Head of School Search

December 1, 2025 Dear Carolina Day School Parents: As we shared with you in an email on November 21, there are two opportunities this week for you to share your experiences and feedback regarding Carolina Day School with Jamie Estes and Mark Davis, our search consultants from Carney, Sadoe, & Associates.  This week’s campus visit will provide Mark Davis and Jamie Estes from Carney, Sandoe & Associates a broad, inclusive, and diverse set of views about the school. The information gathered will be used to further refine the criteria in the selection process for our next head of school.  Because an in-person meeting with every member of our community is not possible, we are asking all faculty, staff, parents, trustees, Regents, and alumni for their candid feedback through an online survey. The survey method is confidential and ensures all members of the CDS community have an opportunity to participate. Survey responses will go anonymously to the consultants and will inform their recommendations on the head of school position description. The survey should take 10-15 minutes to complete and will remain open until the end of the day, Monday, December 8. To complete the survey, please use this link:

TAKE SURVEY

In addition, all CDS parents have an opportunity to participate in a Zoom session with Jamie and Mark on Tuesday, December 2 at 5:00pm. During this virtual call, you will have time to speak with our consultants and directly share your thoughts and experiences regarding Carolina Day School. This call will last approximately 45 minutes. Here are the join instructions to participate in the parent Zoom session on Dec. 2. (These instructions were provided in the original email.) The Search Committee is deeply grateful for your participation in this process. We will continue to keep you informed of important milestones in the search through announcements and on our website over the coming months. With gratitude, Kristi Goodrum Chair, CDS Head of School Search Committee

December 1, 2025 Dear Carolina Day Community members: As shared in our November 13 update, the Head of School Search Committee is committed to making the search for Carolina Day’s permanent Head of School inclusive, thoughtful, and transparent, ensuring that our entire community has meaningful opportunities to share perspectives and hopes for the School’s future. In that message, we noted that our consultants would visit campus this week and that a community-wide survey would be distributed ahead of their visit. This week’s campus visit will provide Mark Davis and Jamie Estes from Carney, Sandoe & Associates a broad, inclusive, and diverse set of views about the school. The information gathered will be used to further refine the criteria in the selection process for our next head of school.  Because an in-person meeting with every member of our community is not possible, we are asking all faculty, staff, parents, trustees, Regents, and alumni for their candid feedback through an online survey. The survey method is confidential and ensures all members of the CDS community have an opportunity to participate. Survey responses will go anonymously to the consultants and will inform their recommendations on the head of school position description. The survey should take 10-15 minutes to complete and will remain open until the end of the day, Monday, December 8. To complete the survey, please use this link:

TAKE SURVEY

The CDS Search Committee is deeply grateful for your participation in this process.  We will continue to keep you informed of important milestones in the search through announcements and on our website over the coming months. Thank you taking the time to share your feedback. Kristi Goodrum Chair, CDS Head of School Search Committee

November 13, 2025

As the holiday season approaches, we are pleased to write to you about Carolina Day School’s search for a long-term Head of School. In this update, we will touch on the process we will follow, an anticipated timeline, and the ways our community will be invited to participate and share input as the search unfolds. 

Following Ben Farrell’s appointment as Interim Head of School through July 2027, the Head of School Search Committee turned its attention to selecting a professional search firm to guide us through the process of identifying our next leader. After reviewing proposals, conducting several in-depth interviews, and checking references, we are pleased to share that we have engaged Carney, Sandoe & Associates (CS&A), an internationally recognized firm specializing in education search, recruitment, and consulting. With more than 45 years of experience partnering with independent schools across the country and around the world, CS&A brings a deep understanding of school leadership and community culture. We are delighted to be working with Mark Davis and Jamie Estes as our consultants and are confident that this partnership will yield excellent results.

We are also pleased to share that the following individuals have volunteered to serve on the Head of School Search Committee that will lead the search process in partnership with our consultants:

• Kristi Goodrum, Trustee, Parent of Alice ’31, Search Committee Chair

• Emily Roberts, Trustee, Parent of Grace ’30 and Penny ’37, Board of Trustees Chair

• Barry Johnson, Trustee, Parent of Ash ’28 and Harper ’31, Board of Trustees Vice Chair

• Jennifer Bock, Trustee, Parent of Carson ’15 and Spencer ’17 

• Elizabeth Mailander, Trustee, Parent of Connor ’21 and Abraham ’25

• Tim Mitrovich, Trustee, Parent of Lillie ’33 and Naomi ’36

• Rob Weintraub, Trustee, Parent of Stella ’34 and Charlotte ’38

We are grateful to these devoted members of the Carolina Day community and want this search to be inclusive, thoughtful, and as transparent as possible, providing the school community with meaningful opportunities to share perspectives and hopes for the school’s future. Our consultants will visit campus December 2–4. During the campus visit, consultants will meet with groups of faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni, and trustees. Ahead of that visit, we will distribute a community-wide survey. Please take time to complete the survey; your input is incredibly valuable to this process.

Insights gathered through the conversations on campus and the survey, along with additional materials provided by the school, will inform the development of a Position Description. This Position Description will introduce Carolina Day and the Head of School opportunity to a national and international pool of prospective candidates. Once completed, the Position Description will be widely shared through CS&A’s networks and also posted on our website.

While we are committed to keeping the process as open and communicative as possible, we must also respect the need for confidentiality at certain stages. Protecting candidate privacy allows us to attract and engage the most talented leaders nationally and internationally.

Our highest priority is to find an inspiring and visionary leader to guide Carolina Day into its next chapter. We will continue to keep you informed through regular updates and a forthcoming Head of School Search webpage.

We are honored to lead this effort and grateful for your continued support and engagement. If you have any questions, please contact the committee at headsearch@carolinaday.org.

Warmly,

Kristi Goodrum
Chair, Head of School Search Committee

Emily Roberts
Chair, Board of Trustees

November 21, 2025

Dear Parents,

Before we head into the Thanksgiving Break we would like to share an update with you about the Head of School Search in advance of the December 2-4 on-campus visits with our Carney Sandoe search consultants, Mark Davis and Jaime Estes.

In an effort to give all parents a chance to share their thoughts and experiences regarding Carolina Day School, there will be two opportunities to provide feedback:  

On Monday, December 1, all parents will receive a link to a brief online survey.  The survey will be open December 1-8, and your feedback will provide our consultants with valuable insights and information that will help inform the creation of the CDS Head of School position description.

On Tuesday, December 2, all parents are invited to participate in a conversation directly with Mark and Jaime by Zoom.  The link to the parent Zoom meeting and the online survey will be sent together in an email on Monday, December 1.  

On behalf of the Head of School Search Committee, we look forward to your participation, are grateful for your feedback, and wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving Break.

With gratitude,

Kristi Goodrum

Chair, Head of School Search Committee