Dear Member of The Lab School Community:
On behalf of the Head of School Search Committee, we wanted to reach out to you and let you know of our efforts to launch the search process and to give you some idea of the process ahead. We are committed to a broad, inclusive and meticulous process designed to find the best Head of School to lead Lab forward into the next decade. We have formed a search committee representing a broad range of The Lab School community comprised of faculty, administrators, parents, board members, and parents of alumni. We have sought to keep the committee manageable in size but large enough to cover a broad range of perspectives.
The search committee convened its first meeting on December 7
th
and it included an in-depth discussion with Judy Schechtman and Rich Odell, our search consultants from Triangle Associates. Triangle Associates, along with its partner firm Heads Up, were selected after a committee of the board conducted extensive interviews with potential search consultants. In choosing Triangle, we were guided by our desire to select consultants who had experience with schools similar to The Lab School and had a proven track record of producing the highest caliber candidates from which our community could select its next Head of School. The first goal of our consultants is an extensive interaction with the Lab community to gauge expectations and perspectives for the next Head of School. Our consultants have already begun the process with a survey of the faculty and staff.
With the beginning of the New Year, our process will begin in earnest. We will begin mid-January with on-campus focus group interviews including numerous opportunities to meet with Judy and Rich during their two-day visit. You will be receiving a follow-up email on how you can select a time to participate in one of these focus groups. The purpose of these focus groups is to educate our consultants about the characteristics and qualifications that members of the community would like to see in the next Head of School. Our consultants have already posted the opening and have already received expressions of interest from potential candidates. We encourage all members of the Lab community to become involved in this process and help guide our consultants and the search committee.
Below are the members of the search committee. Feel free to reach out to either co-chair John Jonas or Linda Fisher or any other members of the search committee. As this process plays itself out in the coming months and into the summer, we will keep you posted on how the process is proceeding and how we will be arranging for interaction with The Lab School community and potential candidates as we narrow the list down.
Linda Fisher, Co-Chair of Search Committee, Lab Trustee, Alumni Parent
John Jonas, Co-Chair of Search Committee, Lab Trustee, Alumni Parent
Mac Bernstein, Lab Trustee, Alumni Parent
Susan Hutton, Lab Trustee, Alumni Parent
Lori Soto, Lab Trustee, Current Lab Parent
Regan Ruiz, Current Lab Parent, PALS Officer
Katie Douglas, Associate Head of the Intermediate Division
Dr. Robert Lane, Director of Admissions
Jennifer Sherman, High School Faculty, English Department
Yvette Shepard, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Bill Tennis,
Ex Officio,
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
The Lab School has been blessed with an extremely able body of administrators and faculty and two outstanding long-serving Heads of School – founder Sally Smith and current Head of School, Katherine Schantz. We all owe them a great debt of gratitude and our very best efforts at finding a new Head of School who will continue to build and expand on the fantastic foundation that they have laid. Please feel free to reach out to either of us with any questions, concerns, or suggestions at any point in this process.
Sincerely,
John Jonas
Linda Fisher
On behalf of the Head of School Search Committee
