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Head of School Search

Update from the Search Committee Co-Chairs Carey Jaros ’96 and Susan Shons Luria '85

Dear Laurel School Community,
It’s hard to believe the end of the school year is here. While it’s a hectic time, beautiful weather and many of the fun end-of-year traditions, athletic competitions, and performances made for a wonderful May and beginning of June on both Campuses. Now that students and faculty have dispersed, we wanted to provide an update on the Head of School search process and give you a sense of what to anticipate in the coming months.

We are thrilled to share with you that our Laurel head search has attracted a great deal of interest from a diverse and highly qualified group of candidates, even exceeding our search consultants’ optimistic outlook at the beginning of the process! Laurel’s exceptional national (and even international) reputation has been a significant and compelling draw. Interest in the position has been very strong – both among educational leaders who have seen the opportunity posted and among the candidates to whom our consultants, Pilar and Nat, have reached out, many of whom were not otherwise looking to make a move. Candidates in the pool have backgrounds in independent schools, both co-ed and all girls, in higher education, in public schools, and in international schools. The pool is diverse by nearly every measure. Of the more than 50 candidates who have been considered thus far, the majority are well aligned with the Leadership Profile that was developed based on all our collective input, to describe the ideal next Head of School.
The search process will proceed over the summer as follows:
  • The Search Committee will review the dossiers of those candidates who Pilar and Nat believe, based on their interviews and reference checks, are best aligned with our needs. This dossier review will take place in July.
  • As a result of the dossier review, the Search Committee will select approximately eight semi-finalist candidates.  
  • The Search Committee will interview these candidates in August. 
We are sure that there is and will continue to be a great deal of curiosity about who the candidates are, so just a quick reminder that the identities of candidates must remain confidential through these two stages of the process.

Following the semi-finalist interviews in August, the Search Committee will identify finalists, probably three in number, who will come to the Lyman and Butler Campuses for an extensive visit in September. At that point, the identities of those candidates will be shared, and all interested members of the community will have an opportunity to meet and interact with the finalists during their visits and provide the Search Committee with feedback following the visits.
 
While the dates are subject to change based on the finalists’ availability, we hope you will hold the following September dates for a Laurel community meeting with each of the finalists:
  • Candidate 1: Early evening September 4, 2024
  • Candidate 2: Early evening September 9, 2024
  • Candidate 3: Early evening September 12, 2024
Additional information around the September visits will be shared in August, as schedules are finalized. We hope that as many of you as possible will be able to meet the finalists; your feedback will be tremendously important to the successful outcome of the search.

In the meantime, have a wonderful summer, and we look forward to being in touch again in August!
Warmly,

Signature: Carey Jaros '96


Carey Jaros ’96
Board Vice-Chair and
Search Committee Co-Chair

Signature: Susan Shons Luria '85



Susan Shons Luria ’85

Board Secretary and
Search Committee Co-Chair
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