Educators of Color Invited to Apply to Kingswood Oxford Leadership Institute

Submitted by Michelle Murphy, Kingswood Oxford School.

Applications will be accepted through May 1 for the second annual Kingswood Oxford Leadership Institute for Educators of Color, which will be held on the KO campus from June 16-19, 2013.

Founded by KO Head of School Dennis Bisgaard, the Leadership Institute provides education, resources, and networking opportunities for people of color who aspire to become senior administrators or Heads of independent schools. The first Institute, held in June 2012 at KO, was “nothing short of transformational,” said Patrick Bassett, president of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).

Workshops during the 3 ½-day conference will vary in length and focus, covering the big picture (i.e., understanding how personality informs leadership styles) as well as the nitty gritty (i.e., the typical stages of an independent school career path – and how to know when it’s time to move on). There will also be numerous networking opportunities, a book discussion (about Susan Scott’s Fierce Conversations), and a session of Bikram yoga in Richard Mercer’s studio in Simsbury. Educators from across the country are expected to attend.

Presenters include Bassett; CAIS Executive Director Doug Lyons; Dr. Pearl Rock Kane, director of Columbia University’s Klingenstein Center; Gene Batiste, NAIS Vice President for Equity and Justice; headhunters Orpheus Crutchfield and Warren Reid; and Paul Tieger, author of Speedreading People, to name just a few.

The cost of the Leadership Institute is $475, which covers materials, activities, and meals; local accommodations are available at a special rate of $149/night. Space is limited, as enrollment will be kept deliberately small. Applicants should have at least seven years of experience in independent school education. To apply, visit www.kingswoodoxford.org/POCKO.

Bisgaard, in his 7th year as KO’s Head of School, said he established the Institute partly in response to a startling statistic: Out of 1,400 schools that belong to NAIS, only 4 percent – 50 schools – are led by a person of color. The percentage of female Heads, while not quite as low, is still surprisingly small, especially at the high school level. “In this day and age, how come that’s true?” he wondered.

Thus, the KO Leadership Institute was born, inspired to some degree by the Collegiate School Teaching Institute in NYC that Bisgaard founded in 1995, when he worked there. 

“The KO Leadership Institute is a model that NAIS hopes will be adopted in other localities around the country and around the world,” said the NAIS’s Bassett. “As a school Head, Dennis is definitely one of our leaders nationally.”