Board promises more open management and closer consultation as Wehrenberg resigns and search begins for successor at Hong Kong's most expensive school
The head of Hong Kong International School has resigned two months after a teachers' vote of no-confidence in him and nearly a year after a damning US accreditation report described the institution as being in 'a state of tension'.
William Wehrenberg, who quit two years before his contract was due to expire, left following discussions with the board of governors about the school's future.
Principal of the high (secondary) school, Jim Handrich, is to take over on an interim basis until a replacement is found by a search committee headed by former board chair Irene Fan.
The move follows a year of acrimony over proposed changes to staff pay and benefits, and allegations in the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) interim accreditation report that there had been 'obvious slippage in the professional working environment' since 2000.
Staff at that time told the South China Morning Post that the school, Hong Kong's most expensive, with annual fees of nearly $140,000, was a 'fear-based environment'. This was followed by a teachers' revolt in May when their representative body, Link, sent the board a letter of no-confidence in Dr Wehrenberg, who joined HKIS in July 2001 from Clemson University, South Carolina, where he was dean of the college of agriculture, forestry and life sciences.