These days, in the Upper School, you might walk down the hall and see a new face looking back at you, wide-eyed and a little nervous. You can tell they’re a little out of their element. They’re always slightly over dressed for our jeans-and-sweatshirt uniform and they’re totally not used to kids lining the halls to eat lunch, making it impossible for an inexperienced pair of feet to navigate through.
There is no question that these candidates have big shoes to fill. One will be replacing Chris “Oh geez” McAvoy who is known for breathing life into potentially dreary battles, wars, and so-called important events with his sometimes not-so-funny wit, his notorious grey water bottle, and of course, John Stewart. The other will be walking into to a room that is covered with fly ties, tennis posters, and homages to Earnest Hemingway. Although Phil will only be down the hall, I doubt there is anyone who can tell you the life stories of Hemingway, Frost, all of the Romantics, and every Supreme Court Justice. Especially since they will become players in our school’s English and History departments. It is a big job and a long process to replace the majority of the teachers located in the downstairs of the Upper School, but few students know how the process works. I have been here since 6th grade and until I spoke with Brian Yager and sat down to write this article, I knew next to nothing about the hiring process.
The process begins the moment the administration knows there is an opening in the faculty. (They began looking to fill Phil’s classroom as soon as they appointed him as the new Upper School Head.) They start by advertising the opening on our school website and with the PNAIS. (The Pacific Northwest Association of Independent Schools) The job opening is also registered with national organization called Carney Sandoe Associates, (a teachers head hunting service) and depending on the initial response, the job is advertised in the local paper.
When I asked Brian about the response to the open teaching positions here at TCS, he didn’t really respond. He simply pulled a huge binder out of his desk and plopped it down in front of me. There were 50+ applicants for each job! (about 20 for each position from the head hunting service).
After all of the applications arrive at Brian’s desk the process truly begins. He reads through the application with a lot on his mind, but he really looks for fit. First off, he makes sure the candidates meet the desired criteria for each position. (This year more experience was wanted to for the History position while the English slot was left more wide open.) After narrowing down the massive pile of applicants, the selected applications go to a committee made up of interested faculty members. (This year’s committee consists of Phil, Ryan, Chauncy, Hannes, and Willy.) The committee ranks each applicant and then phone calls are made for preliminary interviews.
The next part of the process is the part that students see. Two to five candidates come and visit the school and meet with administration, students and faculty. When all is said and done the committee ranks each candidate and gives Andy a final recommendation. The decision is ultimately up to him, but it is unlikely that he would go completely against the committee’s recommendation.
This time around Brian and the committee had some pretty big holes to fill in the teaching staff. It really is, “hard to replace Chris and Phil,” said Brian. However, Brian also said, “it is (also) an exciting thing because you are deciding the next generation of teachers. It is also a little bit daunting.” When it came down to it, the economy was on the side of TCS this time. Because of the recession, many educators are out of work or looking for new, more stable jobs. This allowed for Brian and the committee to sift through a greater number of applicants and make the best possible choices to replace Phil and Chris.
In the end, finding a new teacher for the TCS community all comes down to fit. “We want to find the person who is going to be the best educator at TCS. (We ask,) will they fit in here and grow here? We want them to contribute to campus.” As students, we’ve had enough good teachers, to know a great one when we see it. Will the new recruits be able to stand out and create legacies of their own? Only time will tell.