May 28, 2024
Original publish date: May 13, 2024
Dear Mounds Park Academy Community,
I am writing with gratitude and to update the community on next steps in the head of school search process.
First, a heartfelt thank you to the many parents, students, faculty, staff, alumni, parents of alumni, retired faculty, and other community members who have participated in candidate forums and completed surveys. Your participation and feedback are essential and demonstrate the collective strength of our community. The feedback regarding all three candidates has been very strong.
Thank you also for providing such warm welcomes to each candidate who has visited. Each commented on MPA’s strong sense of community and belonging. Each also remarked on the joy of learning being profoundly evident at the school as they greeted students, walked hallways, and visited classrooms.
We also want to inform you the fourth finalist candidate has withdrawn from consideration after accepting an offer elsewhere, which means the candidate visit portion of the process is complete. This is not at all unusual in head of school searches, particularly with candidates of the caliber that MPA is considering who are highly sought after. The inherent fluidity of search processes is the reason we selected four highly qualified finalists rather than narrowing the finalist pool down to two or three.
After thoroughly vetting the feedback from our community on the three visiting finalists, the search committee will make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees for a new head of school. We hope to announce the new head of school in June, before the end of the school year. As a reminder, the new head of school will start in the summer of 2025 after Dr. Hudson’s retirement.
On behalf of the entire search committee, thank you for your support of and engagement with this process. Thank you also for showing our finalist candidates what is so unique and wonderful about MPA. Should you have any questions, please email headsearch@moundsparkacademy.org.
Sincerely,
Sincerely,
Betsy Van Hecke
MPA Parent of Alumni
Chair, Search Committee
