Landon Head of School Leaving

[Anonymous]

Alum here - Jim is truly outstanding. A big loss. He's taken the school from a terrible financial position he inherited to a strong place which has toned down it's frat lax culture from the shitty Bordley runs the school, violent era of the 80s.

Jim seems too young to retire so where is he headed? Maybe a bigger New England private school that pays better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Agree with most of what you're saying except for your hopes for a return to 1950s colleges admissions?!

No one is going back to college admissions patterns of the 1950s, when those schools were not admitting by merit but took white men from specific schools in specific quantities on what was essentially a gentleman's agreement.

Yeah, Make Landon Great Again!

[Anonymous]

I loved how charismatic he was during the open house. Wow my son loved Landon when we visited and said it was his favorite of all the schools we applied to. We’ll see how it pans out.

[Anonymous]

As a prospective family, we are disappointed. Schools sometimes go through troubled times when a new head arrives. Classy of them to announce before new families have to make decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jim Neill, Landon’s Head of School for the last 10 years, has announced that he will be leaving after the 25-26 school year. No word on what he will do. It’s obviously his idea, not the school’s. He has been a great success, completing a $50 million fundraising campaign, updating the school’s whole physical plant, doubling their (relatively small) endowment, and been widely admired and appreciated by the boys, their parents, and alumni.
He could well be the best headmaster the school has ever had - it’s probably Jim or Paul Banfield, the school’s founder almost 100 years ago. He will be tough to replace.
I speak from the position of being both a Landon alum and a former parent.
What now remains to be done?
There was a time many years ago when Landon was widely regarded academically in the same league as St. Albans and Sidwell Friends with a college admissions record to match. I believe that I am correct in recalling a Landon class in the late 1950s that sent a full half of its graduating class to Yale or Princeton - and these were not athletic admits. It would be great if Landon could bring back some of that academic strength to go with other strengths they now have.

'

Different era where white male applicants could get in pretty much wherever they wanted. Something like that won't happen again without substantial changes to the composition of applicants and qualified applicants.

[Anonymous]

Did he announce where he was going or why he was leaving at this time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did he announce where he was going or why he was leaving at this time?

No and yes.

[Anonymous]

Staff member here. He is a treasure. I am sure he is tired. He has done a wonderful job shepherding the school through some incredibly difficult periods, including the pandemic. While his are big shoes to fill, the entire administration is topnotch and I truly respect my colleagues. I would send my own child to Landon if I had school-age boys. I also am glad the school has its own personality. While it is academically rigorous and the boys are held to high standards, it isn’t simply another pressure cooker school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Landon is not St. Albans and doesn’t seek to be. If people want their sons to go to a school like St. Albans, they should go to St. Albans instead of trying to make Landon like St. Albans. Landon occupies a unique and necessary niche - it is not religiously affiliated, it is single sex, and it balances academics with athletics - which STA used to do too but now the kids do hours and hours of homework every night and the school basically can’t win a game in any sport. Not every school is for every child - they are all different and they don’t need to try to be the same.

What ? My son goes to STA and has never lost to a county mountie from landon. There are more sports than lax and football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Staff member here. He is a treasure. I am sure he is tired. He has done a wonderful job shepherding the school through some incredibly difficult periods, including the pandemic. While his are big shoes to fill, the entire administration is topnotch and I truly respect my colleagues. I would send my own child to Landon if I had school-age boys. I also am glad the school has its own personality. While it is academically rigorous and the boys are held to high standards, it isn’t simply another pressure cooker school.

Agree with all above. Trust them to hire another excellent Head.

[Anonymous]

If I’m reading this thread right, he won’t be retiring until the fall of 2026, correct?

[Anonymous]

Jim will be staying through this school year and the 2025-2026 school year. He wants to be sure there is time for a smooth transition and a search for a new head.

[Anonymous]

Letter suggested he will do something else. Not a role as academic head of another school. Campus is gorgeous and in a very livable area ,I am sure they will have lots of applicants.
Was not happy with forced unconstitutional vaccine mandates at the school. I was stunned that any educator could not head to Cornell’s website and read US Code. I alerted Landon about this and remained unheard. Faculty forced as prerequsite to come to work.
I am sure he is aware of this now…but this reality would make anyone want to quit especially when you have parents who believe their child were injured by these vaccines. They had this information and stupidly knew better.
Landon is a wonderful school but they need a better legal team to advise them and not listen to Israeli backed media for their medical or legal advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Letter suggested he will do something else. Not a role as academic head of another school. Campus is gorgeous and in a very livable area ,I am sure they will have lots of applicants.
Was not happy with forced unconstitutional vaccine mandates at the school. I was stunned that any educator could not head to Cornell’s website and read US Code. I alerted Landon about this and remained unheard. Faculty forced as prerequsite to come to work.
I am sure he is aware of this now…but this reality would make anyone want to quit especially when you have parents who believe their child were injured by these vaccines. They had this information and stupidly knew better.
Landon is a wonderful school but they need a better legal team to advise them and not listen to Israeli backed media for their medical or legal advice.

Oh boy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Letter suggested he will do something else. Not a role as academic head of another school. Campus is gorgeous and in a very livable area ,I am sure they will have lots of applicants.
Was not happy with forced unconstitutional vaccine mandates at the school. I was stunned that any educator could not head to Cornell’s website and read US Code. I alerted Landon about this and remained unheard. Faculty forced as prerequsite to come to work.
I am sure he is aware of this now…but this reality would make anyone want to quit especially when you have parents who believe their child were injured by these vaccines. They had this information and stupidly knew better.
Landon is a wonderful school but they need a better legal team to advise them and not listen to Israeli backed media for their medical or legal advice.

Head back to Twitter with this type of nonsense. Might do better over there.