Dear Lamplighter Community,

On behalf of our Search Committee, we are writing with a brief update on Lamplighter’s search for the next Catherine M. Rose Head of School.

Over the past few months, our search consultants at Carney, Sandoe & Associates, Marsha Little and Kim Peeples, have engaged with approximately 110 individuals about the opportunity to serve as Lamplighter’s next Head of School. Having reviewed a carefully curated subset of this large pool, which included a diverse group of current heads of school and senior leaders in excellent independent schools across the country, the Committee has invited a select group of candidates for confidential, in-person interviews with the Search Committee later this month. We are excited to learn more about these candidates and share the special qualities and attributes of Lamplighter.

Following this round of interviews, we intend to move on to a Finalist round later this fall, during which we anticipate candidates will spend extensive time on campus meeting with members of our community. We remain optimistic that the Board of Trustees will name the next Head of School this winter, allowing for a robust transition period in close partnership with Dr. Joan Buchanan Hill and the Board of Trustees.

We are grateful for the enthusiastic and thoughtful community input, including your responses to the survey conducted early this summer and participation in our consultants’ campus visit in June, as well as several subsequent Zoom listening sessions. We are pleased with the progress we are making and recognize that the exceptional pool of candidates is a testament to Lamplighter’s excellent reputation and the genuine appeal of our close-knit community. Thank you, too, to the members of the Search Committee, who continue to generously devote their time to this important process.

We look forward to sharing an additional update in the coming weeks, as we move towards the Finalist phase of the search.

Sincerely,

Liz Cullum Helfrich ’90 and Thomas Morton

Lamplighter Search Committee Co-Chairs

Margaret Johansen Hirsch ’89

Chair, Board of Trustees