Head of School Transition

Dear Marymount Community,

As Mrs. Alvar so eloquently shared recently, gratitude comes from a place of faith, humility and grace – from the ability to look outside ourselves and recognize that we could not do it all alone. In this spirit, we want to sincerely thank our Marymount community for being so generous with their time and invaluable insight as the process of identifying our next Head of School gets underway. We appreciate the way you came together to discuss what is most important as we work to identify a leader who will carry forward the vision and values of our beloved school.

Over the past few weeks, the Carney Sandoe team met with parents, students, faculty, administrators, alumnae, and trustees during nearly forty in-person meetings at the Marymount Lower and Upper Campuses. In addition, nearly 900 individuals shared their views through the confidential survey. This high participation rate is yet another example of Marymount’s extraordinary spirit of collaboration and partnership. 

To guide our search process, we have taken the time to go through the survey results, as well as each and every comment shared during the open sessions and via the free-form survey questions. Your thoughtful and inspiring feedback resulted in several prevailing themes:

• Our academic excellence and deep sense of community remain highly valued across all constituencies, and the next Head of School must sustain and amplify the core qualities of Marymount.

• There is a deep appreciation for the dedicated teachers who provide personalized instruction to our daughters through small class sizes and low student-teacher ratios. Many of you suggested that our new Head should support the growth and development of the faculty and prioritize academic excellence and innovation in the curriculum.

• Our next Head of School must prioritize attracting and retaining outstanding, diverse faculty and administrators to further Marymount’s academic program excellence and serve as role models for our daughters.

• The Head of School must be an honest, approachable, and accessible leader with experience in an independent school environment.

• Across constituencies, there is a strong sentiment that the RSHM mission must remain front and center with a continued pursuit of its mission, “that all may have life and live it to the full.”

Using our community’s input, the Search Committee created the Marymount Head of School position description. This position description serves as an important tool in the recruitment process, offering potential candidates a glimpse into Marymount’s culture and encouraging the best candidates to participate in our search process.

From here, our Carney Sandoe team will begin recruiting, interviewing, and vetting appropriate candidates for the Search Committee to review and study. After preliminary and semi-finalist interviews during the winter, the Search Committee looks forward to identifying a group of finalists to bring back to the School for on-campus interviews in the spring. Our goal remains to hire a new Head of School by the end of this school year with a start date of July 2025.

The Search Committee is grounded in our boundless love and respect for Marymount, as well as infinite ambition and tremendous excitement for what our future holds. We will continue to provide updates and additional information through periodic emails and in this dedicated section of the website. 

Wishing you and your families a joyous Christmas season! Thank you again for your partnership.

Sincerely,

Paula Arrojo P’28, Search Co-Chair

Melissa Phelan Roessler ’85 P’17, Search Co-Chair

Dear Marymount Community,

We are reaching out to share more details on our Head of School search, as we are committed to keeping our community informed throughout this process. Before getting into details about several important upcoming activities, we want to express our gratitude and admiration for Concepcion Alvar’s incredible legacy. 

Thank you, Concepcion! Not only have you inspired thousands of young women, you have been a friend, mentor, shoulder to lean on, and trusted partner to countless families, students, faculty, staff, and alumnae. Your incredibly meaningful, daily interactions are part of the fabric of our community, and we are so grateful that we will continue to have you at the helm of Marymount for another year and a half. We will collectively use this time to continue educating our children, building and deepening important relationships and, of course, celebrating your accomplishments!

Search Process Overview & Timeline

We have retained Carney, Sandoe & Associates to lead the search for our next Head of School. Throughout the past few weeks, Carney Sandoe has been gathering feedback from parents, students, faculty, administrators, alumnae, and trustees on the qualities and abilities that Marymount is seeking in our next leader. 

With the information gathered in on-campus meetings and from a survey, we will produce a Marymount Head of School position profile. Our consultants will then begin screening candidates and, after preliminary and semi-finalist interviews during the winter, we will identify a group of finalists to bring back to the School for on-campus interviews in the spring. Flexibility is a key component of this process, so please understand that the timing of some of these events may shift as we proceed. Updates will be provided through periodic emails, and a dedicated section of the School’s website will provide additional information.

Search Committee

The ultimate responsibility for hiring a new Head of School rests with the Board of Trustees. To aid in that effort, the Board has appointed a Search Committee comprised of trustees, faculty, and administrators. The group assembled brings relevant experience, a diversity of perspectives, and boundless love and respect for Marymount, as well as infinite ambition and tremendous excitement for what our future holds! 

The members of the Search Committee are: 

• Cindy Wagner P’26, Chair of the Board of Trustees

• Paula Arrojo P’28, Trustee, Search Co-Chair

• Melissa Phelan Roessler ’85, P’17, Trustee, Search Co-Chair

• James Basker P’13, Trustee

• Sr. Rosamond Blanchet, RSHM, Trustee

• Alexis Bradford, Director of Finance and Operations

• Tina Ferriola P’34, P’35, Trustee

• Emily Garbaccio P’28, P’29, Trustee

• Rashida LaLande P’33, Trustee

• Shawn McDermott, Head Teacher, Class I

• Ken Pontarelli P’20, P’24, Trustee

• Matt Speiser, Associate Upper School Head for Academics.

The Board of Trustees is committed to finding an extraordinary leader who embraces Marymount’s mission and values and who will lead our school into an exciting and successful future. Thank you in advance for your participation and partnership. 

Sincerely, 

Paula Arrojo, Search Co-Chair

Melissa Phelan Roessler, Search Co-Chair

Dear Marymount Community,

Since Mother Butler founded Marymount in 1926, our mission has been grounded in educating both the heart and mind of young women and providing for their intellectual, spiritual, social and physical growth. Throughout our 97-year history, we have benefited from extraordinary leadership that has fulfilled this vision. Concepcion Alvar has been an integral part of Marymount’s success, and her impact can hardly be overstated. Thus, it is with a profound mix of emotions that I write to inform you of an important transition. After thirty-five years of devoted service and unwavering commitment to Marymount, our beloved Concepcion Alvar has decided to retire at the end of the 2024-25 academic year.

Concepcion’s vision, leadership, and tireless dedication have shaped Marymount into the thriving educational community it is today. Starting her Marymount career as an Early Childhood teacher in 1988, Concepcion was named Director of Admissions in 1991 and promoted to the first lay Head of School in 2004. During this time, Concepcion has enriched the lives of our students and fostered a spirit of community that has made Marymount the welcoming home we all know and love. Concepcion has been a true mentor and leader, demonstrating grace under pressure, unwavering support for our faculty and staff, and an unyielding commitment to the education and well-being of our students. Her passion for Marymount has left an indelible mark on all of us.

During Concepcion’s tenure, Marymount has achieved remarkable milestones and growth. It would be impossible to list all of her accomplishments, but a few notable achievements are the bold creation of our first Fab Lab, the invaluable partnership with the Met, the successful establishment of the Bloomberg Financial Literacy Program, the naming of Marymount as an Apple Distinguished School since 2015, and the completion of our amazing new Upper Campus at 115 East 97th Street. The legacy she will leave behind is one of innovation, compassion, and lasting impact. Concepcion is truly a force of nature who has executed with precision and grace Mother Butler’s dream to educate young women to challenge, shape, and change the world. She has inspired countless students, faculty, and staff, and has fostered a culture of lifelong learning and collaboration that will continue to shape Marymount for years to come.

The process of selecting a new Head of School is an important responsibility that the Board of Trustees will undertake with great care to ensure a smooth transition. By announcing her plan today, Concepcion has given the Board the time to conduct a thorough search while blessing the community with a seamless continuation of her inspirational leadership. The Head of School position at Marymount will be an exciting opportunity for talented educators, and the Board of Trustees is confident that we will attract a pool of top candidates. Our goal is to hire a new Head of School by the end of this school year with a start date of July 2025. The Board has formed a dedicated search committee led by trustees Paula Arrojo P'28 and Melissa Phelan Roessler '85, P'17, and they will reach out to the community within the week to discuss next steps. In addition, we have partnered with the highly regarded international search firm Carney, Sandoe & Associates to assist us in the search. Together, we look forward to finding a Head of School who can carry forward the vision and values of our beloved institution. During this transition period, we will ask for your invaluable input and support and will keep you well informed about the progress of the search.

Please join me in thanking Concepcion for her remarkable leadership and wish her a well-deserved and fulfilling future retirement. We will be organizing various activities and events in the future to honor her legacy and express our appreciation for her endless contributions. The Board of Trustees and I look forward to working with all of you as we make this important transition and celebrate Concepcion’s extraordinary leadership.

Sincerely,

Cindy Wagner

Chair, Marymount Board of Trustees

Dear Marymount Board of Trustees,