Lancaster Country Day School is working with a national search firm to hire a permanent head of school and head of upper school.
Both roles have been vacant since November when the school's board announced it was parting ways with former head of school Matt Micciche and former head of upper school Jenny Gabriel resigned amid fallout from an incident in which 48 Country Day students and 12 others were depicted in nude images generated using artificial intelligence.
The Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office filed charges against two teens in connection with the AI-generated pornographic images in December. Some parents of the students depicted in the images, unhappy with the administration’s handling of the incident, filed a writ of summons that names Micciche and the school in November.
A writ of summons is a legal document that informs a defendant they are being sued and must appear in court to respond to the allegations.
Interim Head of School Lewis Thayne wrote in an email statement to LNP | LancasterOnline that the school is in the preliminary phase of the search process. An update on the search process shared on the school’s website notes the school hired executive search firm RG175, which will soon provide the school an estimate on whether it will have a new head of school in July of this year or July 2026.
Lewis Thayne is currently serving as Lancaster Country Day School's interim head of school.
“The depth and availability of ideal candidates for our school at the present time will influence the start date, as we will not compromise on finding the best candidates,” the head of school search committee co-chairs 2006 Country Day graduate, Caitlin Rye Banta, and 1982 graduate Tony Spleen, wrote in a search update on the school’s website.
Thayne serves as presidential counsel through his own company, Lewis Thayne LLC, working closely with presidents, board chairs, deans and leaders of educational institutions on organizational strategy and effectiveness.
Thayne also served nearly eight years as president to Lebanon Valley College in Lebanon County and seven years as vice president for college advancement to Franklin & Marshall College.
Lindsay Delber-Wallace, who currently serves as interim head of upper school previously served as assistant head of upper school at Country Day and as a science teacher at the school.
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