Head of Upper School Student Life

The Brearley School, an independent K-XII day school for girls in New York City known for its academic excellence, cross-divisional teaching and commitment to developing and sustaining a diverse, equitable and inclusive community, seeks an experienced, compassionate and innovative leader to become its Head of Upper School Student Life. The administrator in this role leads the Upper School in partnership with the Academic Dean and Dean of Faculty, both of whom hold K-XII positions in our cross-divisional program and oversees the academic and social-emotional lives of students. The Head of Upper School Student Life will start on July 1, 2025.

Application

We invite interested candidates to apply by completing an application and uploading a cover letter, resume, and three references on The Brearley School’s Career page by October 21, 2024.

The Position and Responsibilities

The Head of Upper School Student Life maintains the School's commitment to providing a healthy and inclusive environment for its Upper School students that supports their intellectual and personal development. This position is appointed by and reports to the Head of School.

Responsibilities include:

• Serving on the Head of School’s leadership team.
• Articulating a clear vision for Upper School culture that nurtures the intellectual, social and emotional development of students in Classes IX-XII.
• Collaborating with faculty, administrators and staff to foster the mission of the school and to implement Brearley’s strategic vision. 
• Managing the daily operations of the division, including supervision of the Assistant Head of Upper School Student Life, Grade Heads, Advisors and an administrative assistant.
• Working closely with parents in support of their children.
• Partnering closely with the Director of Equity and Community Engagement, Director of Upper School Admissions and Financial Assistance, Dean of Students and Director of College Advising.
• Envisioning student leadership training and meeting regularly with student leaders and the Dean of Students.
• Overseeing the training and smooth running of the Council on Disciplinary Action and update of the Upper School Student Handbook.
• Supervising the Director of Counseling and Wellness and overseeing new programming in this area.
• Acting as a highly visible role model who personifies a school culture that values respect for self and others, intellectual adventurousness, equity and inclusion, the passionate exchange of ideas, resiliency and generosity.
• Forming relationships with students in the division so as to appreciate and support the unique and lively contributions of each individual.
• Supporting and evaluating Upper School teachers and administrators.
• Promoting complementary programs in equity and inclusion, counseling and wellness,  community engagement, travel study and extracurricular activities within the division.
• Partnering with a dynamic and diverse team of administrators to lead the institution.
• Teaching one class in the academic program.

The strong candidate will find great joy in working with Upper School students and have a deep interest in girls' education, adolescent wellness, and equity and inclusion. Other qualifications include:

• Significant and demonstrated success at the secondary school level teaching, leading programs, collaborating with colleagues and communicating with parents.
• An ability to be open-minded, inspiring, patient and skilled at listening, speaking, writing and supervising colleagues.
• Competence in building inclusive, anti biased and antiracist school culture.
• Excellent communication skills, creativity, energy, a sense of humor, organization and the ability to bring out the best in others.
• A bachelor’s degree is required; advanced degree preferred.

Compensation

A competitive compensation package with a salary of $225,000+ based on level of experience. 

About the Brearley School

Founded in 1884, Brearley's mission has long combined outstanding academics with an insistence on a larger purpose: A passionate exchange of ideas within the School's walls that would prepare girls of adventurous intellect and diverse backgrounds to put their knowledge and habits of mind and character to meaningful use in the wider world.

A center of intellectual exuberance, the School offers an extraordinary program to girls from across and beyond New York City, attracting and developing a dynamic and committed faculty, who, along with a talented staff, instill in Brearley students a love of learning, an ability to think critically and creatively, a deep curiosity about the world and a pioneering spirit. (View the Brearley School Mission Statement.)

Stepping Through the Open Door: An Updated Strategic Vision, the guide for our institution’s future, doesn’t just focus on the end result or the “what,” but asks “how” and “why” we move forward through a series of questions. Our Socratic approach is more dynamic and allows us to interrogate more deeply the four cornerstones of our plan, namely people, program, sustainability and communications. These questions are grounded in and inspired by our six core institutional values of purpose, integrity, excellence, courage, empathy and inclusion. This level of inquiry is what we deem essential to offer a world-class education.

We ask ourselves:

• How do the people at Brearley nurture a sense of friendship, integrity and purpose?
• How does the program cultivate excellence through hard work, inclusion and the pursuit of truth?
• How do we communicate with courage and empathy to build a culture of belonging and a community free of bias and prejudice?
• How can we allocate our resources to sustain our environment and our school for future generations?


We believe that a Brearley education is not for oneself alone. Every member of our community plays a vital role in shaping the School today and for the future, cultivating the joy of lifelong learning and lasting friendships, the confidence to pursue one’s ambitions and a commitment to the greater good.

Among the hallmarks of Brearley is the belief that our students are best served by faculty who

teach in more than one division. We believe that in this way, teachers best come to know students as unique individuals over time and have the keenest appreciation for the scope, sequence and coherence of the curriculum. Our faculty finds an ever-renewing source of inspiration in the liberal arts, always with an eye to encouraging their students to go beyond the familiar and to find a sense of joy and balance in pursuits from the intellectual to the artistic, from athletics to leadership. The recent creation of a campus on East End Avenue with a second academic building and a new Middle and Upper School library offers students, faculty and staff the opportunity to live the Brearley experience in an even more thoughtful and balanced manner. The new Visual Arts Center opening in September of 2025 is the next transformational project in Brearley’s heritage building.

Brearley recently announced a “Free Tuition” program for families with incomes of $100,000 or less and without significant assets. This program was approved by the Board of Trustees after a year of study by its Composition of the Student Body Task Force.

Brearley's Upper School, with 255 students, aims to help each girl develop a sense of self as she masters new academic, social, emotional and physical skills. The School's Counseling and Wellness Department and the Equity and Community Engagement Office support this important work. In addition, the program asks students to take on responsibility for themselves that is appropriately and progressively greater each year. Upper School students, with the support of advisors, lead a robust extracurricular program—including 32 clubs and associations and 12 affinity groups—in addition to athletic teams and arts groups. They also lead the day-long Belonging at Brearley program, in partnership with the Equity and Community Engagement Office, with the goal of enhancing our community culture so that all students and families feel a sense of belonging. These programs, in tandem with other initiatives in social-emotional learning and sexuality health education, have helped the School to deliver, at all levels, on the full promise of a Brearley education. (View the School's General Catalog and Viewbook.)