Head of School

Mission

To provide a balanced, diverse, and secure community that prepares students academically, socially, and ethically for college and a meaningful life.

About GSB

In 1900, Rev. Thomas A. Conover founded St. Bernard's School with the vision of creating a school for farm and village boys where they could be educated while also learning a trade. 30 years later The Gill School for Girls was established by Miss Elizabeth Gill, seeking to provide a highly individualized experience through small classes and close teacher-student relationships. Merging in 1972, Gill St. Bernard's School became a thriving college preparatory school for Preschool through Grade 12 that prepares students academically, socially, and ethically for college and a meaningful life.

Located on 208 rolling acres spanning the Somerset-Morris County line between the Borough of Peapack-Gladstone and Chester Township, the GSB campus offers an extraordinary place for students of all ages to learn and grow. It encompassess more than 20 buildings, including Upper, Middle, and Lower School facilities, two athletic centers, a performing arts center, and four administrative buildings. There is also an athletic center, field house, field lodge, five playing fields, including an all-weather turf field, a track, seven tennis courts, an outdoor swimming pool, and a sustainable working farm called Home Winds.

Learning to balance academics, athletics, arts, community activities, and personal priorities is at the core of a Gill education. Central to the school's approach is the belief that an excellent education is one that is steeped in discovery and opportunity. GSB develops strong academic skills crucial for success in college, and those skills are enhanced when students also grow as individuals. Students are deeply cared for and valued, and the supportive culture encourages students to to take positive risks and grow intellectually, as well as personally.

About the Position

The next Head of School at GSB will have the opportunity to build on the foundation of more than a century of extraordinary education and on the legacy of 24 years of strong and visionary leadership provided by current Head Sid Rowell. Working with a dynamic and professional Board of Trustees, composed of current and past parents and alumni, the next Head of Gill St. Bernard's will be an accomplished educational leader who is passionate about supporting students in becoming the best versions of themselves. They will bring a commitment to collaboration, developing talent, and innovative thinking.

The opportunities and challenges for the next leader include:

• Continue to nurture a commitment to balance through the legacy of exceptional academics, athletics, and arts rooted in a values-based PS-12 educational program within a student-centered school community.
• Continue to rebuild the historically strong and vibrant school community in a post-Covid world, strengthening connections across all divisions.
• Further empower and support the Leadership Team in working in a collaborative, strategic manner that respects roles and boundaries and is characterized by clear expectations.
• Nurture a school climate and culture of trust that is inclusive and inspiring, that invites conversations and the exchange of ideas and opinions, and that embraces new ideas and applauds risk-taking.
• Support the innovative development and intentional alignment of curriculum, program, and pedagogy across all divisions of the school, with particular attention to STEM fields.
• Further develop and leverage Home Winds Farm to integrate experiential learning and environmental stewardship throughout the program, distinguishing GSB from peer schools.
• Continue to recruit and retain an excellent faculty and staff, investing in professional growth, innovative teaching, leadership opportunities, and personal wellbeing.
• Ensure that the school's identity is positively and proactively defined and articulated, and expand and celebrate GSB's presence regionally and nationally as an exceptional independent school that successfully prepares students academically, socially, and ethically, for college and a meaningful life.
• Communicate clearly and broadly the distinctive value of a GSB education to recruit and retain mission-aligned students and families.
• Recognizing the importance of financial resources for growing the endowment, building facilities reserves, and keeping pace with market compensation, continue to build relationships within the GSB community of parents, alumni, and friends, to ensure the resources for strongly supporting an exceptional faculty and undertaking new initiatives.

The ideal candidate will be:

• A warm, visible, and accessible presence throughout the school.
• An innovative and strategic thinker who can guide GSB into the next phase of its institutional evolution as a school and community, with respect for its history and excitement for its future.
• An inspiring, effective, and transparent communicator who will foster a collaborative and trusting climate among all constit­uents.
• An experienced overseer of financial management who has the analytical skills and commitment to balance program and fiscal constraints, and who will build upon what makes GSB unique while ensuring the school's enduring sustainability.
• An experienced independent school leader with a track record of hiring, developing, and retaining an excellent faculty, as well as building leadership capacity in the senior team.
• A culturally competent and sensitive leader who will enhance an inclusive and diverse community and provide programming and learning opportunities to all.
• A pedagogical leader with an understanding of progressive education that looks to current educational research and trends to enhance and ensure program relevance, alignment, and effectiveness across all divisions.
• A flexible, open-minded, inquiring, and curious educator who takes a genuine interest in the work of the faculty and staff and can identify and develop talent.

Please read the full position statement here .

How to Apply

Candidates interested in the position should submit the following materials by July 31 :

• EC Candidate Summary Sheet (request from search consultants)
• Letter of interest addressed to the Search Committee
• Statement of educational leadership philosophy
• Resume
• A list of five professional references with email and phone contact information
• EC Disclosure Form (request from search consultants)

Please send any inquiries, nominations, referrals, or expressions of interest electronically and in confidence to:

Nat Conard, Partner, Educators Collaborative

Tracy Bennett, Partner, Educators Collaborative

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