Dean of Students

Position Summary

Canterbury School seeks an exceptional, highly experienced, student-centered leader to serve as Schoolwide Dean of Students and Restorative Practices. This is a senior, community-facing role responsible for ensuring that student culture, conduct, attendance, and accountability systems are coherent, consistent, and mission-aligned from our youngest learners through graduation—while maintaining a sustained, visible, day-to-day leadership presence in the Middle and Upper School.

The Dean will lead a restorative approach to school culture: proactively building community and belonging; responding to harm and conflict with practices that repair relationships and strengthen responsibility; and ensuring that accountability is real, timely, and educational rather than purely punitive. The Dean will also own attendance as a primary schoolwide focus, ensuring accurate tracking, early intervention, family partnership, and consistent enforcement of handbook expectations.

This role requires expert judgment, superb communication skills, strong operational competence, and deep fluency in restorative practices and adolescent development. The Dean will coach adults, partner with families, and build systems that improve follow-through—so expectations and policies are not merely written, but lived.

Core Responsibilities

Schoolwide Restorative Practices Leadership

• Serve as the School’s lead architect and implementer of restorative practices PK–12, ensuring developmentally appropriate practices across divisions (Early Childhood/Lower School foundations; Middle/Upper School depth and repair).
• Design and lead a multi-tiered restorative framework that includes proactive community-building practices (Tier 1) and responsive practices when harm occurs (Tier 2/3), with clear referral pathways and facilitation protocols.
• Facilitate (and build internal capacity to facilitate) restorative circles, mediations, and other practices that promote community, repair harm, and strengthen responsibility.
• Develop and maintain systems for tracking and analyzing attendance, conduct, and accountability data to inform schoolwide practices and policies.

• Master’s degree in Education, Counseling, or related field.
• 10+ years of experience in student-centered leadership roles, preferably in independent schools.
• Proven expertise in restorative practices, adolescent development, and community building.
• Excellent communication, coaching, and operational skills.
• Ability to build and maintain strong relationships with students, families, and faculty.