Have questions or want to get involved? Email search@greatriverschool.org.
Dear Great River families,
Great River School is a beautiful and dynamic place. Children, adolescents, and adults are in deep relationship here. I love this place. And it is with a deep reverence for this community that I make this announcement. June 2020 will be my last month as Head of School at Great River. I am committed to supporting a smooth transition and welcoming the next school leader, and I have full confidence in our community to work and welcome a new person to fill the Head of School role.
I am grateful for the immense opportunity set in my hands when I began teaching here in 2007, and for the grand responsibility granted me as Head of School in 2014. This school has been indelibly twined into the fabric of my life since I first stepped foot into the building. Great River welcomed, taught, honed, and polished me. I will continue to love this place even in my absence. If you are reading this letter, you are a part of this community, and I am indebted to you. All my gratitude to the students, families, community, and faculty who have welcomed me. I will be moving to northern Minnesota with my family and establishing outdoor education and ecology programs.
Work that I have carried out here these past six years as school leader set a foundation upon which this community can rely upon. Our students have won national awards for their accomplishments, our facility and finances are rooted deeply and positively forecast for many years to come, and our employees share a clear and living expectation that defines our Montessori education. The next plane of development for the school will be an exciting one as the mature school creates opportunities and addresses the developmental needs of students in ways we only dreamed of these past six and twelve years.
So, what’s next for the process? Our school board is establishing a search working group and process that calls on the voices and contributions of our community. Please contribute your voice! Our next school leader will be someone who can listen to the voices of our entire community and build reliable bridges in conversation about education, class, race, and culture. To best inform our process we need the voices of families who love the school - this especially includes families who see where we could be more inclusive, welcoming and diverse in our perspectives, action, and work.
If you have any questions for me regarding this announcement, our work here, or anything related to the school, please contact me directly.
In Partnership,
Sam O’Brien
Head of School
sobrien@greatriverschool.org
o: 612-567-0955
Dear Great River Families,
On behalf of the Great River School Board, I’d like to express our deep gratitude to Sam for his leadership over the past six years. It has been a period of great change for our community: we have doubled our student body and more than doubled our faculty; we have purchased land and buildings and settled into a permanent home with space for the programs that make our school unique.
Six years ago I was on the search working group that recommended Sam for the position of Head of School. It felt like we were taking a chance on the unknown, someone with talent and potential who we thought would be able to figure out how to lead this unconventional school. Sam has been the leader Great River needed to see us successfully through many changes and on to a more stable foundation. With his decision now, he has given us the gift of time to make a thoughtful transition to a new leader.
The Great River School Board will guide the process of finding a new Head of School this winter and spring. Our first step is communication and dialogue within our community. We will create a representative search group that will post the position and begin the search for strong candidates. As the next steps unfold we will keep the community informed of progress. Please know that you will have many opportunities for participation in the search process and for giving feedback into decisions. As a community, our work now is to find our next strong leader together.
Karen Anway
kanway@greatriverschool.org
Great River School Board Chair