Biology position open - know someone who wants to teach in my department?

Hi!  If you are reading this, you may know that I'm science department chair at Woodberry Forest School, a boarding school for boys in central Virginia.  Our long time biology teacher is retiring, and we're looking for someone to join our department.

Teaching at boarding school is, well, different from teaching in a day school - different in a way I find particularly appealing.  Our mandate is emphatically NOT to prepare students for a state or standardized test; nor to get students in to the right college that allows their parents to brag.  The fundamental job description is that we are to "know, challenge, and love" the students.  There's no state or other certification required, no formal checklist of prior experience.  We want people who enjoy being around and mentoring teenagers, teenagers from all over the US and the world, teenagers whose backgrounds are diverse in almost every way imaginable.  That's the whole job...

Our faculty are well taken care of.  Housing is provided, as is food, utilities, and even - if you live on dorm - satellite television and basic housekeeping service.  The school will pay for pretty much whatever professional development you'd like to undertake, at your discretion.  We work hard when the students are on campus, coaching (or an arts or sciences equivalent) two seasons, and standing dorm duty once every eight evenings; but know that is a far smaller commitment than is expected at many boarding schools.  Most importantly, we get more long, no-obligation breaks than at any other school I've seen: 1.5 weeks at Thanksgiving, 2-3 weeks at Christmastime, two full weeks for spring break, several four- or five-day weekends... and no summer obligations between the final faculty meeting on June 5 and the opening meeting on August 22.

In terms of biology teaching, our science faculty teach three full-year sections of 14 or so students each, usually with only one or two preps; plus one half-year section of "science thesis seminar."  The three biology sections could be the general 11th grade low-level introductory course, or could be our advanced course for top-end students, depending on the interest and ability of the candidate.  Then Science Thesis Seminar is an immersive course with 5-7 hand picked students, which can be truly anything you want, including research in an area of your interest, a deep dive into some aspect of science you enjoy, whatever.  Our goal throughout the science department is not merely to talk about science, but to *do* science.  We have all sorts of equipment such that laboratory activities can be the ground state of class rather than a rare event when the class absorbs high-energy photons.*

*Sorry, physics reference when pitching a biology position.  I am what I am, I guess.  :-)

Think of our school as a modern, secular monastery, where the "monks" come in all genders and family situations.  I do mean secular: the school was "founded on Christian principles," which in practice means that we are all asked to be kind to each other.  We have an honor system that actually works, such that students truly don't lie, cheat, or steal.  (On the rare occasion in which someone does these things, that someone is immediately asked to leave the school.)  Our academics are 100% evidence based.  We welcome, and our community includes, faculty and students of all sorts of religious persuasions.  

For this biology position, we're casting a very wide net.  In particular, we would be thrilled to take someone right out of college or graduate school who is excited to try their hand at teaching.  

I truly do mean it about casting a wide net.  I attended public school in Kentucky; I had never really heard of boarding schools other than in fiction; I'm not Christian; and I did not intend to make central Virginia my home.  Yet they sold me (and my then-fiance) from the moment we stepped onto campus.

Do you know someone who might be interested?  Have them contact me via greg dot jacobs at woodberry dot org.  I'd love to answer their questions, and to put them in touch with our Dean of Faculty.