HR Plan: Philips Academy Andover Introduction

The Human Resources (HR) department of any organization is the spine of the entity. This is where the integrity of the company needs to reside, and where the team members can be protected from potential abuses of power. Abuses of power are more common than most people care to admit, and are one of the reasons that HR was born in the first place. As history has demonstrated without a doubt, where there are human beings there will always be abuses of power, as power as the tendency to corrupt others. However, aside from the corruption of authority, the HR department is there to make sure that members of the team are getting their needs meet and are being protected as they build their careers. This plan will imitate the mentality of many other companies and have the HR department view the employees as important as their customer base. “Reframing the HR/employee relationship this way helps maintain perspective on HR’s ultimate goal: to help employees do their best at their jobs. Just as it’s the sales team’s job to turn prospects into loyal, recurring customers, it’s HR’s job to turn prospective and current employees into loyal, dedicated members of the company” (Perucci, 2018). This means it is the duty of the HR department to make sure the staff has a place to go where they can feel valued and protected, and where they can honestly share about the realities of their job.

For the purposes of this paper, we will examine the HR department for the faculty and staff of an imaginary prep school: one which is comparable to Philips Andover Prep School—a school that is over 200 years old. The HR department of a prep school such as one comparable to Andover would have an enormous responsibility and many politics to juggle. While the teachers and staff have to be protected and valued, the HR department also has to engage in appropriate background checks on them, since they work with minors. There’s also the politics of the school and the image and reputation of the school to keep in check, as it is a major institution within the history of America and a lot of national leaders went there who have gone on to do extraordinary things. Hence, protecting the reputation of this school requires a rigorous HR department to ensure the staff and faculty are fortified but also under supervision and that the public image of the school is also protected and upheld.

Summary of the Business

Philips Academy Andover is a residential secondary school or preparatory school that was established in 1778. It attempts to recruit young people of the highest level of both intellectual aptitude and character from a diverse range of backgrounds. The faculty is hand selected in order to support the development of students to their most aggravated potential. The school seeks to help students to increase their critical thinking, their creativity and their autonomy. Reaching and exceeding their potential has long been the mission statement of the school, so that they are able to lead lives that ensure they can contribute to society, and led lives of the highest level of fulfillment. The school is charged with building a community, and “..to promote a balance of leadership, cooperation, and service, together with a deeper awareness of the global community and the natural world” (andover.edu). According to the school’s constitution which was created in 1778, the school seeks to help young people understand that “goodness without knowledge is weak… yet knowledge without goodness is dangerous.” Hence, the goals of the school are incredibly lofty and the faculty and staff must be able to operate at the top of their game in order to meet these objectives. Any drama, speedbumps, issues, lack of clarity, lack of support or comparable issue will drastically slow the school down from meetings the needs of its students, and that can cause lasting issues. The school has long been in the public eye. If it starts to lag in the delivery of educational excellence, then world will quickly get around the greater community. The school is only as good as its reputation and the teachers and staff make up a big part of that reputation. Hence, the HR department needs to be a place that not only buttresses the faculty and staff, but also observes them, ensuring that no bad apples have slipped in and that none of the members are turning into bad apples.

Detailed Plan

Paul’s or Exeter, the school needs to be able to attract the most passionate and brilliant teachers who are working in the field of pedagogy. Recruiting teachers means visiting the top graduate institutions for pedagogy and education and sitting in on classes. Talking to the professors and finding out who the brightest students are. Rather than just showing up at a job fair for everyone’s final year of graduate study, the HR department needs to recruit at the beginning of masters and PhD programs, and build a relationship with these students before they even need jobs. They should stay in touch and be supportive so that when they are looking for jobs, Andover comes right to mind. Recruitment can also occur in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street. These professionals have some of the brightest minds in our country, and many of them are tired of the rigors of their job and the razor-sharp competition. While these professionals would have to complete some coursework and certification programs in order to teach at the prep school level, they would have a different perspective, experience and approach than people who had spent their entire lives in the ivory tower.
The selection plan should be exceedingly rigorous as well. The selection plan should entail a three-interview process and two demo teaching lessons. The first two interviews should occur with members of the school board, one who specializes in the image and reputation and finance, and the other who focuses on the school educational merits and awards. If the candidate does well with both of these interviews, then he should be allowed to go on to the third interview, which would be a group interview with the current faculty of the department where the teacher would be hired to teach for. During this group interview, the entire board of trustees would be observing. If the candidate passes this round, then the candidate would be invited to teach a demo lesson online (virtually) for a group of alumni. Finally, if this candidate passes this final demo lesson, then he or she would be invited to teach a final demo lesson to class of actual, real Andover students, while several faculty members and trustee members were able to observe. Finally, the candidates selected would be the ones with the highest scores and the ones who had the most panache or magic within the classroom.

Training and Development Plan

Most of the teachers would be selected because they are effective teachers and mentors. They don’t need help with the task of engaging students in the classroom. They are able to teach the most complex subjects with great ease and make some of the most difficult topics memorable and accessible. However, what many of these teachers might not be used to is the fact that they are expected to contribute to the overall community. This might be an entirely foreign concept to so many of these teachers, coming from academia. As one professor explains, “The community aspect in fact is what matters most. Unlike the university, at the secondary level you are required to be involved in your students’ lives outside the classroom: as athletic or academic coaches, as formal and informal advisors, as liaisons between students and parents and as good citizens of the school (attending their sporting events, driving them to their mock trial competitions, supervising their service obligations, chaperoning their homecomings and proms)” (Kelsky, 2015). However, many of these teachers will need to be told strict rules so that they are able to establish boundaries.

No teacher can ever be in the student dormitories ever. No teacher can ever be alone with a student in a private location: for example, if students want to attend a teacher’s office hours, then the teacher must keep the door to their office open and this must be during a time when a secretary is present (ie-before 6pm). Teachers can never give out their personal cellular phone numbers to students. All communication has to occur within the university email system. All of these rules are for the protection of students and faculty. No faculty member should ever be alone with a student for their protection: then a student can say whatever they like, regardless of truth, and accuse the teacher of a host of sordid things (Levine, 2006). Similarly, students shouldn’t be alone with teachers…