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Governance at LFS

The School Committee, appointed by Lansdowne Friends Meeting, consists of up to fifteen members who are of members of Lansdowne Meeting and other Meetings, current and past parents, community members and alumni.  

The School Committee of LFS, like that of any Friends School, is the guardian of the school's mission.  It is the principal fiduciary of the school. It has the primary responsibility for strategic planning and for hiring and nurturing the Head of School.  It assumes overall responsibility for the health and vitality of the school while delegating to the Head responsibility for operations and the implementation of policy. 

There are six sub-committees: Advancement, Trustees, Finance, Head Support and Evaluation, Property, and the recently created Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Lansdowne Friends School is governed by a board of trustees called the School Committee. 

Principles of Good Practice, Friends Council on Education. 
A perspective on the responsibility of individual members (trustees) of independent school boards (School Committees):

  • A trustee actively supports and promotes the school's mission, is knowledgeable about the school's missions and goals as well as current operations and issues.
  • The board sets policy; the administration implements policy.  An individual trustee does not become involved in specific management, personnel, or curricular issues.
  • A trustee accepts and supports board decisions and respects board confidentiality.
  • A trustee guards against conflict of interest, whether business-related or personal.  The trustee takes care to separate the interests of the school from the specific needs of a particular child or constituency.
  • A trustee has the responsibility to support the school and its head and to demonstrate that support within the community.
  • Authority is vested in the board as a whole.  A trustee who learns of an issue has the obligation to bring it to the Head of School, or to the Board chair, and must not deal with the situation individually.
  • A trustee contributes to the development program of the school, including financial support and active involvement in annual and capital giving.
  • Each trustee, as well as the treasurer and finance committee, has fiduciary responsiblity to the school for sound financial management.

Principles of Good Practice for Member Schools,
National Association of Independent Schools

The School Committee members
for the 2023-2024 school year are:

Tara Bledsoe

Susan Chast

Latesha Colbert-Mack

Daniel Consiglio

Fabiola Desmont

Marion Henderson

Sherisse Laud-Hammond

Dawn Mercurio

Nicole Muther

Regina Powell

Sandy Sadeghi

Diana Waters

Wick Williams