The search process for a new Laboratory Schools director began this month. An advisory committee of community representatives, aided by an outside search firm, will take community input and vet candidates. By late winter, the committee is projected to select a candidate, who will take up the post by the start of the 2021-22 school year. 

A community announcement sent Sept. 16 introduced the members of the Lab Search Advisory Committee. The committee, composed of parents, board members and representatives from the lower, middle and high schools, is headed by co-chairs Daniel Abebe, University of Chicago vice provost, and Jason Tyler, a 1989 alumnus who is now a board member and parent.

The committee will vet candidates from a pool created by Storbeck & Associates, an executive search firm, whose role was laid out in an initial Sept. 1 announcement. 

 The position was left vacant after former director Charlie Abelmann stepped down May 6. Since then, David Magill, who retired from the post in 2014, has stepped in as interim director. 

“I think they will be looking for a person who believes in the mission of the schools, a person who doesn’t mind the size of the schools, because we are very large for a private or independent school, a person who is excited by the fact that people are coming from all over the world, and [that] we have a diverse and rich number of students and families,” Mr. Magill said.  

The Sept. 16 announcement also outlined how the Lab community could engage in the early days of the search. Next steps include posting a position profile to the director search website, which will in part be written based on responses to a community survey. The Lab community can also contribute to the search by sending email to [email protected]. 

“I know that they are going to be allowing people to be part of the interview process, including students, parents, teachers and alumni,” Mr. Magill said. “They want to bring as many people into this process as they possibly can, so that at the end of the day, we’re going to feel really good about the person who’s going to be in the role.”