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Permanent

On-Site

Head of School

Recruiter: Donald Ross

Aventura, FL

Job ID

6487DG

Industry

Education

Specialty

School Administration

Experience level

C Suite

COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Lanaar School seeks an exceptional Head of School to lead the school through its next stage of educational, communal, and institutional development. Lanaar is a growing Chabad Jewish day school serving Kindergarten through Grade 8 in South Florida, with a diverse parent body that includes both Chabad and non-Chabad families. The school offers an outstanding dual curriculum in Judaic and General studies, combining academic rigor with small classes, individual attention, warmth, and a deep commitment to the development of the whole child.

OVERVIEW

Lanaar’s vision is for students to live their Judaism with knowledge and joy, with the academic skills and exemplary middos to thrive in the world. Its educational philosophy is rooted in Torah, Chabad values, rigor, professional excellence, communication, respect, civic pride, and The Lanaar Way - an individualized approach in which every student is known, valued, challenged, and supported.

The next Head will inherit a strong and increasingly established school with an engaged community, talented educators, significant demand, and considerable opportunity for further development. The mandate extends well beyond operating today’s school: the Head will be a first-rate educator, community builder, and visionary strategist who can elevate educational quality today while helping Lanaar evolve into an outstanding K-12 Jewish educational institution, supported by thoughtful master planning, expanded facilities, strong philanthropy, and deep community partnership.

QUALIFICATIONS

The Candidate

Lanaar is seeking an unusually strong combination of educator, leader, strategist, communicator, community builder, and institution builder. Above all, the successful candidate will be a first-rate educator with the credibility, range, and judgment to lead educational excellence across Judaic and General studies today and build toward an outstanding K-12 model.

The successful candidate is likely to bring significant senior leadership experience in an outstanding Jewish independent school; demonstrated success leading principals, senior educators, and high-performing faculty; and a record of improving teaching, learning, professional culture, and student outcomes.

They will bring authentic Orthodox Jewish commitment and credibility, with Chabad identity, experience, background, or strong alignment preferred; exceptional communication, personal presence, judgment, and emotional intelligence; strategic and organizational sophistication; the capacity to lead growth and change; and the ability to engage parents, faculty, the Board, donors, and the wider Jewish community with warmth, clarity, confidence, and authenticity.

The strongest candidates will combine educational leadership, Jewish and Chabad leadership, team and talent development, disciplined execution, strategic thinking, philanthropic and financial judgment, resilience, humility, integrity, and the ability to make difficult decisions while remaining warm, accessible, and deeply connected to people.

Reporting & Governance

The Head of School reports to the Board and is accountable for the effective leadership and management of the school within the strategy, policies, and governance framework approved by the Board. The Head will cultivate a high-trust partnership with the Board, provide transparent reporting, and maintain a healthy distinction between governance and day-to-day management.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Reporting to and working in close partnership with the Board, the Head of School will serve as Lanaar’s senior educational and executive leader, with overall responsibility for educational quality, people, culture, community relationships, strategy, development, and institutional growth.

1. Educational Excellence & Jewish Mission

Ensure an exceptional education in both Judaic and General studies, with high expectations, strong pedagogy, excellent teaching, and meaningful outcomes for every student. Protect, strengthen, and visibly champion Lanaar’s Chabad ethos and Torah values, ensuring that Chabad Hashkafah, Limmud HaTorah, middos, menschlichkeit, joy of Judaism, and love of Hashem, Torah, and the Jewish people permeate school life.

Maintain equally high aspirations for Judaic and General studies, ensuring both are intellectually rigorous, engaging, and thoughtfully aligned. Champion small classes, individualized attention, experiential Jewish education, student life, character development, leadership, well-being, and community service, preparing students academically, spiritually, socially, and emotionally for high school and beyond.

Authentic Orthodox Jewish commitment and credibility are strongly preferred, as is a Chabad background, identity, or orientation. Lanaar will also welcome an outstanding candidate who is not personally Chabad, provided that the candidate has a deep respect for, understanding of, and demonstrated ability to support and authentically advance Lanaar’s Chabad ethos, philosophy, and educational values.

2. Leadership, Faculty & Culture

Be the professional leader of the faculty and leadership team: build a highly effective senior leadership team; develop exceptional principals and educational leaders; and recruit, develop, inspire, and retain outstanding educators.

Establish clear expectations, accountability, and decision-making authority; create a culture of continuous professional growth, collaboration, excellence, and accountability; develop emerging leadership talent; and address underperformance fairly and constructively.

The successful candidate will combine high expectations with humanity, warmth, accessibility, and the ability to bring talented people with them.

3. Parents, Community & Institutional Confidence

Build deep confidence among parents through visible, accessible, credible, and proactive leadership. Communicate clearly and honestly, build trust in the school’s educational direction and leadership, and ensure families feel known, respected, heard, and proud to belong to Lanaar.

Articulate a compelling short-, medium-, and long-term vision for Lanaar - including educational growth, K-12 development, campus ambitions, and its role as a major communal institution - while navigating difficult conversations with maturity, judgment, courage, and empathy and building a culture in which families become strong advocates for the school.

4. Strategy, Master Planning & K-12 Development

Lead Lanaar’s long-term strategy and develop a clear educational, organizational, financial, and physical roadmap for the next decade, including the vision and operating model for its evolution into a full K-12 school.

Shape the timing, structure, curriculum, staffing, and leadership model for a future high school; lead educational input into the campus master plan; build the systems and leadership capacity required for growth; and translate ambition into clear priorities, milestones, budgets, and deliverable plans. The Head must be both a visionary and an executor.

5. Philanthropy & Institutional Development

Articulate an inspiring case for Lanaar’s future and build authentic relationships with current and prospective major donors. Working alongside the Board, Executive Director of Development, and development team, help lead annual and capital fundraising and develop the philanthropic support required for campus expansion, program development, financial sustainability, and the high school.

The Head need not be a professional fundraiser, but must be a credible and visible ambassador whom people trust, want to follow, and are inspired to support.

6. Governance, Operations & Institutional Leadership

Work in close partnership with the Board while maintaining a clear distinction between governance and management. Translate Board-approved strategy into effective execution and provide clear, candid, timely, decision-useful reporting.

Ensure responsible financial stewardship, budgeting, risk management, compliance, safety, and organizational effectiveness, while developing the professional systems, structures, policies, and processes needed to support Lanaar’s future scale and ambition.

215 W 104th St #74, New York, NY 10025

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