Tracy Fedonchik
Each month RG175 does a "deeper dive" to get to know one of our Independent School colleagues. This month we are spotlighting Tracy Fedonchik. Tracy joined the St. Luke’s community as Head of School in 2023. Before coming to St. Luke’s, she spent 21 years at The Dalton School.Tracy began her career there as an associate teacher in Grade 3 and steadily advanced as an educator and administrator. She eventually became a Grade 3 lead teacher, a Grade 5 Language Arts, Social Studies, and Mathematics teacher, an Assistant Middle School Director, and, in 2017, the Middle School Director.
With a BA in English Literature and Creative Writing from Fairfield University, Tracy had an early start in the business world. She decided in 2002 to switch careers to pursue education—earning an MS in Teaching Literacy and Childhood General Education from the Bank Street College of Education. Outside of school, Tracy is a proud mom and wife, an amateur photographer, an avid walker, hiker, and biker, a fan of podcasts, and the sidekick to the family Dachshund, Pip’n.
What’s your connection to RG175?
One of the things that is so special about RG175 is that the consultants are professionals who have worked in the independent school world for years. My first interaction with RG175 was through Tony Featherston. From that moment when he and I began discussions about my professional future beyond the walls of my then current school, I was confident that Tony was a partner in my pursuit to serve children, develop professionally, and consider what was possible. Over time, whether working with RG175 on retained searches or as a candidate, I met and reconnected with other consultants. For example, when I worked with Jerry Katz, we discussed the unique relationship independent schools can have with the religious institutions with whom they are or were once affiliated. Each consultant brings their own unique gifts to the search process. Yet, what ties them all together is their personalized attention and deep expertise in the nuances of leadership in today’s independent school world.
Can you summarize your experience working with RG175?
I love working with RG175. They are consummate professionals who genuinely care about their partners and build enduring relationships with both their candidates and clients. By investing the time and resources necessary, RG175 authentically understands the needs of individuals and schools as well as the opportunities they offer one another. Each time I worked with consultants at RG175, I was impressed with their immediate grasp of me as a candidate and how knowledgeable they were about the needs, opportunities, and challenges of each school they represented. The consultants show genuine care and are committed to creating strong pools of diverse and engaged candidates. While the ultimate goal is to fill an open role at a school, the process consistently feels relational, never transactional. For example, Tony, Doreen, and Jerry were present throughout my search process to answer questions, provide insights, and bring organization and humanity to the process. Even after I was appointed as Head of School at St. Luke’s, they continued to provide guidance both to the school and me through the onboarding process. I even worked with Tony throughout my first year as a trusted consultant, coaching me on the intricacies of first-year headship and governance.
If you had one thing to recommend to other candidates, what would it be?
When I think about my son’s college admission process or when I advise families at admissions or high school placement events, I consistently emphasize the importance of “fit.” There is no way to be a perfect candidate or a perfect school, but finding the right fit is essential to finding success, feeling seen, and making a difference. To find the right fit, it is important that candidates take the time to know themselves, what they are looking for, what they can offer a community, and what they have to learn. It is also important to take the time to understand the schools through their position statements, websites, news, and testimonials.
I recommend that candidates engage honestly and openly in the search process and ask questions throughout. From my first conversation with Tony in 2020 to the announcement of my appointment in the early fall of 2022, I grew enormously as a candidate, school leader, and human being. I learned about myself in honest and exciting ways, truly finding my voice. I feel fortunate to have found my home at St. Luke’s, a place that is such a strong fit with who I am as a leader, what I believe about children and how they learn, and the change I hope our students will make as they continue to grow and learn about themselves.
What do you enjoy most about your job as it pertains to Independent Schools?
I am—and always will be—a classroom teacher at heart. What I love about independent schools is that they are mission-driven, and consequently, the classroom experience is an embodiment of that mission. As the Head of School, I most enjoy the connection between my work, the mission of the school, and the classroom experience for our children. While I don’t get to spend as much physical time in the classroom anymore, I am able to build community, champion equity, make decisions, engage in change, collaborate with trustees, build teams, and strategically plan in ways that serve my school’s mission, which ultimately serves our children and how they experience teaching and learning.
Independent schools are purpose-driven spaces. Our schools engage and motivate students, parents, faculty, and staff to work toward a shared understanding that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. This work, while sometimes challenging, is also joyful and humbling. I feel so incredibly fortunate to be an independent school leader—what a gift it is.