Message to the Tower Hill Community Nov. 22, 2013

Dear Tower Hill community member:

Last night, we completed the fourth in a series of sessions for parents of the three divisions and alumni parents. We are grateful to the people who arranged to participate in those forums. We appreciate the fact that so many people came out and shared ideas which were of great help to us. We trust the meetings were of assistance to the people who attended. We plan to share information going forward about some of the major themes raised in those discussions. One of those themes was a question about the search process that resulted in the appointment of Chris Wheeler.

As we mentioned in each session, Dr. Wheeler was retained in 2004 after a comprehensive search and was thoroughly vetted. We want to reiterate some of the points discussed and share with you additional information on how Dr. Wheeler’s search was conducted.

Tower Hill began its search for a Head of School in April 2004. A highly regarded national search firm known for working at the highest standards in the field was retained. As part of the process, our school formed a Trustee Search Committee and an Advisory Committee. The Trustee Search Committee consisting of six trustees. The Advisory Committee consisted of 22 people and included separate subcommittees for parents, alumni, faculty, staff members and students.

After an initial screening of a large field of interested candidates, the search firm brought thirty candidates for consideration. Throughout the fall of 2004, the field of candidates was eventually reduced to a group of eight semifinalists and then three finalists. Each semifinalist was brought to the school and extensively interviewed by all of the committees. Each semifinalist attended a reception with members of the Tower Hill community. Each finalist returned to Tower Hill for further interviews and meetings. Traveling to a candidate’s school was also part of the final selection process. Five representatives from Tower Hill, including trustees, faculty and parents traveled to Lake Forest Academy where Dr. Wheeler was employed as Assistant Head of School. This group met with Lake Forest Academy faculty and staff who worked closely with Dr. Wheeler during his 14 years there. In addition to the search committee’s reference checking, the search firm did extensive calls with references and with others in the Lake Forest community.

Dr. Wheeler was subject to the same extensive questioning and review process as were the other candidates in 2004. A criminal background check was done on him in 2004 before he was hired. Having reviewed his background, visited Lake Forest Academy and listened to all of the input about Dr. Wheeler from the various Tower Hill constituencies, the Board selected Dr. Wheeler because the Board believed that he had experience, skill set and vision that would be very beneficial to our school.

After he was hired, Dr. Wheeler brought with him two administrators from Lake Forest Academy. Both served at Tower Hill and have since moved on to other jobs at other independent schools. Six months after Dr. Wheeler took over as Headmaster, the school instituted a policy of conducting criminal background checks on all faculty and staff. Pursuant to this policy, a second background check was done on Dr. Wheeler in 2006. Since 2006 all new hires have undergone criminal background checks.

Some have raised questions about Dr. Wheeler’s involvement in selecting faculty while he was the Head of School at Tower Hill. Dr Wheeler did attend some job fairs for recruiting purposes. However, the detail work of the selection process for faculty and review of background checks was carried out by others at Tower Hill. Dr Wheeler would have met with a faculty candidate in order for an offer to be made. By then, that person would have been vetted by others.

As we said at the parent meetings, while the authorities continue with the criminal investigation of Dr. Wheeler, Tower Hill is planning to hire its own independent investigator. The search process for that investigator already has begun. Among other things, this investigator will carefully review and conduct interviews pertaining to Dr. Wheeler’s selection process and his tenure at Tower Hill. In addition, hiring procedures for faculty and staff will also be assessed. Once that is done, we will inform you of what we have learned.

We will continue to write to share important information during this difficult period. Through other formats, we will also communicate about the wonderful work being done by our students, faculty and staff. Thank you for your commitment to Tower Hill. We believe your trust is a treasured asset of the school.