Head of School Search

The Board of Trustees is committed to making the search an inclusive process and will provide opportunities for community input through in-person and electronic means. The first opportunities will occur when the search consultants from Educators' Collaborative conduct virtual listening sessions in early March to learn more about RCDS’s strengths, as well as the opportunities facing the school now and in the years ahead. There will be sessions for employees, alumni, parents, and students during this time. Additionally, all members of the school community will be invited to share their thoughts about the School and the search through a confidential online survey administered by Educators' Collaborative consultants. 

A multi-constituent Advisory Committee will assist with the finalist interviews and support the Search Committee in making its ultimate recommendation to the Board of Trustees.

As the search nears its conclusion, members of the school community will also have an opportunity to meet the finalist candidates and provide feedback as to their impressions of each.  

It is perhaps best to consider the search process in three general phases, with which there is some overlap.

The primary purpose of the initial phase is for the Educators' Collaborative consultants to “get the word out” about the search to prospective candidates and to learn more about Rye Country Day School.  This will be done through the aforementioned listening sessions and online survey. In addition, the Educators' Collaborative consultants will familiarize themselves with school operations, programs, and policies through numerous documents provided by the School. 

The next phase is conducted almost exclusively behind the scenes, as the Educators' Collaborative consultants recruit and do the initial vetting of candidates through interviews and reference checks. While any qualified candidate will be considered up until the completion of the search, interested candidates are asked to contact Dr. Ling and Mr. Mackenzie before July 15 so that timely vetting can take place.

In the third phase, the Search Committee is highly active in learning more about candidates, conducting preliminary confidential interviews, selecting the finalists, and assuring that their visits to the School are successful. The Advisory Committee will interview each of the finalist candidates and provide detailed feedback to the Search Committee for consideration in determining which individual will be recommended to the Board of Trustees for approval. The work of the Search Committee concludes when it presents its nomination of the candidate of choice to the Board of Trustees.

We anticipate that these final steps will take place in the first month or two of the 2021-22 academic year. Each search process has its own unique pace and timing, however, and the time frame may shift, if necessary.

The Head of School Search Committee is leading the search process and will make recommendations to the RCDS Board of Trustees, which ultimately bears responsibility for appointing the Head of School. Ms. Patty Perez is the chair the Search Committee. Patty joined the Board of Trustees in 2019. She and her husband, Neil Stronski, are the parents of three current RCDS students and one graduate.

The formation of an Advisory Committee, in addition to the Search Committee, is one of the critical ways we will receive broad participation from the community. The Advisory Committee will be comprised of employees, alumni, parents, and students who bring different perspectives to the search, helping to develop a shared understanding of the unique needs of various constituencies and ensuring due consideration of those needs. The Advisory Committee will play an important role in the search, assisting with finalist candidate interviews and ultimately supporting the Search Committee in making a recommendation to the Board of Trustees for a new Head of School candidate.

More information will be forthcoming about the composition of the Advisory Committee.

A sub-group of the Board of Trustees conducted broad research on national search firms. They reviewed proposals and conducted initial and follow-up interviews. Following reference checks, the group unanimously recommended to the Board of Trustees the selection of Educators’ Collaborative.  

Educators’ Collaborative is a nationally-known search consulting firm, specializing in finding heads for independent schools like RCDS. Dr. Deirdre Ling and Mr. John Mackenzie have been engaged to assist with the search. Dr. Ling and Mr. Mackenzie have both headed independent schools, and together they have assisted over 125 schools with head of school searches. 

Dr. Ling and Mr. Mackenzie will provide guidance to the Search Committee on format, logistics, procedures, and best practices in the search process. In addition, they will interview candidates, check references, and support the Search Committee throughout the interview process. Educators’ Collaborative will also provide transition support to the New Head of School after they have been hired.

The search for the new Head of School is international in scope. A primary goal is to make the search process as transparent as possible, with opportunities for community updates and feedback along the way. Confidentiality about individual candidates, however, remains a critical component for success. Some potential candidates may not be actively looking for a new position, and others may not want it known at their current institution that they are pursuing an interest in RCDS. As such, the Search Committee will not comment on candidates participating (or not participating) in the search.

The Search Committee encourages the application of all individuals who have a genuine interest in leading RCDS, including anyone who is currently employed at the School. To every extent possible, the Search Committee will attempt to create a level playing field, ensuring that the eventual nominee as Head-elect is assessed in the context of the entire field of candidates. In addition, the confidentiality of internal candidates is as important as that of candidates from outside the School.

Candidates will be evaluated based on how well their skills and characteristics match those desired by the school community. Those skills and characteristics will be identified drawing on the survey responses and constituent interviews conducted by Educators' Collaborative consultants. The Search Committee will go through multiple steps to acquaint themselves with the pool of candidates before narrowing that group down to a small group of finalists (likely three or four). The Search Committee’s evaluation of the finalist candidates will be informed by input from the Advisory Committee, which will conduct interviews with each of the finalists during the campus visits.

The Board of Trustees appointed Ms. Patty Perez to be the Chair of the Search Committee and approved the retention of the search consultants Educators' Collaborative. Ms. Perez then worked with Educators' Collaborative to form the Search Committee, which has been charged with conducting a comprehensive, national, and international search for a new Head of School. The Board of Trustees will refer all inquiries related to the search to the Chair of the Search Committee and Educators’ Collaborative. As the process draws to completion, the Board will review the recommendations of the Search Committee, formally resolve to pursue a candidate, bear responsibility for negotiating any terms of employment, and ultimately appoint the new Head of School. The Head of School is the only employee that is hired by and reports directly to the Board of Trustees, and, as a result, choosing a new Head of School is one of the Board's most important responsibilities.

The person selected by the Board of Trustees will officially become Rye Country Day's Head of School on July 1, 2022.  Until that time, Scott Nelson will continue to lead the School, a role in which he has served so well. We anticipate that there will be opportunities during the 2021-22 school year when the Head-Elect will be on campus and have a chance to learn more about the School, but it is a high probability that the selected individual will have ongoing professional responsibilities elsewhere.

No. All related information sessions, listening sessions, and interviews will be built around faculty, staff, and student schedules, so as not to disrupt the academic calendar and schedule.