As the end of the 2025-26 school year approaches, Marlborough has announced the departure of World History instructor Jonathon Allen and English Instructor Brett Quimby.
While students will say goodbye to long-standing members of the Marlborough faculty, their exit will lead to the search for new educators of the Marlborough community. The process of hiring new teachers at Marlborough involves the participation of both students, administration and faculty.
David Long, department head of Marlborough’s English program, explains benefits of the multi-step process.
“When people leave, there’s always a little bit of sadness, but I also get excited in the hiring process because I think it gives us an opportunity to really strengthen it and improve,” Long said.
The hiring process begins with Marlborough creating a job posting that elaborates on what the approach to teaching at Marlborough looks like. The job posting will be displayed on the Marlborough website and is also distributed to various employment agencies that are affiliated with the National Association of Independent Schools.
Following the initial job listing, people will submit their applications. Specifically, when hiring a new teacher for the English department, Long says that they often get a lot of applications.
“Marlborough is a good job for people who are looking for jobs in teaching,” Long said. “I approach the interview process with pride, and I meet a lot of interesting people.” Throughout the interview process Long gets the opportunity to meet many candidates.
Even if the department doesn’t end up hiring them, Long believes it to be an intriguing process.
“I learn a lot about teaching in a broader way that really helps me as a leader.”
Marlborough’s Human Resources team will then collect the applications placing the filtered candidates within folders that the department heads and administration have access to. The final candidates who are selected will be invited to the Marlborough campus to lead a sample class.
Interaction with Marlborough students is a crucial part of Marlborough’s application process. Not only do potential candidates receive the opportunity to interact with students during the sample class they lead, but they also meet students during different lunch panels.
Student involvement is an aspect of the application process that Marlborough values and it is necessary for informing the department heads on how applicants could be involved with Marlborough life.
The students who participate within the sample class and the student panel will have the chance to share their thoughts on possible teachers.
While answering surveys, students will answer questions about the lesson that the applicant taught and summarize how they felt about the overall experience. Ultimately, surveys sent out to students are helpful in gaining perspective from the Marlborough student population. Opinions shared by students are helpful in selecting candidates.
“Not only on the candidate’s ability to connect with them in a lesson, but how the candidate might be a member of the community as an adviser, for advisory or as a club,” Long said.
“Ultimately, the search for candidates becomes an opening to identify people who bring stuff into the school we don’t have and can add value to the program as a whole.”
