In Summer 2005, Phillips Academy hired James W. Wickenden of Wickenden Associates to analyze the school’s administrative structure and functionality.
Head of School Barbara Chase said, “Because it was clear that the Strategic Plan was going to take a lot of funding to become a reality, I knew that a restructuring needed to be done and he was somebody that I brought in that had a lot of experience with schools and school administrations, who I thought would have good thoughts about this.”
Wickenden’s assessment of the school government included both decision-making structure and the community’s perception of that structure.
Wickenden conducted 45 extensive interviews with Trustees, Mrs. Chase, Deans and other faculty members in leadership positions. There were 52 survey respondents, including 27 teaching faculty and 12 administrators.
Mrs. Chase said, “It was...helpful to have somebody come in from outside and have [faculty, staff and administrators] talk to him about how they thought things were working and how they could work better.”
While Phillips Academy did not implement all of Wickenden’s reccomendations, several of the changes detailed in the report have been made to various aspects of Phillips Academy.
== Restructuring of the Administration ==
Wickenden’s recommendations specifically included that Mrs. Chase delegate the handling of the academic program and student life to other administrators.
Last year, Mrs. Chase streamlined the administration by dividing it into two lines of communication. She put Dean of Faculty Temba Maqubela in charge of faculty and the academic program.
Associate Head of School Becky Sykes is now in charge of overseeing all student services. Instead of reporting to Mrs. Chase, the Dean of Students, chaplaincy and Graham House counselors all report to Mrs. Sykes.
Wickenden’s report stated, “There is no doubt that [Mrs. Chase] will need to substantially reduce her on-campus commitments in order to achieve the goals of the Strategic Plan.”
Mrs. Chase said, “[One goal] was to make it possible for me to be able to go out and seek the funding for the ambitioius plan and be sure that things [on campus] were in very, very good hands and I think [restructuring the administration] has absolutely done that.”
In a Phillipian interview last year, Head of the Board of Trustees Oscar Tang cited the strategic objectives, including need-blind admissions, as factors that necessitate Mrs. Chase’s participation in fundraising.
Mr. Tang went on to say that with fewer responsibilities on campus, Mrs. Chase would have more time to travel but also be more visible and accessible to students and faculty members while she is on campus.
The report also predicted that “critics within the Academy will complain that [Mrs. Chase] is not spending enough time listening to the concerns of the school community and overseeing school programs.”
Wickenden also wrote in his report, “If and when [Mrs. Chase] does decide to exercise leadership on internal matters, she will be criticized for making decisions because she is too removed from the daily life of the school!”
Mr. Wickenden went on to express his concern that Mrs. Chase was “likely to respond to [potential] criticism by attempting to retain too much of her internal portfolio, and in so doing, tax her patience, her energy, and possibly her health.”
Mrs. Chase said, “The idea was to concentrate a focus on those two areas, faculty and program and students, and I do think [the reogranization] has really accomplished that.
Program refers to the cocurriculum, which encompasses all educational aspects of the school, including academics, music, art, and athletics.
== Communication ==
Wickenden stated in his report, “The senior administration...does not always effectively communicate the reasons behind [its] decisions.”
Wickenden noted that Andover should hire an experienced communications professional working in tune with the strategic plan to better publicize Phillips Academy’s “commitment to serve as a national model for excellence and innovation in the education of ‘youth from every quarter.’”
Tracey Sweet, Director of Academy Communications, was hired last spring after a career as Assistant Vice President for Public Relations at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire.
She has worked on a new communications plan for Andover with reference to the 2004 Strategic Plan. In Sweet’s current position, she is responsible for the Andover Gazette, a weekly bulletin for faculty, as well as The Andover Bulletin and maintaining the Newsroom section of the Andover website.
In addition to these responsibilities, the Office of Communications, under the auspices of Sweet, helps to develop all Andover publications.
== Decision-making ==
Wickenden reported that many faculty members, when he surveyed them in 2005, were frustrated by what they perceived as their unproductive role in faculty governance.
“The faculty meetings were criticized by virtually everyone with whom [Wickenden and his associates] spoke as time-wasting, fraught with tensions, dominated by a minority of verbal teachers, and too often used for the dissemination of information rather than meaningful discussion or decision-making,” wrote Wickenden in his report.
Faculty were also skeptical of the effectiveness of the Faculty Adivisory Committee, or AdCom, and other committees.
“The result is a perception among many faculty that their voice in the governance of Phillips Academy is ineffective,” wrote Wickenden.
In an article published May 18, 2007 in The Phillipian, faculty members reported satisfaction with the voice they had in decision-making at Phillips Academy. Although administrators make final decisions, faculty are always invited to voice their opinions, and the administration often bases its decisions on faculty voting results.
Recently, many faculy members seem to agree.
Lixia Ma, Instructor in Chinese, wrote in an email, “I think the administration is doing their best to make sure the faculty voice is heard on as many topics as time allows in those faculty meetings, and I think it is effective.”
Ma also wrote, “There are different committees that work on various issues that are important to the continued success of our school, and I am sure the members on those committees are a good representation of the diverse school population.”