• Love of young children and commitment to supporting their parents as they enter the early years of their children’s “formal” schooling;
• Commitment to Leila Day’s Five Core Competencies: Problem-solving through play; Nature-based learning; Expression and communication; Ethical values; and Sense of self;
• A commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and a passion for providing the best in early childhood education to diverse families;
• Deep understanding of early childhood development, play-based learning, and experience working with young children;
• Excellent leadership and management skills, reflected in a strong, steady hand; commitment to collaboration; a community-wide growth mindset; and a distributed leadership model that includes strong supervision and performance assessment;
• Ability to sustain a safe, happy place in which to work and learn;
• Capacity to lead and participate in both enrollment management and fundraising for the school;
• Strength in oral and written communication;
• Proven success as a team builder, both at the faculty/staff and administrative levels;
• Ability to work in partnership with the Board of Managers, and to be flexible and creative in problem-solving;
• Experience in overseeing plant management and financial well-being of an organization, coupled with the patience for, and understanding of, the nuances involved in managing people;
• A record of successful hiring practices and staff retention; and
• An understanding of the changing landscape of early childhood education and interest in interacting with fellow early childhood leaders in the greater New Haven community.

Information for candidates