Dear Orchard Community:

By now, I trust you have heard the news or seen the announcement of Tom Rosenbluth's decision to transition to leave Orchard at the end of this school year. Tom has accomplished many great things during his tenure at Orchard and has pledged his continuing commitment to furthering progress on several initiatives commenced during the past few years. We hope that the entire Orchard community will thank Tom for all he has accomplished and will continue to do to make Orchard better.

 

Perhaps because I have been on the boards at Orchard and Park Tudor for over twenty years, I have been involved in several searches for new heads of school. The process begins with sadness for the departure of the prior head and then transitions to excitement over the prospect of defining the most important goals for our future and finding the right leader to accomplish them. The search for a Head of School can and should be an exciting time for contemplating and envisioning our future and defining how we will maximize the opportunities for the school community. Of course, the nearly 600 young people we guide each year are our most important focus.

Orchard's by-laws for many years have prescribed that the Executive Committee of the Board of
Governors, which includes the President of the Board of Trustees, shall select a six-member Search Committee with designated backgrounds to guide the process of searching for the new Head of School and to recommend to the boards the selection of the best candidate. I am pleased to report that the Executive Committee has appointed the following people to serve on the search committee and each has accepted this responsibility:

 

Dan Appel and Dan Elsener (Governors)
Colleen O'Brien and Shiv O'Neill (Trustees)
Christa Adkins (Parents Association)
Adrianne Slash (Heritage Association).

In addition, pursuant to the same by-laws, I appointed Dan Appel to serve as the chair of that committee. Dan is a former student, former parent, current grandparent, former chair of the Board of Trustee and current governor. The committee's work has already commenced.

Members of the Search Committee have interviewed many potential search consultants and have
selected Jo Butler of the Wickenden Associates to serve as the consultant for our search. She has
extensive experience. She served in this role for the most recent Brebeuf and Canterbury searches and the two most recent Park Tudor searches. She comes highly recommended, grew up near Fort Wayne and is more familiar with our community than anyone else interviewed.

The Search Committee, Jo Butler and both boards are committed to an open and transparent process in which multiple perspectives can be brought to the search. The Search Committee and Jo will offer many opportunities for the Orchard community to be involved in the early stages in defining our goals and what we desire in the next Head of School. Further, the community will have the opportunity to meet Philip C Genetos with the finalists when they visit. The size of the Search Committee provides a better platform for assuring that all members of the committee are participants in each phase of the effort.

 

 

This information will help to educate Jo and her team on the culture and priorities in our school and help inform the Search Committee on important questions within the Orchard community.

Thank you, all, for your support and commitment.

 

 

 

Philip C Genetos

Chair of the Board of Governors