Earlier this month we announced that Johnny Juckes will be leaving his role as College President. We want to be clear that he is leaving because he feels it is the right time to go, and not because the College Council (the governing body) has asked him to. Neither has the governing body given him any warnings, formal or informal, during his time with us.
However, since there has been some speculation, for everybody’s sake, we want to provide some background in order that there can be clarity and confidence in what has happened.
As his employers we affirm that Johnny has brought many strengths to the life of the College for which we are truly grateful. We will speak further of those and celebrate them in due course.
It is also true that, over the course of time, issues to do with Johnny’s leadership were raised. It is not the case that everyone who worked closely with Johnny felt this, but others rightly used the College’s routine processes of review and reporting to highlight issues they saw with his leadership effectiveness, or how he handled particular situations and interactions. Typically, these concerns were raised when people were invited to contribute to appraisals, or through the appropriate channels of management, or personally with him.
Those concerns do not include issues of scandal, nor are they of a safeguarding nature. But they did identify areas where Johnny should change or develop his approach, and his handling of certain situations.
The College Council put in place various mechanisms to help Johnny address these areas, and also support the development of the leadership team overall. He gladly embraced that process, and progress was being made. But last autumn, as he reflected back on the progress of the last 5 years, and how he and the College would need to continue to change for it to thrive in the future, he came to the conclusion that a fresh leader was needed to lead the College forward into its next season.
The Council felt it right to accept his decision to step down, while remaining very grateful for all Johnny’s hard work and significant contributions to the College through very challenging times.
It has been reported that there has been conflict or even warfare at College. We do not know the source of that comment, but we want to affirm that any concerns have been raised appropriately, and that there has not been hostility or in-fighting amongst College staff or students.
Please pray the Lord will continue to raise up people who will share the gospel in the harvest field, and for the part that Oak Hill can play in that.
