IndySchool Consultancy

05/26/2026

10 Ways New Independent School Leaders Can Enter Their Community and Succeed
— IndySchool Consultancy https://bit.ly/4f5kCUM

05/26/2026

Search Announcement – Director of Admissions

Killington Mountain School is pleased to announce a search for a Director of Admissions, a highly relational and visible leadership role responsible for guiding enrollment efforts and strengthening the School’s position as one of the nation’s premier mountain schools for student-athletes. The search is being conducted in partnership with IndySchool Consultancy.

Why Killington Mountain School?
✔️ A nationally respected mountain school
Founded in 1974, Killington Mountain School (KMS) is one of the nation’s longest-running and most respected ski academies. Located at the base of Killington Resort in Vermont’s Green Mountains, KMS blends rigorous college preparatory academics with elite training in alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, and endurance sports.
✔️ A uniquely personalized student athlete experience
Serving approximately 120 student athletes in grades 7 through 12 and postgraduate programs, KMS offers exceptionally small class sizes, flexible scheduling, and individualized academic support designed specifically for students balancing high-level athletics and academics.
✔️ A close-knit and mission-driven community
KMS fosters a culture rooted in resilience, leadership, accountability, and outdoor adventure. Faculty, coaches, and staff work collaboratively to help students grow academically, athletically, and personally within a supportive mountain community.
✔️ An extraordinary Vermont lifestyle
Located in Killington, Vermont, the school provides direct access to world-class skiing, mountain biking, hiking, and year-round outdoor recreation. The region attracts individuals who value active living, natural beauty, and strong community connections.

The Opportunity
👉 Lead the full admissions and enrollment process from inquiry through enrollment and retention
👉 Serve as the primary ambassador and relationship builder for prospective and returning families
👉 Represent KMS at competitions, recruitment events, and school functions
👉 Collaborate closely with coaches, athletic program directors, faculty, and school leadership
👉 Help strengthen enrollment pipelines and communicate KMS’s distinctive value proposition nationwide

Full Opportunity Statement: https://bit.ly/49mwQok
Candidates with questions are invited to contact Chris Brueningsen at
[email protected].

05/26/2026

Congratulations to Michael Komich, the new CFOO at The Pike School! Your friends at IndySchool Consultancy are thrilled to have partnered with Pike in the search and are excited for Michael's next chapter!

05/25/2026

From all of us at IndySchool Consultancy, we thank those who served and remember those who gave their lives in service to our country. 🇺🇸

05/25/2026

What every board should put on the spring retreat agenda this year.

Board retreat season is here, and most agendas look familiar — strategic plan check-in, finance update, head support and evaluation, governance review.

We'd suggest one addition.

A single hour, scheduled deliberately, on the question: What is the leadership bench we'll need three years from now, and what would it cost us to lose any one of the people currently sitting in those seats?

It is not a succession planning conversation in the formal sense. It is a stress test. It surfaces the dependencies the board hasn't named, the roles where the school is one resignation away from a hard summer, and the gaps that compounded quietly over the last two years.

The schools we work with that run this exercise consistently are the ones that don't get caught flat-footed in May.

If your board is heading into a retreat in the next sixty days and would like a framework for this conversation, we have one we'd be glad to share.

Schedule a confidential consultation →

Start your Head of School or senior administrator search conversation with ISC.

05/23/2026

The Market Has Changed

The leadership market for independent schools is tighter than many schools and boards realize.

Top candidates are not scrolling job boards.

They are leading schools.

They respond to trusted outreach, professional discretion, and thoughtful opportunity framing.

Waiting for applicants is not a strategy.

It is hope.

Modern search requires proactive candidate mapping, market intelligence, and disciplined evaluation.

ISC operates at the intersection of precision and responsible pricing.

If you want a deeper look at where the leadership market is heading, start here.

📌 Download the 2026 Independent School Leadership Trends Report:
https://bit.ly/4q7fDof

Independent school leadership searches are becoming more complex not because schools lack candidates, but because the conditions surrounding leadership roles have changed. The 2026 Independent School Leadership Trends Report highlights a market where governance alignment, role sustainability

05/23/2026

Candidates are no longer asking only about mission and compensation.

📊 2026 Trend Highlight:
Top leadership candidates now evaluate governance health, role sustainability, and board alignment before they decide whether to engage in a search.

This shift is quietly reshaping candidate pools across the country.

📘 The ISC report breaks down how candidate behavior has changed and what schools must address to remain competitive.


👉 Download link

Independent school leadership searches are becoming more complex not because schools lack candidates, but because the conditions surrounding leadership roles have changed. The 2026 Independent School Leadership Trends Report highlights a market where governance alignment, role sustainability, and in

05/20/2026

If you are a Head of School, HR Director, or Board Chair planning a senior administrative or Head of School search, this tool is for you.

ISC’s Search Readiness Scorecard provides strategic insights before the search begins.

Start your assessment today: https://bit.ly/4td7OAm

05/19/2026

Grateful does not quite capture it.

To our partner schools across the country and beyond, thank you for the trust, the collaboration, and the shared commitment to getting leadership decisions right.

This map tells a powerful story. It reflects not just reach, but relationships. From coast to coast, and across diverse school communities, each point represents a board, a leadership team, and a moment that mattered. Every search carried its own complexity, urgency, and opportunity, and each partnership pushed us to deliver with precision and purpose.

At IndySchool Consultancy, we talk often about reducing noise, minimizing committee fatigue, and delivering highly aligned finalist slates. This year, those principles translated into real outcomes because of the way our client schools showed up as true partners in the process.

We are proud of the work. More importantly, we are grateful for the people behind it.

Looking forward to building on this momentum together.

05/18/2026

A line from a recent search committee debrief, shared with permission.

The board had identified a finalist. Strong fit, strong references, ready to move. Then, two days before the offer, the committee realized they hadn't pressure-tested the comp package against current national data. They sent what they thought was generous. The candidate accepted a different offer the following week.

This is the most preventable kind of search failure we see.

Compensation benchmarking isn't a luxury or a late-stage step. For senior administrative roles, it's the single highest-leverage piece of work a search committee can do in the first thirty days — because it shapes scope, attracts the right field, and protects the offer when it matters.

If your school is heading into a senior search this summer or fall, we'd welcome the chance to share what current market data is telling us.

Request compensation benchmarking →

Start your Head of School or senior administrator search conversation with ISC.

05/16/2026

Affordability Should Not Mean Compromise

Independent schools operate with fiscal discipline.

Search firms should understand that.

High fees do not guarantee better outcomes.
Low fees without structure create risk.

ISC was designed differently.

Lean model.
High-touch advisory.
Modern sourcing strategy.
Transparent pricing.

Operating at the intersection of quality and affordability is structural for us, not promotional.

If your school is evaluating firms, compare strategy, structure, and economics.

📌 Begin with a confidential Search Inquiry:
https://bit.ly/40badzc

Reach out to IndySchool Consultancy for expert educational consulting and leadership coaching. Complete our inquiry form to initiate your school’s growth and success.