NEMNET - Job Description

  

  
Head of Lower School
Greenhills School [MI]
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Salary:
Date Posted: 4/27/2025
 
Job ID: 80751
Position/Title: Head of Lower School
Employer: Greenhills School [MI]
Department: Adminstration
Category / Heading #1: Administration  Division Head/Principal - Assistant Division Head Lower/Elementary Sch
Category / Heading #2:  
Category / Heading #3:  
Status: FullTime
 
 
Job Description/Responsibilities:

Greenhills School, an independent day school currently enrolling approximately 720 students in grades 6 – 12, is seeking a visionary elementary school educator to both build and manage a program for grades pre-K–5. With the recent unification of a local pre-K–8 independent school, Greenhills plans to open its doors in the fall of 2026 to a lower school campus with the eventual capacity of 150–180 students, bringing the total Greenhills School enrollment to 850–900. 

Greenhills seeks a dynamic, experienced, passionate, and nurturing leader for its next Head of  Lower School. We seek a pedagogical leader and caretaker who has the capacity to form meaningful relationships with up to 180 creative and curious lower school students from diverse backgrounds and who has the qualities that make for a natural instructional leader amongst a strong team of extraordinary teachers. Most importantly, Greenhills seeks a builder: someone with the capacity and professional experience to help create a lower school that prepares students for entry into our strong and robust 6th grade program on the middle and upper school campus. 

While we seek a thought partner as we design the curriculum, our lower school program will include instruction in languages, humanities, math, science, wellness and the arts, which support our lower school students in developing interests, passions and skills across a range of disciplines. We recognize each student’s areas of strength and growth and want all to have a deep sense of belonging, and feel affirmed with respect to their individual identities. 

Teachers at Greenhills provide students with rich and meaningful learning experiences that inspire them to be lifelong learners and challenge them to take their places as informed, responsible, engaged citizens of their local, national, and global communities. Our lower school program will reinforce the school’s broader mission to “help young students develop their full potential as curious, creative, and responsible citizens who respect all individuals and their differences, and whose meaningful and balanced lives will better the world.”

Greenhills School is eager to consider applications from a diverse mix of talented people who want to join us as student centered educators and role models who bring joy and good humor to our classrooms, fields, and offices, employ a broad array of effective instructional methods, work collaboratively with colleagues, seek and respond to student feedback, and commit to reflective practice and continual growth. We pride ourselves on being a warm and welcoming inclusive community.

Program design and preparation for the 2026-27 academic year will need to begin as early as Fall of 2025, with a yearly contract beginning July 1, 2026.
 
 
Minimum Degree: BS
Certification Required: No
Minimum Experience: 5-7 Years

 
Qualifications:
  • The ideal candidate will:
    • be a student-centered educator, skilled in fostering persistent problem solving
    • demonstrate a love of working with children and adolescents and have extensive knowledge about early adolescents’ intellectual, social, and emotional development and be willing to positively greet the challenges and opportunities they present
    • be eager to partner effectively with other directors and staff throughout the school, and seeks out opportunities for collaboration
    • be a lifelong learner, committed to fostering our lower schoolers’ incredible growth, autonomy, kindness, and resilience, and their developing identities
    • value and embrace diversity, exhibiting a high degree of cultural competency and demonstrated success in working with people from diverse backgrounds
    • have a sense of humor, and a joyful commitment to their work on behalf of students
    • Be able to work effectively under pressure and within time constraints while maintaining an optimistic and growth-oriented mindset.
  • Education: BA/BS undergraduate and advanced degree required.
  • Work Experience: Minimum of five years experience in a relevant position that includes work with children in this age group, including teaching, administrative and supervisory experience, and student advising.
  • Communication Skills: Superb written and oral communication skills that capture and effectively communicate the school’s mission to all constituencies and that enrich the school’s culture.
  • Interpersonal Skills: Superior interpersonal skills, the ability to engage effectively with students, parents, faculty, and other members of the school community in a way reflective of the school’s culture and to project professional competence, leadership capability, discretion, judgment and personal maturity.
  • Leadership: Proven track record as a leader of faculty, students and programs in independent schools, including creating a caring, dynamic culture for students, faculty /staff, and families.
  • Office environment.
  • Repetitive motion, use of keyboard.
  • Occasional light lifting and carrying.
  • Regular standing, stooping and walking to various locations on campus.
  • Greenhills School property is a tobacco-free environment.
 
Tuition Remission: Yes
Spend for Graduate Study: No
Relocation Assistance/Allowance: Yes
Support/Sponsor Work visas to overseas candidates: No
ON Campus Housing: No
OFF Campus Housing: No
 
 
Application Notes:
In your cover letter or online application with the employer, please indicate that you learned of this job from nemnet.com. Failure to do so may prevent you from qualifying for the NEMNET SIGNING BONUS.

Interested candidates should submit a cover letter with résumé/CV, a statement of teaching philosophy, and three to five references to Peter B. Fayroian, Head of School headofschool@greenhillsschool.org.

Application Deadline: We will continue reviewing applications until the position is filled.

The essential functions and basic skills have been included. It is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all functions, responsibilities, skills, and abilities. Additional functions and requirements may be assigned by supervisors as deemed appropriate. This position description is subject to change at any time.

Greenhills School is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Greenhills School does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of age, gender, religion, race, color, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, disability, or national or ancestral origin in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, athletic and other School-administered programs, or in the administration of its hiring and employment practices.

Must be legally authorized to work in the United States.


If you are hired by one of our member schools please contact NEMNET immediately via email [info@nemnet.com] or phone [888.919.1112], you may be entitled to the NEMNET SIGNING BONUS.
 
Deadline:
 
Contact Info
headofschool@greenhillsschool.org