The Blue School

New York, NY
www.theblueschool.org/labschool
Age 2 – grade 3 (growing to grade 5) Coed Day: Enrollment: 200

The Blue School is a progressive coed day school of approximately 200 students age 2 – grade 3 (growing through grade 5) in New York City. Conceived of by the founders of Blue Man Group and their partners, who wanted to create an educational program that strikes the balance between academic rigor and academic enchantment, where creativity is cherished, and where children fall in love with the joy of learning. The founders sought to create a healthy, warm, safe, nurturing environment where community is paramount, and where children’s interactions between classes are just as important as what happens during classes.

The mission of The Blue School is to cultivate creative, joyful and compassionate inquirers who use courageous and innovative thinking to build a harmonious and sustainable world. The School brings the lab school concept, embedded in the progressive educational work of John Dewey and Francis Parker, into 21^st century through its mission, values, and vision. The elements of questioning, collecting, organizing and reflecting act to integrate benchmarks as part and parcel of lived experience. As a place of culture, The Blue School is a destination for learning as well as a laboratory or base camp for cultivating culture.  Teachers and students build upon opportunities for learning in relationship to the world of which they are a part. Families who choose The Blue School for their children embrace inquiry and experiential based learning that helps realize the values and academic objectives that the School seeks to instill in an environment that challenges them to become independent, confident learners.

Entering its fifth year in a beautiful new six-story 33168 sq. ft. building overlooking the East River with views of the Manhattan skyline and Brooklyn Bridge, the School remains true to its progressive roots, with teachers negotiating and constructing curriculum with children in relationship to developmentally appropriate practice in subjects like language arts, math, science, music, social and emotional learning and physical arts. Blue School lenses enable children to explore subjects from different perspectives as do environmental shifts like “glow time,” when natural or incandescent light is replaced by black light and children transform their environment using props like shaving cream, play dough or glow-in-the-dark blocks to study things like light, shadow and outer space. Children help construct curriculum, and social and emotional skills are given equal weight to language arts and math. The new building will allow for multiple class sections, generous common spaces for a library, labs, studios, cafeteria, multipurpose/common space, and an activity and play space. The School expects to expand its program through grade five in the next few years.

The Blue School is seeking a Head of School to begin July 2012. Salary is competitive and will be commensurate with experience. The Blue School is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability or national and ethnic origin in its hiring practices.

To submit an application, please email the following documents combined into one Microsoft Word document to Deirdre Ling at daling@comcast.net by November 1, 2011.

• Cover letter addressed to The Blue School Search Committee
• Résumé
• Personal statement or statement of educational philosophy
• List of 5 references
• Up to three letters of reference

For additional information interested candidates are encouraged to contact:

Deirdre Ling, Partner,
Educators’ Collaborative, LLC
508-696-7708