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Ms. Bryson was a late entrant into our principal search and came to us via our talent search agency, so for some this news may come as a surprise. After strong screening interviews with Ms. Bryson, we felt it was necessary to accelerate the process in anticipation of having her participate in our annual End of Year Review that occurred this week with our EL Education partners. While her official start date will be June 17th, she was eager to get to work with the admin team analyzing data and setting goals for the ‘24-’25 school year. We recognize the accelerated timeline meant we missed hosting a fireside chat with our community, so we invite you to participate in a meet-and-greet event with Principal Bryson on Tuesday June 18 at 5:30 PM in the cafeteria; and I am confident you will agree that she has the requisite experience and motivational fit to raise the bar at Amana Academy.
The Process:
We have been on an exhaustive months-long search for our new school principal, a process that included four phases. Phase 1 was to solicit input from our stakeholders about what our community was looking for in our next leader. This phase included Amana Board Member input, listening circles with teachers & staff, and with parents during the PTO town hall on March 19 and at advocacy group meetings. This input made its way into subsequent phases in the form of actual interview questions and survey questionnaires. Phase 2 in this process was working with Bostock Education Consulting, a national talent search agency, to screen potential candidates—with those who were promising moving on to a second screening with Mr. Jaleel. Phase 3 involved a focused evaluation of finalists, which included a panel interview and performance tasks (presentations) in front of a dozen-member evaluation committee consisting of representatives from Amana’s Board, Instructional Leadership Team, Network Leadership Team (central office), and our partner EL Education. This phase also included parent and staff interaction with finalists in the form of a fireside chat, the purpose of which was to gauge the community’s comfort level. The final phase in the process was an approval or decision to make an offer to the best candidate.
You may recall, we held a hiring event for semifinalists on May 10 (Phase 3 focused evaluation). As I stated during the fireside chats, if there was not a clear winner, we would continue the search. Feedback from our interview panel and from audience members at the chats prompted me to schedule follow-up discussions with our candidates to better determine their capacity to lead Amana. I also debriefed with the PTO Advocacy Committee on ways we could have clarified and improved the purpose of the fireside chat and protocol. In the interim, one candidate’s personal circumstances took them out of the running, and our talent search firm introduced us to Ms. Bryson, whose experience and credentials were strong. In the interest of time, we quickly reconvened our dozen-member evaluation committee last week and assessed Amy's leadership against the profile we built through stakeholder input with a rigorous performance task and panel interview---the outcome of which was a unanimous yes!
About Principal Bryson:
Principal Bryson comes to us from the KIPP Metro Atlanta network of charter schools with 13 years experience in roles of increasing leadership responsibilities. She has served as a School Advisor and School Director with Teach for America; and as Instructional Coach, Assistant Principal, and Principal with KIPP—most recently four years as a founding Principal at KIPP Soul Academy in Atlanta. Amy was also honored with National Fischer and Miles Family fellowships within the KIPP network and served in advisory and committee chair roles with Minority Health Conference in Chapel Hill and Connect Ed 4 Health in Atlanta. Having studied International Relations at Boston University, she was drawn to education after a multi-country international trip that revealed inequities in health care and education. She later pursued a Masters in public health at the University of North Carolina and started her education career in Fulton County Schools and then Teach for America. At KIPP she helped to found and lead schools with elementary and middle grades in Newark and Atlanta.
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