Career Center

Overview
Open Window School (K-8, coed, 358 student day school) is seeking highly qualified candidates for its Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.

Open Window nurtures and inspires students of high intellectual potential. This is a joyful place where students love to learn. Dedicated faculty and staff are committed to the mission and inspired by the gifted students in their care. Parent/guardians and students alike laud the authenticity of the program and the strong connections students make with teachers and other staff. Innovation and risk-taking are encouraged and supported. Open Window School graduates are empathetic, innovative problem solvers, and passionate, purposeful global citizens.

Graduates matriculate to area high schools of their choice and are exceptionally well-prepared to succeed. The School’s first 8th grade class graduated in 2010; since then, OWS graduates have attended an impressive list of colleges and universities across the country.

Located in Bellevue, Washington, 10 miles from the center of downtown Seattle, Open Window benefits from being in one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country. Bellevue is #1 in the country for percentage of the population with four-year degrees and home to entrepreneurial companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. The School enjoys strong demand for this rich and authentic educational experience.

Mission
Open Window School nurtures and inspires students of high intellectual potential.

At a Glance 2021-22

• Founded: 1983
• Total students: 358
• Students of color: 57%
• Languages spoken at home: 48
• Total faculty: 56
• Faculty of color: 8
• Faculty with advanced degrees: 25
• Student/teacher ratio: 9:1
• Financial aid budget: $1,050,000
• Students receiving aid: 15%
• Endowment: $4,546,461 (donor restricted); $10,593,152 (Board designated)

School History
Open Window School was founded in 1983  to serve intellectually gifted preschoolers. In 1985, the School was incorporated and expanded to include an elementary program. In 1992, the school moved to its current campus on Cougar Mountain in Bellevue, adding a middle school in 2008.  Today, Open Window is a leading independent school in the greater Seattle area, and the only school on the Eastside which focuses specifically on gifted students.

General Information
Whether in the Lower or Middle School, Open Window students are immersed in joyful, intentional learning activities, guided by engaged and caring adults, and surrounded by supportive peers. Curriculum is focused on authentic, real-world problem solving, enhanced by a peer group who love to learn.

OWS teachers understand the needs of gifted students and offer curricula that enable students to proceed at an accelerated pace and dive deeply into complex content.

Social-emotional learning (SEL) is a strong and intentional component of the curriculum in both Lower and Middle Schools.  The program focuses on recognizing and regulating emotions, developing positive relationships, behaving responsibly, making good decisions, and cultivating students’ sense of identity.

Open Window uses technology to enhance student learning. Every student K-8 has a computer tablet or laptop (included in the cost of tuition). In the two Innovation and Technology Labs, students learn the fundamentals of computer science and they are encouraged to be innovators and apply their knowledge to solve real-world problems. Last year, two OWS 5^th graders won first place in the national Toshiba Exploravision contest with their design of a coagulation filtration system to efficiently provide clean water in remote areas.

Open Window offers a full range of activities beyond the classroom including before and after school enrichment, community partnerships, and overnight Hallmark Trips in grades 4-8 (which are included in the cost of tuition). After school activities include, but are not limited to choir, coding, drama, martial arts, math club, Minecraft, parkour, robotics, yoga, and sports. The school’s most robust activities are chess and debate.

The school invests in the professional growth of the staff, providing robust professional development resources including the attendance at local and national conferences, 4-5 professional development days per year, Summer Innovation and Curriculum Grants, and support for pursuit of advanced degrees.

Open Window School is accredited by the Northwest Association of Independent Schools (NWAIS).

Curriculum/Program
Open Window School’s dynamic K-8 curriculum blends traditional and innovative methods reflecting best educational practices in gifted education. Teachers develop and modify the curriculum to match the individual needs and interests of the students. Teachers at each grade level work together to ensure that student experiences are consistent and provide high challenge and high support at all levels. Social-emotional learning is both a dedicated curriculum and woven throughout the day.

In the Lower School (K-4), students build a strong foundation in literacy and math and are encouraged to construct, explore, discover, design, and create.  The Middle School program (5-8) builds on the strengths of the Lower School. Engaged peers, advanced curriculum and authentic learning experiences are key facets of the OWS program. This is a school where it’s cool to be smart. Both divisions are large enough to provide an array of learning opportunities, yet small enough that every child is known, valued, and has an opportunity to develop his or her unique talents. The program includes weekly specialist classes in science, technology, art, drama, library, chorus, physical education, and Spanish at every level.

In visual art, drama and music classes, students try new tools and techniques, expand their capacity for self-expression, develop their critical thinking skills, make connections, take risks, build on their innate curiosity and purposefulness, and develop skills in cooperative learning and problem solving. Choir and drama have multiple performances every year, and visual art from every grade is displayed prominently throughout the school.

Physical education is body-centered rather than activity-centered. The staff use activities, games, sports, tumbling, yoga, parkour, martial arts, and dance to help students learn about the human body, health, and movement potential. In kindergarten through grade 4, physical education emphasizes fitness, coordination, agility, communication, cooperation, creativity, and fun. For students in grade 5-8, PE focuses on establishing and maintaining healthy lifestyle choices. Emphasis is on maintaining cooperative, supportive attitudes and habits, even in competition, and developing autonomy in training and playing. In addition to their grade-level PE courses, students have the opportunity to take additional movement courses as part of the after school program. Open Window School is a part of the Cascade Middle School League and competes against other local independent middle schools in cross country, volleyball, basketball, track and field, and ultimate frisbee.

The school takes advantage of resources in the area to enhance student learning. Students have traveled to the University of Washington to learn about cutting-edge brain research. They’ve visited the Institute for Systems Biology to learn first-hand how scientists conduct research. They have visited the Center for Wooden Boats to learn about the history of boating in Washington State. Open Window students have been to Mount Saint Helens, the Seattle Architectural Foundation, the Gates Foundation, the Pacific Science Center, the Experience Music Project, the Seattle Art Museum, the Seattle NOAA office, the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Outreach Center, and many other area institutions. In their service-learning work, they have volunteered at Food Lifeline, Operation Sack Lunch, and Eastside Baby Corner.

A highlight of the Open Window program is the Hallmark Trips, 4th grade through 8th grade experiences that deeply enrich the curriculum and the relationships within the class community. These experiences build confidence, self-awareness, and empathy, while broadening students’ understanding of the Northwest and beyond. They connect classroom learning to real world applications. Students travel to NatureBridge in Olympic National Park, sail in the San Juan Islands, experience Shakespeare Festival in Ashland Oregon, study American government in Washington D.C., and immerse themselves in a new culture in Costa Rica. The cost of these trips is included in tuition.

The school has a growing and thriving five-week summer program, open to the wider community, which offers a full slate of all-day, hands-on, experiential activities focused around the tag-line Explore. Create.  Discover. Most summer program offerings are taught by current OWS teachers and associate teachers.

Open Window will be piloting an innovative, high challenge/high support synchronous online program (Open Window Online) in fall 2023.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
Guided by the Diversity Committee of the Board of Trustees, Open Window has an ambitious, school-wide Diversity Strategic Plan, currently in its second year of implementation. The plan has five areas of focus: Identifying Challenges and Barriers, Enrollment, Diverse Faculty and Staff, Inclusive Environment, and Socio-Economic Diversity. Each goal has action steps, outcomes, and specific tasks, all of which are placed on a quarter-by-quarter timeline and assigned to a specific member of the Admin Team. This plan provides a road map for our current work in this area. Tracking, accountability, follow through, and good communication are key to motion forward.

Open Window School strives to admit and serve gifted students and their families who are representative of the diversity within the geographic area from which the school can draw students. This includes families who have been traditionally underrepresented in independent schools and gifted education programs. According to their diversity statement, “At Open Window School, in furtherance of our mission and core values, we embrace both our commonalities and the complex range of differences that enrich our school. We are committed to building a community guided by the following questions: Is it welcoming? Is it inclusive? Is it respectful?” View the 2021-2024 Diversity Strategic Plan here.

Post OWS School Placement
Open Window School 8^th grade graduates currently attend the Bush School, Eastside Catholic, Eastside Prep, Forest Ridge, Lakeside, Overlake, Seattle Academy, the University of Washington Transition School, and University Preparatory Academy. Public school systems in the surrounding area are strong and a number of families choose this option every year.

Post high school, Open Window graduates are currently attending or have graduated from the following colleges and universities:

• California Polytechnic State University
• Carnegie Mellon University
• Claremont McKenna College
• Emory University
• Harvard University
• Harvey Mudd College
• Loyola Marymount University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Pacific University Oregon
• Pepperdine University
• School of the Art Institute of Chicago
• Southern Oregon University
• University of Arizona
• University of California, Berkeley
• University of California, San Diego, University of California, Santa Cruz
• University of Chicago
• University of Massachusetts Amherst
• University of Michigan
• University of Southern California
• University of Washington
• Washington University in St. Louis
• Whitman College
• Yale University

Campus
The campus consists of 35,000 square-feet of administrative, classroom, and support uses, including two classroom buildings, a gymnasium with a performing-arts stage, a library, two Innovation and Technology labs, three science labs, a learning commons, and a choir room. The original 1914 farmhouse was repurposed as the School’s administrative offices.  The campus is surrounded by a wooded neighborhood and the mountains are visible from the classrooms, field, and playground.

The Greater Seattle Area
Seattle is a seaport city on beautiful Puget Sound and the fastest-growing major city in the United States. Since 2000, Seattle has become a hub for technology, bioengineering, and green industry. It is a model of successful sustainable development. The city is surrounded by water, with Puget Sound to the west and Lake Washington to the east, and is well suited to sailing, skiing, bicycling, camping, and hiking year-round. Its temperate marine climate features moderately cool, wet winters and moderately warm, dry summers.

Seattle is a welcoming home for performing artists and houses world-class symphony, opera, dance, and theater companies. The city draws tourists each year for the 24-day Seattle International Film Festival and various other festivals and celebrations. Sports enthusiasts cheer on Seattle’s major league teams the Seahawks, the Sounders, the Mariners, the Reign, the Kraken, and the Storm. With its beautiful natural setting, innovative and entrepreneurial economy, and vibrant arts, culture, and sports, Seattle is one of the most coveted places to live in the United States.

With a population of around 150,000, Bellevue sits across Lake Washington from Seattle and is the second largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area. The name, Bellevue, is French for “beautiful view” — so named because of the city’s spectacular view, when the weather is clear, of the Olympic Peninsula and the Cascade Mountains.

This thriving city is considered one of the most livable cities in the nation. Current companies with headquarters or significant offices in the greater Seattle area include Expedia, T-Mobile, Amazon, Starbucks, eBay, Oracle, Google, and Microsoft. One of the great attractions of Bellevue is its proximity to both Seattle and the natural beauty of the surrounding area — especially the Cascade Mountains, the Olympic Peninsula (with Olympic National Park), and the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound.

Bellevue offers great shopping, dining, art galleries, music, beautiful parkland, and access to wine country and wilderness areas. The city is connected to Seattle by highway — with easy access to points north and south — and in 2023 will be connected by light rail.

Opportunities and Challenges
The Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging is a senior leadership position that sustains and strengthens the school’s momentum toward being a more equitable and inclusive school for gifted learners. Reporting directly to the Head of School, the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging is responsible for the leadership, design, development, and coordination of innovative practices and programs related to fostering an inclusive community and a deep sense of belonging and connection to the school for students, faculty, staff, and parents/guardians. They are an active and visible member of the school community at all levels. Being known and knowing students, faculty, staff, students, and parents/guardians is an important element of success. The responsibilities include leadership at the institutional, administrative, cultural, and academic levels of the school.

Institutional Leadership

• Provides strategic leadership in the area of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
• Oversees implementation of the current Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategic Plan.
• Represents the broad range of diversity in our community with a focus on belonging.
• Consults on, and at times leads, school-wide responses to school-based, local, or national events and issues.
• Guides internal and external messaging and communication related to our DEIB work, helping to create and disseminate current, accurate, relevant, mission-aligned materials to all constituencies.
• Works with the Admissions Office on recruitment efforts and practices to build a diverse student body. Attends admissions events and participates in the admissions process as needed or assigned.
• Coordinates the Board of Trustees DEI Committee.
• Conducts regular analysis of school-wide data through an equity lens, utilizing findings to inform strategic planning.
• Networks with DEIB leaders at other independent schools as well as off-campus cultural resource organizations.

Administrative Leadership

• Works with HR Manager to design hiring and employment policies and practices that are culturally responsive and contribute to the DEIB strategic goals for hiring and retention.
• Assists with hiring, including but not limited to training hiring managers on DEIB best practices, representing the school at career fairs, and meeting all finalist candidates.
• Assists with onboarding of new faculty and staff.
• Works closely with the Parent Guardian Association (PGA) leadership to create and continue diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging initiatives. Leads annual DEIB training for the PGA.
• Works with the communications office to publicize DEIB-related events, educational opportunities, workshops, etc. for students, faculty, and families.
• Serves on administrative committees responsible for work related to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

Cultural Leadership

• Models encouragement and compassion through interactions with all members of the community.
• Inspires open, productive, and challenging conversations around diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.
• Coordinates annual NAIS People of Color Conference for OWS’ faculty and staff of color and NWAIS Student Diversity Leadership events.
• Organizes DEIB-related, school-determined affinity spaces in collaboration with staff and PGA community.
• Serves as a consultant for employees responsible for work related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Coordinates and leads DEIB-related student groups in the Middle School.
• Active and visible participation in the life of the school.

Academic Leadership

• Partners with the Director of Teaching and Learning to ensure DEIB training is included annually in professional development programming.
• Oversight of at least one full professional development day for faculty and staff per year devoted to DEIB.
• Stays current with and engages with best practices, ideas, and evolving educational and DEIB landscape.
• Partners with Middle School and Lower School administration and teachers to cultivate a sense of belonging and foster student leadership related to DEIB.
• Remains current on the intersection between DEIB work and giftedness so that evolving principles can be applied to our program.
• Attends faculty meetings in both divisions.
• Other duties as assigned.

Challenges:

• Leading multi-step organizational change at a dynamic school for learners with multiple intelligences.
• Leading DEIB work in the School's first full-time senior administrative capacity.
• Negotiating the value proposition of DEIB work across diverse constituencies.

Opportunities:

• Working in a school community with a committed board and Head of School.
• Building on an established foundation of DEIB work already in motion.
• Operationalizing DEIB work articulated in the School's strategic plan.
• Cross-pollinating with the DEIB work being done at the board-level.

To Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should submit electronically in one email and as separate documents (preferably PDFs) the following materials:

• A cover letter expressing their interest in this particular position;
• A current résumé;
• A response to the following questions as a single word or pdf document:
  • How would you define diversity?
  • Describe how you have demonstrated a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in your current or prior job. If necessary, candidates can draw upon their experience in community organizations if professional experience is limited.
• A list of five professional references with name, phone number, and email address of each (references will not be contacted without the candidate’s permission) to:

Lawrence Alexander
Search Consultant
lawrence.alexander@carneysandoe.com

Chaya Keefe
Search Consultant
chaya.keefe@carneysandoe.com

Desired Skills and Qualifications

• A passion for leading DEIB work in a K-8 setting. 
• A natural teacher and an easy listener.
• An experienced project manager who can lead and delegate.
• A bridge-builder.
• An effective written and oral communicator.