After more than six years of service to our community, it is with sadness that our dedicated Head of School, Judith Foley Arnstein, will be concluding her tenure as of July 1st, 2024. Judith has been a steadfast leader of our Charleston Day School family. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Judith for her exceptional leadership and her many contributions to our school.
Please join the Board in expressing our deepest gratitude to Judith for all she has done for CDS students, teachers, and families as she embarks on this new chapter in her life.
The School is pleased to announce that Barbara Beachley has been appointed as our Interim Head of School for the 2024-25 school year.
Barbara earned her bachelor’s degree in French and Spanish from Trinity College in Connecticut and her master’s degree in applied linguistics from Boston University. She earned her second master’s degree in education administration from Harvard University and a third master’s degree in independent school leadership from the Klingenstein Center at Teachers College, Columbia University. Barbara began her journey as an educator in 1996 serving as a language teacher, department chair, and academic dean.
In 2011, Barbara began working as a consultant with Independent School Management (ISM), a leading, world-wide consulting firm that specializes in supporting independent schools. During her 13-year tenure with ISM, Barbara began as a consultant, became Director of Research, and ultimately sat on ISM’s leadership team as Executive Director of Organizational Learning and Development. Her areas of expertise include academic leadership; employee culture, evaluation, and growth; organizational systems; and student-centered and brain-based pedagogy.
During her time with ISM, she became familiar with Charleston Day School as ISM was retained to assist the Board of Trustees with strategic and long-range planning. This work included spending time on campus and meeting with faculty, staff, students, and parents. This working knowledge of our community and culture makes Barbara uniquely qualified to serve as our Interim Head of School.
Her education, training, and expertise will be a significant asset over the next 12 months as we remain focused on delivering the best possible K-8 education and experience to our students.
Charleston Day has retained Carney, Sandoe & Associates (CS&A), an internationally recognized education search and recruitment, consulting, and coaching firm, to partner with us in the search for our next Head of School. CS&A brings deep knowledge of independent schools from over 45 years of experience guiding schools through their searches for exceptional heads of school. We are excited to work with Marsha Little and Charlie Britton as our consultants. We are confident that our partnership with Marsha, Charlie and CS&A will produce great results.
The Board of Trustees has assembled a Search Committee, whose members will work closely with our search co-chairs, Jamie Hood and Ann E. Rice Ervin, and our consultants throughout this process.
Visit our dedicated Search Page for the latest update.
At Charleston Day School, our 15-member volunteer Board is steadfastly committed to strategic planning. The Board utilizes the Strategic Plan as a framework to guide the school’s direction, prioritize resources, and drive decision-making processes. The plan outlines CDS’ mission, vision, goals, and strategies, providing a roadmap for achieving long-term success.
