Head of School Search

Announcement of New Head of School

Dear Grace Episcopal School Community,

Selecting a new Head of School is an exciting and important time in the life of our Grace School community, affirming our values and strengths and forging new ways to serve our students, families and communities.

The Grace Episcopal School Board is delighted to announce that Interim Head of School Amanda Hungerford, University of Virginia BA, MA, has accepted our invitation to serve as the next Head of Grace Episcopal School, effective immediately.

No one is more invested in Grace School and its success than Amanda. She knows and loves Grace to its core. Amanda is about to celebrate her 20th year in service to Grace and its students. She has been a Grace teacher, admissions officer, financial aid director, Assistant Head of School and parent. Amanda and her husband, Stephen, are Grace parents to daughters Rebecca (GES ’24, a lifer) and Katherine (GES Second Grade).

Amanda’s appointment is the culmination of an exhaustive and highly deliberative, competitive process. The Board last summer selected The Education Group (TEG) to lead the Grace Head of School search. TEG conducted surveys, interviews, and focus groups to distill our stakeholders’ priorities. TEG created the position description, undertook a national search, and presented a competitive slate of candidates with a rich diversity of backgrounds and experience. The Head of School Search Committee consulted with stakeholders from the parent, alumni parent, faculty, Vestry, and Church ranks. The committee conducted five semi-finalist interviews and narrowed the field to three finalists who visited Grace in January and participated in additional interviews with parents, School Board members, and faculty and staff. The Board also met with each of the three finalists in closed sessions during which the Board was able to ask questions and evaluate each candidate.

At the conclusion of its process, the Search Committee made a unanimous recommendation to the Board.

The GES School Board went above and beyond to ensure we selected the best person to fulfill our mission and unanimously approved the Search Committee’s recommendation to appoint Amanda. The Grace Episcopal Church Vestry enthusiastically ratified our selection. Amanda represents a bright future for Grace School while also respecting our history, traditions, and culture that make Grace the wonderful community that it is.

Selecting the leader of our beloved school is the Board’s most fundamental responsibility. We share our gratitude for the many people involved in this process: parents, faculty and staff, Church partners, and other stakeholders. To our parent community in particular, thank you for engaging in this process and offering feedback on our candidates. We know this decision is of paramount importance to you all and we appreciate the trust you have placed in us. We are confident that your participation in this process was integral to our reaching this most important decision.

The Board deeply appreciates the hard work of our Search Committee – Chair Laura Haines, Claire Ernst, Heath Huff, Robin Meriweather, Evan Robinson, and Father Santiago Rodriguez – who devoted countless hours and great care to ensuring the best outcome. We also thank the TEG team for bringing forward an incredibly talented slate. 

We are confident that Amanda will be an outstanding leader for Grace and the entire School community, and look forward to Grace’s next chapter under her leadership.

Paul Bellantoni           Danielle Davis

Keith Davis                   Viju Dilley

Lauren Gustafson        Andrew Johnson

Jennifer Long               Suzanne O’Malley

Rebecca Prosser           Mike Sawers

Jenny Voces