Dear LCDS Community,

As Co-Chairs of the Head of School Search Committee, we are excited to announce that our work has begun. The committee is made up of current and past trustees, alumni, faculty, staff and parents who we believe represent diverse community perspectives and seek nothing but the best for our school.

Additionally, with the approval and full support of the Board, we have partnered with RG175, a highly respected executive search firm specializing in leadership placement for independent schools. Led by experienced former school leaders, the firm takes a personalized approach to identifying candidates who align with a school’s mission, culture and long-term goals. RG175 has helped place heads and senior administrators in independent schools worldwide for more than 20 years.

An important goal in this search process is to ensure transparency and encourage participation from all stakeholders. As such, our first step will be to survey all community members, linked here. We ask that you please take the time to complete and return it as it will help us define our strengths and particular challenges facing the school right now. The deadline to complete the survey is Friday, January 31.

The next step will be two full days of Community Discovery Sessions, Feb. 3-4, 2025. Held at the school, these sessions will include one-on-one and town hall-style meetings with faculty, staff, students, parents, and alumni. More information on the schedule and logistics of these sessions will be shared in the days ahead.

The survey and these sessions will help our partners develop a deep understanding of our school community so that they can tailor their search to our specific needs.

An additional way we will include key stakeholders in the process is the formation of two advisory panels: a Faculty/Staff Panel and a Parent Panel. These panels will read the dossiers of and interview each of our semifinalists. They will then work as a committee to provide feedback to the Search Committee to help us select finalists. Sandra Urdaneta Hartmann (P’16, ’25, ’27) will chair the Parent Panel, and Jonathan Shultz, Director of Admissions, will chair the Faculty/Staff Panel. Look for the announcement of panel members in the week ahead.

Finally, the school’s new website will go live the first week in February. Included on the site will be a Head of School Search page that will be the go-to resource for all things related to the search. We will continue to utilize social media, Friday all-school emails, dedicated emails, and divisional emails to keep everyone informed and to encourage participation.

We are excited to be embarking on this ambitious process and look forward to involving our entire community.

Best regards,
Caitlin Rye Banta '06 & Tony Spleen '82
Co-Chairs, Head of School Search Committee
Lancaster Country Day School

Dear LCDS Community, 

As you are hopefully already aware, the work of the Head of School search has begun. We have partnered with RG175, a highly respected executive search firm specializing in leadership placement for independent schools. RG175 has helped place heads and senior administrators in independent schools worldwide for more than 20 years.

Consultants from RG175 joined us on campus last week, and engaged with a wide range of constituencies, including faculty, staff, students, parents and board members. We have received so much positive feedback about these conversations. RG175 seems to have truly distilled the school’s soul, challenges, opportunities, and priorities in a mere 48 hours. We sincerely appreciate everyone who took the time to participate in this process.

Thanks, too, to all of you who filled out the feedback survey we shared. We received more than 420 responses, and appreciate the passionate members of the LCDS community who gave very thoughtful, productive feedback to guide us in setting priorities and envisioning our next leader. This number of responses ensures that many voices will be part of our process. 

We’ve also had very productive meetings with the Faculty/Staff and Parent Panels, the Search Committee, and the Board of Trustees. Each group understands its role in the process and is eager for next steps, which will include things like reviewing candidates and meeting with semifinalists. 

As the consultants shared in their meetings, they will soon create a position statement which includes their estimate of when we will likely have a new head of school – either in July of this year or July 2026. The depth and availability of ideal candidates for our school at the present time will influence the start date, as we will not compromise on finding the best candidates. 

Please visit the “News” section of the website for continued updates. 

Thank you all again for your support as we proceed with this exciting process.

Best Regards,
Caitlin Rye Banta '06 & Tony Spleen '82
Co-Chairs, Head of School Search Committee
Lancaster Country Day School

Dear LCDS Community,

We wanted to provide a brief update on the work of the Head of School Search Committee. With the help of RG175 – a highly respected executive search firm specializing in leadership placement for independent schools – the HOS Search Committee, our Faculty/Staff Panel, and our Parent Panel came together earlier this week to participate in Bias Mitigation training.  

This training is designed to ensure that the committee is aware of how to navigate biases throughout the search process. We understand that bias is inevitable; every person has some level of bias, and awareness of these biases is what helps us mitigate their impact. 

Something we learned in the training that we found particularly noteworthy is that “biases for” tend to be stronger than “biases against” particular traits or characteristics found in searches for Heads of School. Regardless of the type of bias, it is important that all of us involved in the search process keep them in check, so that we select a Head with the best qualifications to meet our unique needs.

Once we have final candidates coming for on-site interviews, mitigating bias will be especially important for the entire community, so that our search is inclusive and, ultimately, successful.

Additionally, the committee’s updates are as follows:

• Dossier-reading training will take place for the HOS Search Committee in the second half of March.
• The HOS search application deadline is March 30.
• The HOS Search Committee will begin reviewing dossiers in April to narrow the field of candidates to 5-8 semifinalists.

Please visit the “News” section of the website for continued updates. 

Thank you all again for your support as we proceed with this exciting process!

Best Regards,

Caitlin Rye Banta '06 & Tony Spleen '82
Co-Chairs, Head of School Search Committee
Lancaster Country Day School