June 5, 2009

Dear Members of the Brooklyn Friends Community:

We thank everyone who shared his or her aspirations for the next head of school on-line or in person with search consultant Clay Stites during his whirlwind tour of BFS last week. Clay learned a great deal about us and was particularly impressed with our strong sense of community, belief in Quaker values, dedicated faculty and outgoing, loyal students. He believes we will have no difficulty attracting many well-qualified candidates for the Head’s position.

Drawing on the conversations he had last week, Clay has begun to develop the position profile. Once complete, this document will be shared with the entire Brooklyn Friends School community.  It will also be distributed to potential candidates and sources as the recruitment phase of the search begins. If you know of possible candidates or thoughtful sources who might lead Clay to strong candidates, please send your suggestions directly to Clay Stites.

We will continue the community’s involvement in the search process by establishing three advisory councils to assist the Search Committee in its work. These groups (one of parents, one of faculty and staff, and one of members drawn from the wider community of Quakers, former trustees, alumni, etc.) will serve as liaisons to their constituencies, meet candidates in the fall and report their impressions to the Search Committee. The advisory groups will not rank finalists--that is the job of the Search Committee—but they will provide a rich source of additional information to the Committee.

We welcome members of the community to consider service on the parent or faculty/staff advisory councils (the 3rd group representing the wider community will be determined by the Search Committee) and will accept nominations for both councils through June 15, 2009. You can nominate yourself or someone else by sending an e-mail to the board or by putting names in the collection box at the front desk of 375 Pearl Street. Please include a sentence or two indicating why you wish to serve and what you or the person you are nominating will bring to the council. Before you submit a nomination, please read the attached information sheet carefully; it describes the work of the councils, the ideal composition of each, and the qualities needed to serve effectively.

In order to function well, these councils will need to stay small (no more than 8 to 10 members on each), so it is possible that not everyone who is nominated will be able to serve. The Search Committee will determine the composition of each advisory group with an eye towards diversity of perspective, gender, race, and appropriate representation of each division within the school.

We will announce the appointees to each council when school resumes in September. In the meantime, you can stay abreast of the search by visiting this section of the website, where regular updates will be posted.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me or any member of the Search Committee.

In Friendship and on behalf of the Committee,
Lisa Sack
Chair, Current Parent

Karine Blemur-Chapman, Associate Director of Admissions
Verina Crawford, Alumni Parent, Board Secretary
Richard Cutler ‘62
Darrick Hamilton ‘89
Peter Laughter ’89, Current Parent
Alice Pope, Board Chair, Assistant Chair, Head Search Committee; Current Parent
Karen Robinson, Board Co-Chair, Current Parent
Whitney Thompson, Director of MS Programs; Chair, Health, US Quakerism