Director of Culture and Community

Mid-Peninsula High School (Mid-Pen), an independent, coeducational high school in Menlo Park, CA, is seeking an energetic, deeply relational, and student-centered Director of Culture and Community to join its Administrative Team. Founded to serve students in grades 9–12, Mid-Pen is a mission-driven school known for its commitment to student well-being and its belief that high school should lift you up, not weigh you down. The Director of Culture and Community will play a central leadership role in sustaining and advancing a school culture that supports students’ social, emotional, and community life.

Mid-Pen champions a majority neurodiverse student population, many of whom have not always felt successful in more traditional school environments. Students often arrive having experienced exclusion or a sense of being “less than” elsewhere. Mid-Pen actively combats that as a school purposefully designed to be different – a school that actively dismantles stigma, embraces creativity and individuality, and affirms students for who they are. Strong relationships and teamwork among adults shape daily life on campus and inform the school’s student-centered culture.

As Mid-Pen continues to evolve, the school recognizes the importance of actively stewarding its culture while building shared responsibility for community well-being across students and adults. Culture does not maintain itself, particularly in a community serving a student population where the majority have documented learning differences and who bring a wide range of social-emotional experiences and needs. The Director of Culture and Community will reflect this understanding and will be central to translating the school’s values into consistent, community-wide practice.

The Director of Culture and Community works closely with the Head of School, Karen Eshoo, and members of the entire staffulty, serving as a visible and accessible presence in the life of the school. While experience working with neurodiverse students and an understanding of learning differences are important, the role does not require clinical or diagnostic expertise; rather, it calls for a relational leader who can partner effectively with specialists while stewarding the broader cultural and community landscape. In this role, the Director guides culture-related initiatives that reinforce student belonging, community accountability, and healthy social dynamics; partners closely with families around shared norms and restorative practices; and stewards Mid-Pen’s culture by strengthening restorative practices, aiding student social development, and building shared adult capacity for culture work across classrooms and programs. Success will require a leader who is comfortable navigating complexity, working collaboratively within a lean leadership structure, and balancing empathy with clarity. Above all, Mid-Pen seeks a leader who feels called to this work and is inspired by the opportunity to contribute to a school whose mission is both meaningful and consequential.

https://www.strategenius.org/opportunity-mid-pen-hs-director-culture-community