Director of Lower School - The Buckley School

Description:

Opportunities & Challenges AWAITING THE NEW DIRECTOR

The Director of the Lower School reports to the Head of School and is charged with comprehensive responsibility for all activities involving students and faculty in the division. The Director serves as the educational leader of the Lower School, the manager of its day-to-day operations, and the chief articulator of its values, programs, expectations, and behavioral guidelines.

The next Director of the Lower School will join Buckley at an important time of transition. The departure of the current Director after more than three decades of service is certain to present both opportunities and challenges. Buckley also is still emerging from the experience of managing education in a pandemic over the past two years. Aided by its spacious facilities, The Buckley School was able to offer in-person instruction for much of the pandemic period. Teaching and learning are constantly evolving, and the faculty are excited about honing their craft, assessing the innovations of the past two years, and examining how those innovations will influence their teaching going forward.

Among the specific opportunities and challenges awaiting the new Director are the following:

Administrative Restructuring

Beginning with the 2022-23 school year, the school will be restructured administratively from three divisions to two, shifting Class IV to the Lower School and Classes V and VI to the Upper School. The shift promises to offer many benefits. The creation of two divisions allows both Division Directors to develop stronger relationships with families, as they will be interacting for up to five years rather than three or four. It also creates one less transition for students and families to navigate, while streamlining channels of communication and leadership. The addition of the fourth grade to the Lower School is also regarded as developmentally more appropriate and reflects current best practices in independent schools.

The new Lower School Director will manage several aspects of the transition, including support for Class IV faculty and helping articulate to families the new opportunities for Class IV students as leaders in the division. The Director will also be instrumental in identifying and addressing opportunities for changes to curriculum, assessments, and other aspects of the program that this transition creates.

The school’s leaders are also planning to bolster administrative support for the next Director of Lower School. Staffing currently includes an Administrative Assistant, who also supports the Director of Admissions, and the Assistant Division Director, who is also a homeroom teacher. Next year, the Assistant Division Director position will be restructured to reduce the teaching role, allowing that individual more time to effectively support the Director of the Lower School. The new Director will have the opportunity to serve as a thought partner in defining specific areas of focus for the position and, if the timing is appropriate, the desired skills, attributes, and experience of the person in that role.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

In pursuit of excellence and in commitment to our mission of educating the whole boy, we affirm equity as a core value of The Buckley School:

We recognize the fundamental dignity of each member of the Buckley community.

We foster a community that respects and values our different identities, perspectives, and voices.

We embrace the ongoing work of developing the knowledge, skills, and relationships needed to be an inclusive school.

We seek to inspire all members of our Buckley family to be empathetic, ethical, and engaged citizens of a diverse world.

And, together, we will prepare every boy to thrive in the future, as he pursues a life of excellence in leadership, scholarship, and service.

– The Buckley School Equity Vision Statement

As a natural outgrowth of Buckley’s mission of instilling a deep and genuine respect for others in every boy, the school over the past several years has engaged in meaningful work in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion. A dedicated Faculty Diversity Leadership Team, which has undertaken extensive DEI training, leads the school’s many initiatives in this area. These include ongoing faculty professional development, a K-9 curricular review through the DEI lens, and the creation of affinity groups. In the Lower School, much of the DEI work takes place within the social-emotional learning curriculum.

The new Director of the Lower School will be expected to be an enthusiastic partner in the school’s ongoing DEI efforts, including faculty development, curricular revisions, and, importantly, in the admissions process, as Buckley strives to enroll a student body that more closely reflects the broader community.

Read more about Buckley’s DEI work here: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

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