Progressive K-8 School Welcomes Mission-Driven Leader as Lower School Division Director

Live Oak School, a K-8 independent school in the heart of urban San Francisco, believes that the best learning happens when students are actively engaged in the process — thinking deeply, exploring ideas, and trying on strategies for solving problems. The school’s approach to teaching and learning is deeply rooted in progressive tradition and informed by contemporary research. Live Oak anchors its instructional program around the students as individual learners, determined to prepare them for the opportunities that will define the lives of graduates in the twenty-first century.

In 2024, Live Oak transitioned to a new program leadership model to provide even greater support for day-to-day divisional management, while still allowing for continued progress on strategic program priorities. Both division directors (Lower School and Middle School) report to the head of divisions, who next year will become the associate head of school. Because this model was finalized only late in the spring earlier this calendar year, the school appointed one-year acting directors for both divisions from within the faculty for the 24-25 school year.

This search called for both permanent division directors concurrently in the fall of 2024, in advance of the 25-26 year. The LSDD supervises, coaches, and evaluates all faculty in grades K-4, and oversees several areas of the lower school academic program, including: implementation for curricular and student strategies; communication and engagement with guardians; and student success and restorative practices. With a highly interconnected educational environment, Live Oak ran both these searches at the same time— to identify mission-aligned divisional leaders eager to collaborate with each other and other members of the Program Leadership Team, which starting in 25-26 will be led by the associate head of school.

Live Oak School was thrilled to welcome Regina Hardatt to the position.