Choosing the Perfect Candidate

When I was considering applying to be a head of school, I read an article that said that search committees and schools were looking for "God on a good day." Somehow every school I know of has settled for at least a little less than that. As the six of us sat and discussed what we wanted in the Chinese teachers, I found myself thinking of that very phrase. Yes, we wanted "God on a good day."

Each of us wanted someone a little different. Some of us were wanting to start programs from scratch. Another was looking for an A.P. Chinese teacher. Some of us spoke no Chinese while one of us was fluent. I wanted a teacher who could deal with three year olds to ninety three year olds. Others wanted middle school or high school specialists. Each of us considered carefully any other tasks that these teachers would have. Carpool duty? Dorm duty? Community classes? We also considered whether the teacher would have a co-teacher or be the lone Chinese speaker on campus. We were from different parts of the country in different schools, yet each of us wanted the perfect teacher.

After interviewing eighty-eight candidates and narrowing down to twenty-five candidates, the hiring heads met in a room to share our first choices with the others. Somehow, a miracle occurred, and each of us chose a different candidate. We paused and reflected on those who were not chosen. Some of us were sad thinking of those candidates who were so talented and so driven but who were not chosen. One of the heads decided within minutes of choosing a first candidate that he wanted to have two teachers.


I had chosen Xian Ping for my teacher. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in English literature and is in the program, "Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language." She is kind and gentle, and her smile will melt any of us. When I asked her if she could sing traditional songs with our young children, she said, "Yes, may I sing one for you now?"

This lovely young soprano voice sang a traditional Chinese song to me with amazing intervals and smooth rhythms that spoke "peace" to me. The only word I recognized in the song was "shui" (/shway/) since I had ordered a LOT of "bing shui" in restaurants. Shui means water as in feng shui.

(As a sidenote, when ordering water in China, it is a good idea to include bing which means cold or iced. One night I just ordered shui, and I got steaming hot water. While I have moved beyond having a lot of ice in my water, I do enjoy my water room temperature to cold!)

I knew that we had to have this teacher for Highlands School. She is independent and strong but sweet, kind, and capable!

I had a knot in my stomach, though, for a young teacher whose real specialty is young children. Her undergraduate degree is in preschool education, and she is also in the program in Beijing, "Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language." I began to think about our Chinese program and the difficulty of teaching, even in an exploratory program, the various ages. I also thought about the position we had available in the preschool as a preschool associate, and I began to put two and two together, realizing that Xuan Huini could teach Chinese to the preschoolers and the youngsters in the Family Center, lead crafts and Chinese songs and Tai Chi in the afternoon to the preschoolers who stay, and she could be a great associate teacher with one of our dear preschool teachers. Imagine how much they could learn from each other.

I quickly emailed the chair of the board and the division head to ask for their advice, and we all agreed within a few hours that this was the perfect solution.

On Wednesday evening, I let Paul Miller know that it was a "GO!" and Highlands School wanted not one, but two teachers!