Landon's New Head Of School: The Decision is In!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to Jim Neill?

Jim Neil has served as Landon’s headmaster for 11 years and his son graduated in the Spring of 2024. He also just completed a $54M Capital Campaign.

To the dismay of the Landon naysayers, there is no story.

The new headmaster resume looks impressive and will have big shoes to fill.

Congrats to the Landon community.

I didn't mean to put you on the defensive, but why is he leaving and where is he going? He's too young to retire, unless he kept a cut of the $54 million for himself. It seems odd that Landon would dismiss a headmaster simply because a new candidate with an impressive resume came along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to Jim Neill?

Jim Neil has served as Landon’s headmaster for 11 years and his son graduated in the Spring of 2024. He also just completed a $54M Capital Campaign.

To the dismay of the Landon naysayers, there is no story.

The new headmaster resume looks impressive and will have big shoes to fill.

Congrats to the Landon community.

I didn't mean to put you on the defensive, but why is he leaving and where is he going? He's too young to retire, unless he kept a cut of the $54 million for himself. It seems odd that Landon would dismiss a headmaster simply because a new candidate with an impressive resume came along.

He’s been there for over a decade and his some graduated last year. Sometimes people are just ready for something new.

[Anonymous]

^ son not some

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will say I find it intriguing he went from Calvert to Kincaid, a perfectly logical move, but then from Kincaid to Tatnall? That would seem like a significant step down. Calvert is a prestigious Baltimore K-8 with a long history and is very well known in the world of education. Kincaid is a prominent Houston school with an impressively fancy campus. But Tatnall is a minor Delaware school. Going from Kincaid to Landon makes more sense than Kincaid-Tatnall-Landon.

It’s amazing to me that you can post this, casting a shadow on him, with all sorts of speculation and suspicions while knowing nothing about him. And frankly, how can you know so much about all these schools? You’ve personally had children at all of them? 🙄

I know enough about these schools as I am from the Baltimore private school world and have family in Houston that it's undeniable Tatnall is a major step down from the previous two schools in general prestige. It is intriguing one would make this decision. Maybe he wanted to step back from a higher profile and higher pressure role for a while. Will say Landon is also a school that falls into the high profile category and the search committee chose him, so whatever the reasons were they did not hold it against him. Not wishing him anything but best luck in his new role.

Come now, Tatnall is the fourth best school in Wilmington, Delaware!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to Jim Neill?

Jim Neil has served as Landon’s headmaster for 11 years and his son graduated in the Spring of 2024. He also just completed a $54M Capital Campaign.

To the dismay of the Landon naysayers, there is no story.

The new headmaster resume looks impressive and will have big shoes to fill.

Congrats to the Landon community.

I didn't mean to put you on the defensive, but why is he leaving and where is he going? He's too young to retire, unless he kept a cut of the $54 million for himself. It seems odd that Landon would dismiss a headmaster simply because a new candidate with an impressive resume came along.

Why do you get to determine he's too young to retire? Lots of HOS make moves once their kids graduate. Russell Shaw over at GDS is doing the same thing. They'll both probably take some time off, b/c being a HOS through/since covid has been a shitshow of a job, and then they'll do something else: interim headships, consulting, search. Lots of options for well respected heads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will say I find it intriguing he went from Calvert to Kincaid, a perfectly logical move, but then from Kincaid to Tatnall? That would seem like a significant step down. Calvert is a prestigious Baltimore K-8 with a long history and is very well known in the world of education. Kincaid is a prominent Houston school with an impressively fancy campus. But Tatnall is a minor Delaware school. Going from Kincaid to Landon makes more sense than Kincaid-Tatnall-Landon.

Maybe he wanted to move back to this general area and be closer to family. Who knows? But that would be a very logical reason given the locations of the schools. He sounds like a very experienced Head, so kudos to Landon for getting him.

I am always amazed that when discussing men moving jobs, no one ever suggests that perhaps his wife is the higher earner and she got a promotion with a move so he needed to follow.

I know nothing about this man’s family. But I find it odd that people always assume the man’s professional move is the one that moves the family. Some women are very successful professionally. Why is this never assumed?

Because at this point in time it's pretty much never true? I wish we lived in the kind of society you're talking about, but it's not odd at all to realize we don't.

FWIW his wife's career seems to be coaching lacrosse at the schools he works at. I'm sure she's no slouch -- she went to Yale -- but as far as I can tell her career has been in lacrosse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to Jim Neill?

Jim Neil has served as Landon’s headmaster for 11 years and his son graduated in the Spring of 2024. He also just completed a $54M Capital Campaign.

To the dismay of the Landon naysayers, there is no story.

The new headmaster resume looks impressive and will have big shoes to fill.

Congrats to the Landon community.

I didn't mean to put you on the defensive, but why is he leaving and where is he going? He's too young to retire, unless he kept a cut of the $54 million for himself. It seems odd that Landon would dismiss a headmaster simply because a new candidate with an impressive resume came along.

He’s been there for over a decade and his some graduated last year. Sometimes people are just ready for something new.

Sure, so what is the something new that he is doing?

[Anonymous]

There’s been some speculation that he might go into educational consulting.

Why don’t you wait a bit and see? He still has a year left at Landon and may be holding off announcing anything yet, or may know he wanted something new but is still determining exactly what that is.

Why the need to try to invent some conspiracy?

[Anonymous]

Our school’s admissions director left at the end of this year after *20 years* at the school. He never announced where he was going. I recently noticed his new job on LinkedIn (admissions director at another DC-area school, as it turns out). There was no conspiracy, he just didn’t see the need to publicly announce where he was moving to, I guess. And that’s fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will say I find it intriguing he went from Calvert to Kincaid, a perfectly logical move, but then from Kincaid to Tatnall? That would seem like a significant step down. Calvert is a prestigious Baltimore K-8 with a long history and is very well known in the world of education. Kincaid is a prominent Houston school with an impressively fancy campus. But Tatnall is a minor Delaware school. Going from Kincaid to Landon makes more sense than Kincaid-Tatnall-Landon.

Maybe he wanted to move back to this general area and be closer to family. Who knows? But that would be a very logical reason given the locations of the schools. He sounds like a very experienced Head, so kudos to Landon for getting him.

I am always amazed that when discussing men moving jobs, no one ever suggests that perhaps his wife is the higher earner and she got a promotion with a move so he needed to follow.

I know nothing about this man’s family. But I find it odd that people always assume the man’s professional move is the one that moves the family. Some women are very successful professionally. Why is this never assumed?

Because at this point in time it's pretty much never true? I wish we lived in the kind of society you're talking about, but it's not odd at all to realize we don't.

FWIW his wife's career seems to be coaching lacrosse at the schools he works at. I'm sure she's no slouch -- she went to Yale -- but as far as I can tell her career has been in lacrosse.

Yale and Hopkins medical school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will say I find it intriguing he went from Calvert to Kincaid, a perfectly logical move, but then from Kincaid to Tatnall? That would seem like a significant step down. Calvert is a prestigious Baltimore K-8 with a long history and is very well known in the world of education. Kincaid is a prominent Houston school with an impressively fancy campus. But Tatnall is a minor Delaware school. Going from Kincaid to Landon makes more sense than Kincaid-Tatnall-Landon.

Maybe he wanted to move back to this general area and be closer to family. Who knows? But that would be a very logical reason given the locations of the schools. He sounds like a very experienced Head, so kudos to Landon for getting him.

I am always amazed that when discussing men moving jobs, no one ever suggests that perhaps his wife is the higher earner and she got a promotion with a move so he needed to follow.

I know nothing about this man’s family. But I find it odd that people always assume the man’s professional move is the one that moves the family. Some women are very successful professionally. Why is this never assumed?

Because at this point in time it's pretty much never true? I wish we lived in the kind of society you're talking about, but it's not odd at all to realize we don't.

FWIW his wife's career seems to be coaching lacrosse at the schools he works at. I'm sure she's no slouch -- she went to Yale -- but as far as I can tell her career has been in lacrosse.

Yale and Hopkins medical school.

She played lacrosse at Yale. She did not go to Hopkins’s medical school. Maybe a different degree there but definitely not the med school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will say I find it intriguing he went from Calvert to Kincaid, a perfectly logical move, but then from Kincaid to Tatnall? That would seem like a significant step down. Calvert is a prestigious Baltimore K-8 with a long history and is very well known in the world of education. Kincaid is a prominent Houston school with an impressively fancy campus. But Tatnall is a minor Delaware school. Going from Kincaid to Landon makes more sense than Kincaid-Tatnall-Landon.

Maybe he wanted to move back to this general area and be closer to family. Who knows? But that would be a very logical reason given the locations of the schools. He sounds like a very experienced Head, so kudos to Landon for getting him.

I am always amazed that when discussing men moving jobs, no one ever suggests that perhaps his wife is the higher earner and she got a promotion with a move so he needed to follow.

I know nothing about this man’s family. But I find it odd that people always assume the man’s professional move is the one that moves the family. Some women are very successful professionally. Why is this never assumed?

Because at this point in time it's pretty much never true? I wish we lived in the kind of society you're talking about, but it's not odd at all to realize we don't.

FWIW his wife's career seems to be coaching lacrosse at the schools he works at. I'm sure she's no slouch -- she went to Yale -- but as far as I can tell her career has been in lacrosse.

Yale and Hopkins medical school.

She played lacrosse at Yale. She did not go to Hopkins’s medical school. Maybe a different degree there but definitely not the med school.

She trained to be a physician while working part-time as the head of Middle School Lacrosse at Bryn Mawr.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will say I find it intriguing he went from Calvert to Kincaid, a perfectly logical move, but then from Kincaid to Tatnall? That would seem like a significant step down. Calvert is a prestigious Baltimore K-8 with a long history and is very well known in the world of education. Kincaid is a prominent Houston school with an impressively fancy campus. But Tatnall is a minor Delaware school. Going from Kincaid to Landon makes more sense than Kincaid-Tatnall-Landon.

It’s amazing to me that you can post this, casting a shadow on him, with all sorts of speculation and suspicions while knowing nothing about him. And frankly, how can you know so much about all these schools? You’ve personally had children at all of them? 🙄

I know enough about these schools as I am from the Baltimore private school world and have family in Houston that it's undeniable Tatnall is a major step down from the previous two schools in general prestige. It is intriguing one would make this decision. Maybe he wanted to step back from a higher profile and higher pressure role for a while. Will say Landon is also a school that falls into the high profile category and the search committee chose him, so whatever the reasons were they did not hold it against him. Not wishing him anything but best luck in his new role.

Maybe he and his family didn't want to live in Texas or Houston anymore? Maybe they wanted to get back to the mid-atlantic? Not every job move is based purely on prestige. Other factors of a job matter, including location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM, never disappoints. I'm here for the comments (popcorn in hand).

DCUM is terrible. It’s like the people who speculated about Kate while she had cancer.

[Anonymous]

Great hire by Landon and its board.

Incoming headmaster fits the Landon mode, he should do very well there.

Good luck to him and the Landon community.