For the fourth year in a row, Ravenscroft's student-led fundraising team for Crucial Catch has been recognized as the top fundraising school in the nation, exceeding their goal of $30,000 by more than $6,000, and once again winning the prestigious Pink Cleat Award.
The Ravenscroft community, guided by our legacy of excellence, nurtures individual potential and prepares students to thrive in a complex and interdependent world.
Search Committee and Recruiting Firm
The Search Committee is committed to the best interest of the school, considering both short-term and long-term visioning for Ravenscroft, and possesses extreme optimism for the opportunities a new Head of School can bring.
Working with RG175, the Search Committee will identify and meet with candidates, ultimately making a recommendation to the Board of Trustees for the next Head of School.
As co-chairs of the Head of School Search Committee, we are reaching out to provide a brief update and to extend an invitation to complete our Head of School Search Survey, which is now open.
We’ve shared previously that Ravenscroft retained RG175, a top search firm specializing in national and international independent school leadership placements. Last week, RG175 representatives Marcia Prewitt Spiller and John Farber visited campus for two days, holding discovery sessions with members of the community including students, parents, faculty, staff, leadership, trustees and alumni. We are pleased to report the meetings were very productive.
SURVEY IS NOW OPEN
The Head of School Search Survey is a crucial part of the search process and an important vehicle for us to learn more about your thoughts and the community’s needs.
Input from everyone in our community is important. Please take time to share your thoughts and feedback through the 10-question online Head of School Search Survey.
Even if you were able to attend an on-campus discovery session, we encourage you to provide input using the survey.
RG175 will use the insights from their on-campus visit and the survey to help identify the best possible candidates for Ravenscroft’s next Head of School.
IMPORTANT NOTES
The survey is confidential,and all responses are submitted directly to RG175.
Any information provided to the Search Committee will be anonymous and without identifying information.
There is an option to submit your name at the end of the survey. By providing your name, your responses are no longer confidential, and information shared with the Search Committee will include your identifiable information.
Please complete the Head of School Search Survey by 11 p.m., Friday, May 26, 2023.
On behalf of the Search Committee, we thank you for your time and participation in the survey. We understand how busy you are — especially at this time of year — and would like you to know that your feedback is valuable and we appreciate it.
Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns by contacting us at headsearch@ravenscroft.org.
Sincerely,
Amy and Laura
Amy Batten P’22 Chair, Ravenscroft Board of Trustees Co-Chair, Head of School Search Committee
Laura Kalorin ’92, P’24 ’26 ’28 Secretary, Ravenscroft Board of Trustees
Co-Chair, Head of School Search Committee
After more than 20 years of dedicated service to our community, Head of School Doreen Kelly has shared with the Ravenscroft Board of Trustees and me that she is concluding her service as Head of School at the end of our 2023-24 school year. In partnership with Doreen, we have been preparing for this significant moment in our school’s history.
“Connecting the Head and Heart”
It is truly remarkable to have a Head of School serve an institution for more than 20 years, and on behalf of the entire Ravenscroft community, I would like to offer our heartfelt gratitude to Doreen for her leadership and the many indelible marks she has made on our school — and in education locally and nationally.
Doreen’s passion for “connecting the head and heart” of our institution and the care of our children has transformed the Ravenscroft educational journey over the past 20 years.
In her letter, shared separately today, Doreen highlights many significant achievements during her leadership — including multiple fundraising campaigns that led to new and improved facilities across all areas of the school and new endowments to support all aspects of the educational journey. At the same time, we would also like to acknowledge Doreen’s exceptional leadership through the pandemic. During a time of extreme uncertainty and duress, Doreen remained thoughtfully focused on the needs of everyone in our community and exemplified strength, bravery and perseverance while carefully considering and pursuing options for the continuity of our children’s education.
One of the most significant initiatives led by Doreen has been the more than 10-year partnership with the Center for Creative Leadership that resulted in our unique and distinctive program, Lead From Here. By combining academics, arts and athletic education with citizen-leadership learning, Ravenscroft has a framework that is a lasting testimony to “connecting the head and heart.”
Given her forward-looking mindset, and her commitment to Ravenscroft’s mission, vision and values, it’s no surprise that Doreen is also committed to providing a smooth transition to the new Head of School. She has carefully and confidently recruited, hired and retained top talent to serve as faculty and staff at Ravenscroft over the decades — and today’s Leadership Team is a highly experienced and well-established group that will also play a role in providing continuity for our community. In addition, should the new Head of School request her assistance, Doreen has agreed to serve as a strategic consultant through 2024-25.
We are grateful for all Doreen has done to serve our community and for her ongoing support.
Identifying the Next Head of School
This is a significant time in our school’s history — a time that the Board has been preparing for and a time that is taken very seriously. One of the duties of the Board of Trustees is to hire the next Head of School, and we will now publicly begin the process. To support our efforts, the Board has named a Search Committee and retained a nationally recognized recruiting firm, RG175.
During the recruiting and hiring process, there will be opportunities for all facets of our community — faculty and staff, parents, alumni and students — to provide input and feedback. RG175 will visit our campus, have in-person meetings and conduct an online survey to learn more about our school’s current and future needs.
Search Committee
To lead our efforts, the Board has formed a Search Committee that is co-chaired by Secretary of the Board of Trustees Laura Helton Kalorin ’92 and me and comprises five additional members who are current and former trustees. The committee will work closely with RG175 to identify the ideal person to serve as our next Head of School and, after meeting candidates, the Search Committee will make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees. Ultimately, the Board will make the final decision as to who will serve as the next Head of School.
Community Survey
Later this month, and in partnership with RG175, we will issue a survey seeking your input and feedback on our community’s needs and priorities. In order to have the best representation of voices from our community and understand the qualities you hope to see in our next Head of School, it is imperative that everyone participate in the survey. Please be on the lookout for more information and a link to complete the survey in mid-May.
Updates and Additional Information
Please visit the Head of School Search webpage on Ravenscroft.org for more information about the search for the next Head of School, the Search Committee, RG175 and any additional updates. If you have questions, would like to contact the Search Committee or have suggestions for possible candidates, please email HeadSearch@Ravenscroft.org. Note that as we work through the search process, all information about candidates will be kept confidential.
Our Appreciation
Over the past 20 years, Doreen has served the Ravenscroft community with her whole heart. By her side has been her husband, Chris, who has also served the school in various roles in our Upper School. She has lived a very public life in our community, raising her family in the campus spotlight with three children, Ryan ’09, Sean ’11 and Erin ’15, and the next generation of Kellys attending Ravenscroft with her grandchildren as students or soon-to-be students.
Please join us in expressing our deepest gratitude to Doreen and her family and wishing them many blessings as they move forward in their next chapter. We look forward to many opportunities to celebrate and honor her over the year ahead.
Chris and I feel so blessed to be a part of the Ravenscroft family. Not only have we raised our family on this campus, a truly magical place for children, we’ve also had the opportunity to love and serve many colleagues and students over the years. This work has been incredibly rewarding, and we are full of gratitude.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once wrote, “Great is the art of beginning, greater is the art of ending.”
After much contemplation and intentional succession planning over the last several years with the Board of Trustees, June 2024 marks the best point for new paths to emerge for me and my family and for Ravenscroft.
In so many ways, Ravenscroft has never been better! I am so proud of our students, faculty, and staff, and I have full confidence that the momentum the school currently enjoys — a healthy enrollment, talented faculty and staff, a laudable college matriculation list, alumni making a mark on the world with great success, a gorgeous physical plant, and a sound financial position — will continue into the future. Ravenscroft has a respected national reputation, and our new Board-approved strategic plan, “Framing Our Future,” sets the course for the next five years and beyond.
Looking back to when we began this journey in the fall of 2003, as a community we have accomplished more than we could have ever dreamed. Together we have established new athletic fields; created the aesthetically pleasing Sloan Circle, Bell Entrance and Winston Entrance; and built and enhanced many spaces, including the young peoples’ theatre and the Keim Center for Innovation and Research, the PreK Learning Center that welcomes our youngest Ravens, and the Olander Center for Student Life at the A.E. Finley Activity Center that is the envy of many peer schools. Over the years we have made significant improvements to our Financial Aid budget and established the very impactful Mann Scholar Endowment.Our nationally recognized partnership with the Center for Creative Leadership paved the way for Ravenscroft’s curricular programing Lead From Here and our citizen leadership framework. Our more contemporary Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Statement will support our mission for years to come. All of these enhancements have been very rewarding work and continue to help fulfill the vision of the Holding family and many others who came before us.
In addition, we created more than 74 new endowed funds that equate to over $15M that will plant important seeds of support for the future of Ravenscroft in the areas of financial aid, leadership programming, innovation, student wellness, fine arts and sports programming, and much more.
However our best work together isn’t measured by dollars raised, fresh bricks and mortar, or curricula. Our greatest satisfaction stems from the relationships we have cultivated with members of this incredible community — especially the students but also our alumni, past and current parents, and of course Ravenscroft’s past and present trustees. I am extremely proud of the faculty and staff we have attracted to Ravenscroft over the years and in whose wonderful hands we leave the school.
As Mister Rogers would say, “Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.” Over the years, we have launched no fewer than eight heads of school nationally, and many other colleagues have continued on their leadership journey internally and beyond. In the future, I look forward to my work supporting leaders as an executive coach nationally and will always point the way to Ravenscroft as a leadership development environment committed to supporting, growing, and launching leaders while they focus on what is core to teaching and learning and supporting those who are passionate about independent school education.
Without a doubt, I would not have been able to sustain this work for over 20 years in this role without the loving support of my family. We have lived a very public life on this campus, and the team we created as a family has been such a blessing. I’m grateful to my husband, Chris, who supported my curiosity and ambition each step of the way. The love of my parents, siblings, and close friends always encouraged me to “get in the game” despite the odds and often reminded me that very few are willing to stay in the arena. And to my children, their partners, and now my grandchildren, I have a special sense of gratitude: without choice, they grew up in full view of the Ravenscroft community and in close proximity to the work, whether it was joyful or in some cases challenging. Along the way, they were supported by incredible people at Ravenscroft who challenged and nurtured their strengths as well as supported and protected them too. We kept our growing team together, and I count that among the biggest accomplishments of all.
It has been a great honor serving Ravenscroft as a teacher, division leader and Head of School through my time here. Whether proudly enjoying a fine arts performance or art exhibit, watching seniors parade through campus at the opening of each year, getting a hug from a Lower School student at carpool, exchanging a warm greeting with a Middle School student, listening to a student or employee share at our Gathering/Chapel programs, or cheering on the sidelines of games and Homecoming, I have benefited from a deep sense of belonging in our unique community. All of these experiences will be permanently etched into my heart. We will fervently support Ravenscroft, our leaders, and the students in the years ahead and will always hold most dear all the memories of our time here. May the Bell Tower always ring loudly signaling a call to community and may we be forever inspired in the work. In the words of Mrs. Pugh: “It’s for the kids, it’s always for the kids.”
Deus Pascit Corvos - God feed the Ravens!
With great appreciation, gratitude, and affection,
