A Q&A with TEG President Katherine Moncure Stuart, and Andrew Wooden, Consultant
Andrew Wooden, TEG’s Newest Consultant
TEG is excited to announce that Andrew Wooden has recently joined The Education Group as a consultant. He has spent his 40+ year career in independent schools in a range of positions including Teacher, Coach, Dean of Admissions, Senior Dean, and Head of School. Most recently, Andrew has served as Interim Executive Director of The Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools. Andrew earned a master’s degree from Yale Divinity School, an honorary doctorate from Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, and a B.A. in English from the University of Maine. Andrew resides with his partner, Molly, in Sherman Oaks, California.
TEG President Katherine Moncure Stuart sat down with our newest team member to get his thoughts on his career, and his new journey as a consultant;
How did you decide on a career in education?
“Thanks to my grandmother and financial aid, I was fortunate to attend an independent school. The school community and especially my teachers and friends encouraged me to stretch beyond my comfort zone and to harness my love of reading and writing and to attempt to do something with those skills. Because several English teachers gave me “a hand up,” I wanted to emulate these mentors and become a teacher who would likewise help bring forward another generation of decent and purposeful citizens. After college I was asked by one of those teachers to join his English department as a rookie teacher and coach, and I gladly signed on. Over the years I have also benefited from the tutelage of many extraordinary heads of school, and they inspired me to become a school and nonprofit leader. Having taught and led in such a variety of schools and boards, the work has stayed fresh, and I am as enthusiastic about independent schools as ever.”
Why consulting after a career as a head of school?
“I have been active in school associations and nonprofit boards for many years and have loved the work. There is value in having experience in both the schoolhouse and the board room. Having worked on the Standards Committees of both ISAS and CAIS, and serving the Board of CAIS, as well as having been Interim Executive Director of the Southwestern Association of Episcopal Schools, I have found good and meaningful work in helping institutions grow and improve. I appreciate the synergy and collaboration that is possible when school leaders work together with boards. For the last decade I have enjoyed my role as both mentor and consultant to a broad range of school leaders. After stepping down from the interim headship of The Buckley School in Los Angeles, I was formally contracted to coach and consult with the new head of school—a relationship that continues to this day. This past year as Interim Head of SAES, my primary function was to support and counsel school heads and board chairs. My transition from school head to consultant has evolved naturally over the last decade.”
Why did you select to work with TEG?
“I wanted to work with a team of professionals who care most about people and schools. School communities are more like ecosystems than mechanical engines. TEG has brought together a group of school leaders who want to help people and communities to grow and succeed. Katherine Stuart has intentionally recruited a group of school people who care about people and enjoy working collaboratively. We share a set of values that keep the mission and vision of schools first in our focus and take seriously the responsibility we have been entrusted to ensure that we have the best interests of the school and its constituencies at the heart of all we do.”
Best book you have read recently?
“I just finished two books that fit together: The Road to Unfreedom—Russia, Europe, America and Bloodlands—Europe between Hitler and Stalin, (both by Timothy Snyder). I confess that my knowledge of Russia, Europe, and Eastern Europe is shallow at best, and these books give the reader a shocking understanding of Europe’s modern history. They help us understand what the people of Ukraine and other eastern European countries stood for and against in the last century and the challenges they still face today.”
What was the best piece of advice you ever gave/received as a head of school?
“A wise head told me “Never attempt to accomplish in one meeting what should take two—or more.” The wisdom is that we can only come to agreement, or even understanding, over time. Conversations need to be organic, and they need to find their path and their pace. When we try to solve a complex problem and especially ease conflict, it often takes more time than we wish. We need to learn to listen empathetically, be slow to judgment, and be open to resolutions that may not be predetermined. We cannot always dictate the pace for resolution, and even if we can, perhaps it is wise to slow things down and discern the right path rather than proclaim it.
I have always respected school psychologist and consultant, Rob Evans, who often advises us to be collegial rather than congenial. Rob is right when he suggests that we would be more collegial if we were more truthful about the change we expect in colleagues. Often, we in independent schools are too polite to share valuable insight with colleagues because we at best care about others’ feelings, or perhaps because we are too conflict averse.I am also fond of quoting a former board chair who advised, “You do not need to be brutally honest; honest is brutal enough.” Good leaders and consultants help others come to see and understand reality with language which is clear, true, and helpful. And we share this knowledge in ways that people can both hear it and accept it as thoughtful and helpful.”
Who helped you most develop as a leader and consultant?
“I knew about Charles F. Dey long before he hired me. Charley is known for helping form A Better Chance (ABC) when he was a Dean at Dartmouth. He also worked with Sargent Shriver as Charley and his family left comfortable lives in Hanover to oversee 80 Peace Corp Volunteers in the Philippines in 1963 with his expecting wife, Phoebe, and two young children. Later, when Charley accepted the headship in Connecticut to bring both coeducation and multiculturalism to Choate School and Rosemary Hall, he did so determined to bring diversity, equity, and inclusion to the merger. I joined his administrative team in the 80s and learned from him that diversity is good for everyone, and it makes a community both stronger and better. Charley taught us that schools have the potential to dream large and make plans that will not only allow schools to flourish, but more importantly, to make all know that they are equally respected, and they truly belong.”