Burgundy Farm Country Day School, a progressive JK-8 school set on a pastoral 26-acre former dairy farm just outside Washington, D.C., seeks a relational, strategic, and community-centered leader to serve as its next Director of Admissions.

Burgundy offers something genuinely rare in the competitive DC metropolitan independent schools market: an education that is experiential, joyfully student-centered, and academically rigorous. For a mission-driven admissions leader, this is an opportunity to join a school where children are known as whole people, where a close-knit community of students, families, faculty, and alumni is central to the experience, and where the work of admissions carries real impact for the school's future.

Burgundy's culture is as distinctive as its campus. Built on kindness, respect, and a genuine belief that every voice matters, Burgundy is a school where children arrive each morning with joy and leave each afternoon happy and fulfilled, having spent much of their day outdoors, engaging the natural world and former farm campus as a living classroom. Faculty bring deep experience and knowledge to their work, teaching with the kind of creativity and conviction that comes from professional autonomy. Families are not peripheral to the Burgundy experience; they are woven into its fabric, forming a multigenerational community that extends well beyond the years their children are enrolled. And threaded through everything is a deep and sincere commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to preparing students to engage thoughtfully and compassionately with a complex, diverse world.

Burgundy enters its next chapter with real momentum and a clear-eyed sense of the work ahead. Enrollment growth is the priority: expanding the school's reach across the greater DMV region, telling Burgundy’s story and impact, connecting with communities and families who may not yet know Burgundy, and building a broader and more diverse enrollment pipeline. Equally important is helping families understand that Burgundy's progressive, experiential approach produces graduates who are academically and socially prepared and who thrive and contribute in diverse ways to their high school communities. Burgundy graduates are in demand for their remarkable talents, and through them, Burgundy makes a special contribution to the DMV community and to the world. That is a story worth telling with clarity and conviction, and the incoming Director will be its primary author. As Burgundy enters its 80th year, the School must be enrolled more fully in order to thrive for another 80.  For the right leader, this is a chance to shape how one of the region's most distinctive schools is known and to build a strong maximum enrollment.

Reporting to Head of School Jeff Sindler and serving as a member of the Administrative Team, the Director of Admissions leads all aspects of enrollment management, including recruitment, admissions, financial aid, and re-enrollment, while supervising the Admissions Coordinator and partnering closely with colleagues across the school. This is a role that sits at the intersection of relationship and strategy, requiring someone who is equally at home building a connection with a prospective family and architecting a long-term enrollment plan. It calls for a leader who moves through the community with genuine curiosity and care, who becomes a true student of what makes Burgundy distinctive, and who brings both the vision to imagine what Burgundy's enrollment future could look like and the drive to make it real.

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES

In close partnership with the Head of School, the Administrative Team, and key members of the Burgundy community, the Director will lead and strengthen the school’s enrollment efforts by prioritizing the following:

• Design and implement a cohesive admissions recruitment and yield events strategy, bringing clarity and purpose to the calendar and ensuring each interaction meaningfully engages prospective families
• Grow and diversify the enrollment pipeline by expanding outreach across the greater DMV region, including deeper engagement in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, building sustained relationships with feeder schools, community organizations, and mission-aligned partners, and ensuring that recruitment strategies intentionally reflect the school's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Articulate and amplify Burgundy’s story in ways that clearly communicate the rigor, distinctiveness, and long-term value of its progressive, experiential educational approach
• Strengthen family engagement and retention efforts by building meaningful, ongoing relationships with families from initial inquiry through graduation, ensuring a consistent, supportive, and deeply personal experience over time
• Elevate students, parents, and alumni as ambassadors, including revitalizing the student ambassador program and more intentionally leveraging community voices to share the Burgundy experience
• Foster a sense of shared ownership of admissions work across the community, engaging faculty, staff, and colleagues in communications, advancement, and academic leadership as active partners in welcoming prospective families, ensuring consistent messaging, and supporting the school's long-term enrollment health
• Bring structure, clarity, and consistency to admissions operations, ensuring a thoughtful, responsive experience for families while using data to inform strategy and decision-making

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Strategic Enrollment Leadership

• Oversees all aspects of the admissions operation, including recruitment, admissions, financial aid, retention, and re-enrollment
• Serves as a member of the Administrative Team, collaborating closely with the Head of School, division heads, faculty, and business office to align enrollment goals with programmatic priorities and long-term financial sustainability.
• Supervises the Admissions Coordinator and partners closely with the school’s Database Manager to ensure accurate and efficient management of enrollment and contract processes. Oversees the integrity and effective use of enrollment data systems (e.g., Veracross, Ravenna)
• Provides regular enrollment reports and data analysis to the Head of School and Board of Trustees

Recruiting & Outreach

• Leads all aspects of the recruitment and admissions process, ensuring a highly personalized, responsive, and mission-driven experience for prospective families
• Meets with and communicates effectively with all prospective families
• Designs and executes a high-touch, relationship-centered follow-up system to guide families through inquiry, application, financial aid, and enrollment
• Represents the school at local and regional fairs, events, and professional associations
• Executes open house and targeted recruitment events in collaboration with faculty, parents, students, and school leadership
• Oversees all aspects of the application process, including scheduling visits, coordinating assessments and interviews, managing application review, and communicating admissions decisions
• Attends and manages evening and weekend events

Enrollment Management & Operations

• Partners with faculty and staff to support a consistent, mission-aligned experience for prospective and current families
• Collaborates with teachers and administrators to effectively communicate the school’s program, values, and student experience to prospective families
• Works closely with the business office on enrollment forecasting, tuition strategy, and financial planning. Develops and manages the admissions and enrollment budget, including marketing and outreach expenditures
• Directs and oversees Burgundy’s Parent and Student Ambassador program that helps welcome new families to the school
• Maintains longitudinal enrollment data and generates reports to inform strategy and institutional planning
• Conducts regular surveys and gathers feedback from prospective and current families to continuously improve the admissions and enrollment experience
• Performs other duties as assigned by the Head of School

 QUALITIES AND ATTRIBUTES

This is a role for someone who is both a connector and a builder: someone who moves through the community with curiosity and care, gets into classrooms, listens to teachers, and becomes a true student of what makes Burgundy distinctive, not to repeat talking points, but to tell its story with conviction. The successful candidate will be equally at home building a relationship with a prospective family and architecting a five-year enrollment strategy. They will bring genuine warmth and ease with people alongside strategic clarity and creative drive to position the school in a competitive market. The ideal candidate will have deep personal and professional alignment with progressive education, understanding not only what it means but how to make it compelling to families who may not yet know why it matters. They will be highly organized and operationally strong, comfortable rolling up their sleeves and executing the day-to-day work of a lean admissions operation while also bringing the boldness and creativity to expand the school's reach and reimagine how Burgundy finds and welcomes new families.

Additional qualities and attributes include:

• Comfort with data not only as a reporting tool but as a strategic instrument, gathering, interpreting, and presenting enrollment intelligence to inform decisions and guide institutional planning
• A collaborative mindset and the credibility to generate buy-in across faculty, staff, and parent communities, fostering a sense of shared ownership of enrollment as a school-wide endeavor
• Comfort with difficult conversations, whether navigating a challenging admissions decision with a family or making the case internally for greater community participation in enrollment
• Familiarity with the DC metropolitan independent school market, including its competitive dynamics, key communities, and prospective family landscape, is a meaningful asset

 QUALIFICATIONS AND REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent required
• Leadership experience in admissions, enrollment management, or a closely related field, ideally within an independent or mission-driven school environment
• Demonstrated success in developing and implementing enrollment or recruitment strategies, from initial planning through execution
• A proven track record of building or rebuilding enrollment in a competitive or enrollment-challenged environment, with demonstrated success in growing inquiries, visits, application volume, and yield
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and ability to engage and enroll families from a wide range of backgrounds and to contribute to a diverse and inclusive school community
• Exceptional interpersonal, communication, and relationship-building skills
• Strong commitment to customer service and community engagement
• Ability to collaborate effectively across departments, including faculty, administration, and business office
• Strong analytical skills and experience using data to inform decision-making
• High level of professionalism, discretion, and sound judgment
• Experience with enrollment management systems such as Veracross and Ravenna preferred

MISSION STATEMENT 

Burgundy Farm Country Day School believes that children learn best in an inclusive, creative, and nurturing environment that engages the whole child. Burgundy’s innovative, hands-on approach to education cultivates independent thinking, promotes academic excellence, instills respect for diversity, and teaches responsibility for self, for others, and for the natural world.

DIVERSITY AND EQUITY STATEMENT 

Burgundy embraces the actions needed to maintain a diverse school community and facilitate the complex conversations that will help us all make sense of history, current events, and our ever-evolving world. Our children are coming of age in an increasingly diverse and globalized world, and they must be prepared for it. A Burgundy Farm Country Day School graduate will embody the sensibilities and demonstrate the knowledge necessary to lead from a position of multicultural and cross-cultural competence in order to:

•  recognize and connect with our common humanity;
• acknowledge and have empathy for the different and at times painful experiences of others;
• foster the sharing of diverse values and ideas;
• facilitate engagement in creative and innovative processes of change as advocates for justice and equity; and
• become a thoughtful leader in a world that is more complex and diverse than ever before.

THE SCHOOL

Burgundy Farm Country Day School is a progressive, coeducational day school serving approximately 250 students from junior kindergarten through eighth grade in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. Founded on the belief that children learn best through active engagement, Burgundy emphasizes hands-on, interdisciplinary learning that nurtures curiosity, creativity, and independence, and extends that learning, for every student, across two remarkable campuses.

Burgundy's approach reflects a deep commitment to educating the whole child, balancing academic rigor with social-emotional development, environmental stewardship, and a strong sense of community. Students develop not only as scholars but as independent thinkers, collaborators, and responsible stewards of the natural world, qualities that are woven into the fabric of daily life at Burgundy and that follow graduates long after they leave.

 THE PROGRAM

Burgundy's academic program is grounded in a progressive educational philosophy that values active, student-centered learning and a deep respect for childhood. Across the grades, students engage in interdisciplinary study, inquiry, and hands-on exploration that invite them to think critically, make connections across subjects, and participate meaningfully in their own learning. The result is a program that is dynamic and developmentally responsive while also intentionally structured to build strong academic foundations. At Burgundy, that progressive approach is not separate from academic rigor; it is what produces it.

Burgundy's program is academically serious, and the outcomes speak for themselves. Students are challenged to develop core skills, communicate clearly, analyze thoughtfully, and apply their learning in increasingly sophisticated ways as they move through the school. Graduates go on to attend a wide range of competitive independent, public, and specialized high schools across the Washington, DC region, including Sidwell Friends, Georgetown Day, Maret, National Cathedral School, St. Stephen's and St. Agnes, Madeira, Episcopal High School, and Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Burgundy also supports families through a structured high school placement process that begins in seventh grade.

Early Childhood (Grades JK–1)

Burgundy’s Early Childhood program is grounded in a deep respect for young children as capable, curious learners who make sense of the world through play, exploration, and relationship. Classrooms are intentionally designed to foster creativity, language development, and early numeracy while supporting social growth and a strong sense of belonging. Teachers guide students through hands-on experiences and open-ended inquiry, creating environments where children feel safe to take risks, express themselves, work and share with others, and develop confidence in their emerging abilities.

Daily routines and learning experiences are structured to support both independence and community, helping children build foundational habits such as cooperation, communication, and self-regulation. Through a balance of guided instruction and exploratory learning, students begin to develop the skills and dispositions that will support their continued growth as learners in the years ahead.

Lower School (Grades 2–5)

In the Lower School, students build on the foundations established in Early Childhood through increasingly structured academic experiences that develop core skills in literacy, mathematics, and critical thinking. Instruction is designed to deepen understanding while maintaining opportunities for inquiry and exploration, allowing students to engage meaningfully with content while continuing to develop confidence and independence.

As students progress through the Lower School, they are expected to take on greater responsibility for their learning, engaging in more sustained work, collaborative projects, and reflective thinking. Teachers support this growth by creating classrooms that balance challenge with support, helping students strengthen their academic skills while also developing the habits of mind, organization, problem-solving, and self-awareness that prepare them for the transition to middle school.

Middle School (Grades 6–8)

In the Middle School, Burgundy students engage in more advanced and demanding academic work while continuing to benefit from the school’s student-centered approach. Coursework requires deeper reading, writing, analysis, and discussion, with students expected to think critically, communicate clearly, and engage thoughtfully with multiple perspectives. Interdisciplinary study remains a key feature of the program, allowing students to make connections across subject areas and apply their learning in meaningful ways.

At the same time, the Middle School experience supports students as they grow into more independent and self-aware learners. Faculty work closely with students to help them manage increasing academic expectations, develop organizational skills, demonstrate appreciation for diversity, and build confidence in their ability to advocate for themselves and create an inclusive community. This balance of challenge and support prepares students well for secondary school and contributes to their success in a wide range of selective, top-tier high school environments.

Experiential & Outdoor Learning

Experiential learning is central to Burgundy's program across all grade levels. Students learn by doing, through projects, fieldwork, and hands-on exploration, engaging academic content in ways that are active, meaningful, and connected to the world around them. This approach encourages curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking while helping students develop the ability to apply their learning in real-world contexts.

Outdoor learning is not a supplement to the academic program at Burgundy; it is woven into its core. Students move fluidly between classroom and campus, using the school's woods, pond, barn, and fields as active learning environments. These experiences deepen students' understanding of scientific concepts and environmental systems while cultivating the habits of observation, investigation, and wonder that define a Burgundy education.

Cooper’s Cove and the Burgundy Center for Wildlife Studies

No element of Burgundy's program captures its educational philosophy more fully than the Burgundy Center for Wildlife Studies, located at Cooper's Cove, the school's 506-acre campus nestled in the mountains of West Virginia. Beginning in first grade, students travel to the Cove several times each year for multi-day, immersive field experiences that connect academic content to direct observation of the natural world. Away from the distractions of modern life and surrounded by field, forest, stream, and ridge, students engage in the kind of deep, place-based learning that is simply not possible within four walls. These experiences foster independence, resilience, scientific inquiry, and a profound sense of community, and they leave a lasting mark on every student who makes the journey.

CAMPUS & GEOGRAPHY

Often described as a "true hidden gem" in the DC metropolitan area, Burgundy's Alexandria campus surprises first-time visitors with how accessible this unique setting is from most of the region. Burgundy’s partially wooded former dairy farm campus just outside the Washington, DC Beltway creates anticipation and a dramatic shift the moment visitors turn onto its gravel driveway. The 26-acre Alexandria campus includes plentiful mature woods with walking trails, a pond with a learning dock, a barn with farm animals, a large sledding hill and playing field, and ample space for students to roam and explore. Colorful, light-filled, and uniquely designed classrooms open directly to the outdoors, reflecting Burgundy's belief that students learn best in a welcoming, creative, and friendly environment.

Burgundy's campus story doesn't end in Alexandria. Beginning in first grade, students and teachers travel to the Burgundy Center for Wildlife Studies at Cooper's Cove, the school's 506-acre campus in West Virginia, for several days each fall and spring for academic immersion. Home to diverse wildlife, Cooper's Cove encompasses field, thicket, forest, stream, and pond, extending to a ridge with a panoramic view of an Appalachian valley. The remote setting and the deliberate avoidance of modern distractions give students direct experience with nature that supports their growth as scientists, individuals, and responsible stewards of the planet. Together, these two campuses give Burgundy a truly distinctive footprint that is equal parts neighborhood school and wilderness classroom.

The Alexandria section of Fairfax County sits adjacent to Old Town Alexandria, the Pentagon, and the District of Columbia, and is a highly desirable area for its easy access to the region's major corridors. Alexandria consistently ranks as one of the best places in the country to live, work, and play, with the region offering an extraordinary range of cultural institutions, dining, parks, and recreational opportunities, all within easy reach of one of the world's great capital cities. As the most populous jurisdiction in Virginia, Fairfax County borders both the City of Alexandria and Arlington County and is home to major government and private-sector employers, giving the area a dynamic, internationally-minded character. For those considering a move to the region, the Northern Virginia/DC metro area offers an unmatched combination of intellectual vitality, cultural diversity, historic richness, and proximity to national institutions.

2025-2026 At A Glance

2 campuses - 26-acre main campus in VA; 506-acre wildlife sanctuary in WV

Enrollment: 253

Students of color: 42%

Number of faculty & staff: ~80

Teachers’ average years of experience: 15.5

Average Student/Teacher Ratio: 6:1

Average class size: 14

Students receiving financial assistance: 34%

Average financial assistance award per student: $20,500

PROCEDURE TO APPLY

Burgundy Farm Country Day School actively maintains its commitment to equal opportunity for all people. To fulfill this commitment, we recruit, hire, promote, and retain individuals in all job titles without regard to race, color, religion, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth and related medical conditions), gender identity or expression, age, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, military status, or disability.

Interested candidates should CLICK HERE to submit the following materials confidentially in a single PDF file:

• A cover letter indicating your particular interest in and qualifications for the position
• A current resume
• The names, email addresses, and telephone numbers of five references, including at least two recent supervisors. References should speak to your ability to be an effective educator and administrator, to work successfully with children, and to work collaboratively and collegially with adults (references will be contacted only with the candidate’s permission). Please indicate your relationship with each reference (i.e. supervisor, colleague, or direct report).

Please address any questions by email to johneric@strategenius.org

Salary Range: $125,000-133,000

SEARCH CALENDAR

• Application deadline: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with priority given to those submitted by Friday, May 15, 2026
• Semi-finalist interviews: Late May 2026
• Finalist interviews: Early June 2026
• Announcement: Early June 2026
• Start date: July 2026

About Burgundy Farm Country Day School

At Burgundy, education is a cooperative enterprise in which a community of students, teachers, and families works together to benefit the educational process.

Connections working at Burgundy Farm Country Day School