division in the CA State Championships! Through athletics, PDS students build character traits of sportsmanship and teamwork, as well as learn the importance of commitment and collaboration in the context of healthy competition.
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Visual Arts, Music, and Dance The music program at Park Day School strives to inspire, cultivate, and train students to embrace music, and to explore and celebrate themselves as musicians. The curriculum is grounded in six elements of music—voice, rhythm, movement, instruments, theory and culture—at the heart of which is improvisation and creative exploration. PDS uses the Orff-Schulwerk approach, so instruction begins with things children already like to do: sing, chant and create rhymes; clap, dance, and keep a beat by drumming on anything near at hand. These instincts are directed into learning music by hearing and making music first, then reading and writing it later on. The art program is also noteworthy. Students learn that art, like any other area of study, has its own history, language, vocabulary, and traditions. The lower school art curriculum explores most major art movements; projects alternate between those that follow set tradition and those that are very open-ended. In middle school, art classes are conceptual, emphasizing the process of making and creating unique art. Creative thinking, experimentation, and the exchange of ideas are encouraged. Students build their vocabulary and confidence in sophisticated art critique through self-reflection on their work after it is completed. The After School Activities Program (ASAP) offers added opportunity to expand students’ extracurricular learning. Students from all grades can come together for a collective sharing of the day’s happenings over snacks, before engaging in classes ranging from arts and crafts and creative writing to theatre and cooking. Rotating every trimester, these classes culminate in a showcase, where students can demonstrate the skills they’ve learned in an atmosphere that is confidence-building as well as communally supportive. The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
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Design+Make+Engage The Design+Make+Engage program was established in 2012, in conjunction with Park Day School’s participation in Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero, Agency by Design. The Design+Make+Engage program deliberately explores systems thinking and develops students’ sensitivity to the designed dimensions of the world. Students take on the mindsets of designers, engineers, builders, and scientists. With their teachers, students engage in complex, hands-on projects, collaborating across age and grade levels to apply curricular concepts and explore new technologies. The Innovation Workshop, a flexible indoor-outdoor lab designed to support the program, was completed in Fall 2015. Social and environmental justice themes are very often interwoven into projects. Recent projects include first graders building a transportation network on the playground while studying transportation systems; third graders demonstrating the geometric patterns in math facts with a “multiplication circle” six feet in diameter; sixth graders creating a physical representation of ancient river valley civilizations, complete with a flowing river; and second graders constructing wooden ancestry boxes as a part of their studies of family immigration and migration as a result of past and current wars. Design+Make+Engage and the Innovation Workshop are a natural fit not only with Park Day School’s project-based, progressive philosophy, but also within the larger arts and “maker” communities at other schools and in the East Bay at large. Design+Make+Engage is also closely integrated with the School’s annual Mini Maker Faire, a significant school fundraiser and important East Bay cultural event. Primarily parent-run, the Maker Fair brings over 7,000 people to campus on one day, to view innovative and whimsical projects by Bay Area makers as well as PDS students. During the event, the school also co-sponsors an educator meet-up for teachers interested in maker-centered learning.
Faculty and Staff PDS staff strives to create a school culture of respect, caring, and collaboration. Critical to this work is a longstanding tradition of strong teacher leadership and empowerment. The question, “What’s The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
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best for the child?” resides at the center of decision-making at PDS. Once a school that ran by consensus, the staff voice continues to be integral to both program and school governance. Faculty and administrators hold voting positions on the Board of Trustees, and have representation on committees including hiring, budgeting, and strategic planning. Even as PDS staff members work to prepare students to engage in a democracy, so too do they strive to foster this environment for themselves.
PDS Community Beyond the classroom, the warm environment and sense of community at Park Day School reflects and upholds the school’s values and progressive approach to learning. Students as well as their families are involved in a wide range of events and activities that encourage them to think creatively, learn deeply, act compassionately, and live fully. Unique to the PDS experience are their “signature projects,” which are homegrown and have evolved over the years. Rooted in the belief that students often learn best in non-linear ways, these signature projects enable students across all grades to expand their learning via an outlet or path that best suits their strengths and interests. Some examples include the popular Maker Faire fundraiser and Pride Day celebration, one-act plays and rich art and music nights, STEM nights, book drives, and off-campus learning adventures. Central to many projects, of course, is the theme of social justice. Each fall, Park Day School hosts CARE Week—a Campaign for Acceptance, Respect and Empathy—which features speakers, assemblies, parent education opportunities, and more. They also often involve outside partners; for example, the Children Without Borders Magazine is a student-led publication co-produced with an elementary school in Palestine. Another central aspect of the community experience at PDS is the graduation tradition. At Park Day School, graduation is a celebration of each graduate’s answer to the question: “Who are you and what do you have to say?” Students craft individual commemorations of their experience and growth at Park Day School. All share a piece of that creative self-expression during the commencement ceremony, after receiving a brief introduction from a faculty member of their choosing. Culminating as a joyful mixture of speeches, songs, visual art, dance, and poetry, this tradition recognizes and celebrates each graduate as an individual.
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Physical Campus Park Day School’s campus in Oakland is exceptionally lovely. The four-acre site abounds with greenery—ample trees, flower and vegetable gardens, birds, squirrels, and a miniature farm. The Nature Zone is particularly unique and noteworthy as well; this outdoor area is stocked with a “library” of items collected from nature, including bark and twigs, leaves and flowers, seeds and stones. In this space, students are encouraged to build temporary art sculptures from natural materials. Without the pressure to reach a finished product, students learn that creative arts need not be permanent to be meaningful. Outdoor exploration is an important part of learning at PDS. Math class may take place outside on a nice day. All students participate in the learning garden program, which incorporates gardening into classroom activities. Students can play, build, and explore in the school’s many play areas, including sandy spots, swings, climbing bars and structures, an all-weather playing field, and shaded gazebo. Seven buildings comprise the School’s physical plant. The Palm Building, which underwent earthquake improvements in 2012, houses the School’s main office and administrative offices. It also houses the large, brightly lit classrooms of kindergarten through the third grades. A smaller building called the Annex is home to the lower grades’ Spanish as well as the After School Program. Students in fourth and fifth grades occupy the “MPR” building, originally intended to be a multipurpose room when constructed in 1993. This classroom building features high ceilings with reading lofts and sitting areas for small group work and collaboration. The sixth grade is housed in Gramma’s Attic, strategically located between the elementary and middle school buildings. Logistically, this allows for easy travel to classes in the middle school building while also reflecting the School’s higher-order goal of protecting sixth grade as a part of the elementary school while also supporting the transition to middle school. The Magnolia Building, occupied by Grades 7-8, also includes art rooms, a music room, and The Great Room, The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
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used for school-wide gatherings. Renovated in 2009 in anticipation of their unification with The Community School, the Magnolia Building also has a fully functioning kitchen where students who haven’t brought bag lunches from home can purchase a hot lunch each day. The school-wide gardening program is based out of a community-raised yurt, located alongside the Nature Zone. The newest building, the Innovation Workshop mentioned earlier, was constructed largely by community volunteers and completed in Fall 2015. This spectacular indoor-outdoor space houses the Design+Make+Engage program resources.
Oakland, California The principal city in what is frequently referred to as the East Bay region of San Francisco, Oakland is a fascinating place to live and learn, with rich multicultural influences, a strong and diverse economy, and a vibrant arts and music culture. The city has also led the way nationally with its sustainability practices and political activism. Built on fertile prairie and woodlands, Oakland originally offered a wealth of natural resources. Its redwood and hillside oak timber proved essential to the construction of San Francisco, while its fertile soils promoted an agricultural economy in the region. Today, Oakland is the trade center of the San Francisco Bay Area. Approximately $41 billion in international trade moves through the Oakland Port, making it the fifth busiest port in the country. The city has long been a hub for large corporations; health system Kaiser Permanente, product manufacturer Clorox, and dot-com companies Ask.com and Pandora Radio are a few major corporations that call Oakland home. More recently, the city has attracted high-tech and green energy startups, creating a tech boom that has fueled the economy and attracted young, well-educated professionals to settle in the area. Recent census data named Oakland one of the top US cities for educational attainment (38% of residents over the age of 25 hold a bachelor’s degree or higher), as well as median income.
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Due to its location, Oakland has taken in a steady flow of immigrants for decades. This trend, combined with a significant influx of African Americans relocating from the Deep South in the 1940s, dramatically shaped the composition of Oakland’s population. The third most racially diverse city on the U.S., 65% of Oakland residents identify as non-white. As a result, Oakland’s culture has long been a richly multicultural place, from its vibrant Chinatown district to its place in music history as the West Coast hub for jazz and blues. The emergence of sophisticated dining and international cuisine, music venues, nightclubs, art galleries, and independent shops in Oakland have drawn the attention of travelers. In 2012, the New York Times named Oakland the #1 place to visit in the U.S. Also of great appeal to residents and visitors is Oakland’s Mediterranean-like climate. Averaging 260 sunny days each year, Oakland was named the #1 climate of all U.S. cities by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Indeed, Oakland strikes the perfect balance of the region’s temperatures—slightly warmer than San Francisco, and slightly cooler than San Jose. This ideal climate makes for ample opportunity to explore the city’s many green spaces—another attraction of the area. The East Bay Regional Parks include three preserves and four parks, one of which is Redwood Regional Park. Right in Oakland’s center, just east of downtown, is perhaps the city’s most popular outdoor attraction—Lake Merritt. A large tidal lagoon, Lake Merritt was the named the first official wildlife reserve in the country in 1870. It features several bird refuges, a nature center, a children’s theme park, as well as a boathouse offering sailboats, rowboats, and canoes for rental. Nearly three-and-a-half miles in circumference, the lake features popular walking and jogging paths, and its “Necklace of Lights” illuminate its entire perimeter each night. With the greatest number of artists per capita in the U.S, Oakland’s art scene is ever growing. The Oakland Art Murmur is a street art festival held the first Friday of every month. Jack London Square, the Fox Oakland Theater, and the Paramount Theatre all serve as venues for theater tours, music groups, art events, and more. Those who enjoy game-watching in place of—or in addition to—art viewing will find much to do in Oakland as well. The city is home to three professional sports teams: the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, and the MLB’s Oakland A’s. Other places of interest include the Oakland Zoo, Oakland Museum of California, and the Oakland Aviation Museum. With its burgeoning economy, blissful weather, wealth of attractions and pastimes, and a lower cost of living than neighboring cities in the Bay Area, Oakland has much to offer. The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
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Opportunities and Challenges At its core, Park Day School is a deeply aspirational community that is committed to raising thoughtful, empathic young people who learn to embrace academic challenges from a multitude of perspectives and who are infused with the idea that the world should be fair and inclusive to all— and if it is not, they should do something about it. The next Head will be expected to embody these values, and to inspire and support the community as it pursues them. As progressive practices are being adopted by a growing number of schools, public and private, the next Head will work with faculty to identify what it means for Park Day School to continue being a leader in progressive education. The school’s vision will need to be more fully developed and communicated strategically to prospective families. This will be particularly important as the Bay Area’s tech boom continues to send to the East Bay an increasing number of families who seek to provide their children with an innovative and dynamic education known for excellence. Park Day School’s commitment to inclusion and intercultural engagement as a path toward a more equitable and vibrant society dates to its beginning. The School seeks to uphold this key component of its mission in the years ahead and to ensure that future graduates continue in the tradition of being agents for change in their high schools, colleges, and communities. PDS will be best served by a leader who possesses the confidence and humility to acknowledge and reflect on their personal journey. Park Day School’s commitment to a strong academic program has included providing various professional development strategies, both using internal and external expertise. Continuing to develop and refine a reflective, forward-thinking professional development program will be a priority for the Head in supporting the continued learning, visioning, and innovating of PDS staff. The sense of community is highly valued by the students, teachers, and families. As the enrollment increases, the School will need to pay attention to the ways that this sense of community is nurtured. The Head will need to be someone with strong interpersonal and communication skills who can play a critical role in building trust and fostering community.
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Park Day School is fortunate to have an exceptional campus for a city school. The next Head of School will be asked to work with the Board and the community to develop plans for the campus that align with the School’s mission, and to mobilize the philanthropic support needed to fund its maintenance and ongoing improvement. Park Day School has been an incubator for developing nationally recognized, forward-thinking, child-centered educational practices that include practices for supporting students and families with learning differences, supporting LGBTQ students and families,using classroom meetings to establish classroom community, and continuing the internationally renowned Mindfulness in the Schools program. Park Day School’s established project-based learning and social justice practices, along with the East Bay Mini Maker Faire, the Design+Make+Engage program, and the School’s relationship with Harvard’s Agency by Design project, offer tremendous opportunities for the School, particularly in light of the current educational movement to bring maker-centered learning into schools. The next Head will help PDS to leverage these assets as the School develops a vision for its immediate future. As the school grows and its programs become more sophisticated and complex, the next Head will need to examine how the administrative structure can be enhanced to help PDS fulfill its vision.
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Qualifications and Qualities of the next Head of School Professional Characteristics The next Head of Park Day School should be passionate about children, and driven by the belief that the world can be a better place by supporting a community of learners who are encouraged to be empathic, take risks, think creatively, and stand up for themselves and others. Along with excellent leadership, communication, and organizational skills, successful candidates will have backgrounds that include most, if not all, of the following qualities: • A passion for working with PDS teachers to provide students with an education that is based
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in the values and practices of progressive education and rooted in a community that celebrates differences, including racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender identity. Ability to articulate the value of a solid progressive education while meeting the needs and expectations of high-achieving parents. A track record as a highly collaborative leader who empowers others, delegates appropriately, builds consensus, and serves as a role model of transparency, accountability, self-awareness, and honest self-evaluation. The ability to be an effective communicator and a commitment to keeping families, faculty and staff, alumni, community members, and the Board of Trustees appropriately informed about important educational trends, school events, potential issues, and future needs. A palpable enjoyment at being an active and visible presence in the life of the school as a foundation for strong, supportive relationships with faculty, staff, and the administrative team, thereby fostering a sense of community and a culture of meaningful professional growth. Prior experience living and leading diversity and inclusion initiatives, skill in building inclusive communities, and the ability to respectfully navigate diverse cultural and social situations. An ability to nurture a culture of philanthropy and the willingness to play a role in increasing philanthropic support. Knowledge of or experience with admission and the use of financial aid to create socioeconomic diversity. Experience in hiring, supporting, developing, and retaining a diverse faculty and administrative staff. Significant prior experience as a senior administrator and teacher required. Bachelor’s degree is required; graduate degree preferred.
Personal Characteristics The favored candidate will be someone who is warm, approachable, empathic, down-to-earth and relishes knowing and being known by everyone in the community; a diplomatic collaborator and consensus-seeker whose confidence allows them to listen with an open mind to the passionate opinions of the teachers, parents, students, and alumni. As a school in which everyone participates in the individual journey to overcome implicit bias, the next Head should be comfortable acknowledging their own journey. Lastly, a successful candidate must possess a love of children and the distinctive environment that Park Day School has created and sustained for them. The Search Group | Carney, Sandoe & Associates
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To Apply Interested and qualified candidates should submit electronically in one e-mail and as separate documents, preferably as PDFs, the following materials: • • • •
Cover letter articulating your fit with the values and needs of Park Day School Current reume Personal statement List of five references with names, phone numbers, and email addresses of each to:
Bob Fricker | Burke Zalosh
Bob.fricker@carneysandoe.com | burke.zalosh@carneysandoe.com
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Search Calendar Please make note of the following important dates: July 6 Applications due August 10 Search Update August 21-22 First Round Interviews Mid-September Finalists Visit
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