SEED Schools have a unique model, even within the charter school landscape. To provide the most resources possible to their students, they combine a charter school framework with a boarding school experience. When their D.C. campus, known as SEED DC, needed a new Head of School, stakeholders knew they were searching for a distinctive blend of passion and experience. Through their search process with Edgility Consultant Nora Maligmat, they found Ms. Roseyn Hood, an accomplished educator with a love of helping young people and a strong leadership background. 

A Unique DC Charter School 

The SEED School of Washington, D.C. opened its doors in 1998 amidst a challenging D.C. educational landscape. Congress and the D.C. Council had passed the D.C. School Reform Act of 1995 in April of 1996 due to the severity of its problems: unsafe buildings, low graduation rates, mismanaged finances, and patronage-based employment. In some instances, schools were locked and teachers didn’t show up to work on the first day of school. Charter schools were seen as a way to rebuild faith in the D.C. school system, create safe learning environments, and stop the flight to private schools. The SEED Foundation designed its school to meet not just the educational needs of its students, but their social/emotional needs as well. Its primary mission “is to provide an outstanding, intensive educational program that prepares children, both academically and socially, for success in college and beyond.” 

SEED DC, along with other SEED school locations in Baltimore, Miami, and Los Angeles, is a college preparatory boarding school—the first of its kind in the nation. Students live on campus from Sunday evening through Friday afternoon, receiving 24/5 support. The school places a strong emphasis on college readiness and life skills, helping students transition to college and continuing to support them throughout their time in higher education. In 1998, the District of Columbia had one of the lowest graduation rates in the country at 59%. Today, 91% of SEED DC graduates enroll in college. 

A Community Driven Executive Search Process 

The unique model of SEED DC required stakeholders to seek a new Head of School with a diverse and highly specific set of skills. The school had experienced significant transitions in recent years and needed someone with strong relationship-building skills, the ability to problem solve strategically and forecast potential issues, and a commitment to SEED’s mission. Given that SEED DC operates as both a charter and a boarding school, the ideal candidate would need to understand public funding, budgeting, and 24/7 staff management, while also being able to “establish structure while maintaining grace.” Recognizing the complexity of finding such a candidate, SEED stakeholders partnered with Edgility for their executive search. 

Edgility Consultant Nora Maligmat led the search process for the next Head of School. She noted that “there are some recruitment processes that don’t require as much in-person or high-level stakeholder engagement. But a school leader role is not that. A school leader will have really high engagement with the community, so when Edgility searches for its leader, we prioritize a strong engagement process with the community to determine what matters to them.” With this in mind, Edgility began with a discovery process. 

The discovery process varies, but for educational executive search, it’s a deep dive into the needs of the organization. It’s an opportunity to understand “what are the needs of the organization, what’s the heartbeat, what are some of the known challenges and what are some of the challenges that we can pick up on that are maybe an undertone of what’s being said,” Nora notes. 

This process also included community engagement through one-on-one phone calls and focus groups to understand what parents, board members, staff, and especially students were seeking in their next leader. Students had a lot to say, providing Nora not just data but fuel to find them the leader they were seeking and deserving. 

A Student-Centered Hire 

Once Edgility had a good understanding of the community and the school’s leadership team’s desires for SEED DC’s next Head of School, we designed a search process that took about two months from start to finish. As the interviews progressed, Roseyn Hood quickly stood out as a strong candidate for her uniquely qualified background, but most importantly her passion for students. Edgility uses a scorecard as the northstar of any search process, and Roseyn’s scorecard was packed with strengths. Her introduction to teaching began as a substitute teacher and athletic coach, and was driven by her strong belief in educational equity. Between then and now Roseyn worked at the executive leadership level at the state department in Colorado, was principal of a high school of 1700 in Phoenix, served as Director of Operations for the Beacon Network within Denver Public Schools, and was currently the Director of DEIB for the third largest school district in Indiana. 

Roseyn’s impressive background gave her the educational and leadership “chops” for the role, but what stood out most to those involved with the interview process was her passion for students and young people. She was clearly an all-in type of leader who spoke with beautifully inclusive language and shared stories of students who impacted her perspective throughout the hiring process. For SEED, a belief in high student outcomes was non-negotiable. With Ms. Hood at the helm, SEED DC is poised for the community cohesion and student success it was seeking when it began searching for a new leader.

A Leader in Action 

As the first year of her time at SEED DC concludes, Roseyn has concretely established a student-centered, students-first foundation in this unique boarding environment. Students participate daily in Falcon Hour, bringing together the important intersection of the Academics team and the Student Life staff to collective work in the educational enrichment space. Scholars have access to intentional weekly partnerships with entities across the D.C. area, and this year sophomores will participate in a 3-Day College Discovery tour through Pennsylvania and New York. She has expanded the College Knowledge & Advising programming, a hallmark of SEED’s model highlighting success through college and beyond, to include a structured time for this learning during the academic week for 9th and 10th grades. Roseyn’s belief in higher education as not a privilege but a human right aligns directly with the mission and vision of this life-changing comprehensive educational setting.

Onwards

We are overjoyed that Roseyn’s first year at SEED DC has ended on such a high note. We were honored to lead this search with SEED DC and are elated that it ended with such an exceptional leader taking on the role. We are so excited to see Roseyn continue to create an inspiring environment for students to thrive.

Below are photos of The SEED School of Washington D.C.’s 2024 Graduation Ceremony. Courtesy of Roseyn Hood and SEED DC.