STA News
Message from the Board Chair and Headmaster
A MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNING BOARD CHAIR
August 27, 2026
Dear Members of the St. Albans Community,
I write to share the bittersweet news that Jason Robinson has been named the next Head of School of The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey and will conclude his tenure as Headmaster at the end of this academic year. He shared his decision with the Governing Board over the weekend, and while St. Albans will feel his departure keenly, we offer Jason our most heartfelt congratulations on this exciting opportunity for him and his family. We have no doubt that Lawrenceville will benefit greatly from his leadership just as we have here at St. Albans.
The Board will begin a search process for our next Headmaster this fall, with the support of an experienced search firm to guide us. We look forward to working with our faculty and staff, parents, alumni, and students to reflect what this community values and what it believes St. Albans needs in its next chapter. We will communicate at each meaningful stage of the process, and you can expect the first update from the Board in the early fall including the anticipated timeline of the search and the composition of the search committee, which Leland Lim ’93, former chair of the Board and current vice chair, and I will co-chair.
We enter this academic year in a historically strong position as a school and as a community. We have managed record low tuition increases for the last three years as we seek to expand access to St. Albans’ world-class education. We have made exciting progress in the school’s Teaching and Learning Program and in Civics Education, and in enhancing our top-notch athletic program. Most importantly, St. Albans continues to produce exceptional young men who are not only talented scholars and athletes but leaders committed to the greater good.
On behalf of the Board and the St. Albans community, we thank Jason for his service to the school over the past eight years and for all the ways he has helped our sons grow into young men of character and conviction. We look forward to celebrating him and all he has given our boys throughout this year — and in the meantime, we have a full and promising school year ahead of us and I hope to see many of you on the Close this fall.
With gratitude,
Rachel Sheridan
Chair, St. Albans School Governing Board
August 27, 2026
Dear St. Albans Community,
I write today with mixed emotions to share that the 2026-27 school year, my ninth as Headmaster, will be my last at St. Albans School.
Many years ago, on the journey that led me to St. Albans, my family and I spent over a decade of our lives living and working at The Lawrenceville School, a boarding school near Princeton University. I spent six years on the faculty at Lawrenceville, serving as head of a dormitory, teaching, and coaching. Olinda worked there for over ten years. And our two daughters grew up on the campus of the school, ultimately graduating from Lawrenceville in 2015 and 2016.
When Lawrenceville’s current Head of School announced he would be retiring in June 2027, Lawrenceville reached out to me about the Head of School opportunity and ultimately offered me the position, effective July 1, 2027.
Even with the strong emotional pull Olinda and I feel given the uniquely formative role Lawrenceville played in our entire family’s life, this was a decision Olinda and I weighed very carefully as we thought about the many people at St. Albans who have touched our lives in such powerful ways and the privilege of getting to serve as this school’s Headmaster for the past eight years.
But after much reflection, we have decided to accept the offer at Lawrenceville, which means this coming school year will be my final one as the Headmaster of St. Albans.
I recall from my own transition to St. Albans in 2017 that leadership changes are complicated moments for a school community, filled with challenge and opportunity. My predecessor, Vance Wilson, shared with me during his final year that what makes St. Albans a truly great school are the boys, the faculty, and the incredibly talented senior team that together are the heart and soul of the community. Vance said that if a Head does his job well, the school is able not only to endure the Head’s departure, but continues to thrive and flourish because of the eternally strong foundations of the school. I know that will be the case here.
I am proud of all that we have achieved together and the strong position the school is in, from the historic efforts we have made to moderate tuition, the significant increases in the value of our endowment and annual giving program, the generational investment in the Little Sanctuary expansion, the advances in the Teaching and Learning Program and Civics Education, the joy and success of our boys in our revitalized athletics programs, and most of all the way in which we have sustained our distinctive sense of mission and community during an enormously complex number of years in the broader world. St. Albans continues to be a benchmark for excellence in boys education around the world, a fact I am reminded of each time I gather with other boys school educators and leaders.
My intention for the coming year is to remain wholeheartedly focused on the most important things: the well-being and flourishing of our amazing boys and the daily work of the school. To the greatest degree possible, I want the year to be defined by the boys and their journeys, not my own. And I pray that as we enter the new school year and resume its familiar and reassuring rhythms, the news of my departure will quickly recede, with the boys — their joys, their growth — being the singular focus. I will communicate to them at every turn that they are why we exist as a school and that they have my full commitment as their Headmaster this coming year. And I stand ready to support the leadership transition process however I can, in partnership with the Board.
Olinda and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the gift of your friendship and the privilege of serving this special school community for the years we have been blessed to be a part of it.
Sincerely,
Jason F. Robinson
Headmaster
Back
August 27, 2026
Dear Members of the St. Albans Community,
I write to share the bittersweet news that Jason Robinson has been named the next Head of School of The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey and will conclude his tenure as Headmaster at the end of this academic year. He shared his decision with the Governing Board over the weekend, and while St. Albans will feel his departure keenly, we offer Jason our most heartfelt congratulations on this exciting opportunity for him and his family. We have no doubt that Lawrenceville will benefit greatly from his leadership just as we have here at St. Albans.
The Board will begin a search process for our next Headmaster this fall, with the support of an experienced search firm to guide us. We look forward to working with our faculty and staff, parents, alumni, and students to reflect what this community values and what it believes St. Albans needs in its next chapter. We will communicate at each meaningful stage of the process, and you can expect the first update from the Board in the early fall including the anticipated timeline of the search and the composition of the search committee, which Leland Lim ’93, former chair of the Board and current vice chair, and I will co-chair.
We enter this academic year in a historically strong position as a school and as a community. We have managed record low tuition increases for the last three years as we seek to expand access to St. Albans’ world-class education. We have made exciting progress in the school’s Teaching and Learning Program and in Civics Education, and in enhancing our top-notch athletic program. Most importantly, St. Albans continues to produce exceptional young men who are not only talented scholars and athletes but leaders committed to the greater good.
On behalf of the Board and the St. Albans community, we thank Jason for his service to the school over the past eight years and for all the ways he has helped our sons grow into young men of character and conviction. We look forward to celebrating him and all he has given our boys throughout this year — and in the meantime, we have a full and promising school year ahead of us and I hope to see many of you on the Close this fall.
With gratitude,
Rachel Sheridan
Chair, St. Albans School Governing Board
A MESSAGE FROM THE HEADMASTER
August 27, 2026
Dear St. Albans Community,
I write today with mixed emotions to share that the 2026-27 school year, my ninth as Headmaster, will be my last at St. Albans School.
Many years ago, on the journey that led me to St. Albans, my family and I spent over a decade of our lives living and working at The Lawrenceville School, a boarding school near Princeton University. I spent six years on the faculty at Lawrenceville, serving as head of a dormitory, teaching, and coaching. Olinda worked there for over ten years. And our two daughters grew up on the campus of the school, ultimately graduating from Lawrenceville in 2015 and 2016.
When Lawrenceville’s current Head of School announced he would be retiring in June 2027, Lawrenceville reached out to me about the Head of School opportunity and ultimately offered me the position, effective July 1, 2027.
Even with the strong emotional pull Olinda and I feel given the uniquely formative role Lawrenceville played in our entire family’s life, this was a decision Olinda and I weighed very carefully as we thought about the many people at St. Albans who have touched our lives in such powerful ways and the privilege of getting to serve as this school’s Headmaster for the past eight years.
But after much reflection, we have decided to accept the offer at Lawrenceville, which means this coming school year will be my final one as the Headmaster of St. Albans.
I recall from my own transition to St. Albans in 2017 that leadership changes are complicated moments for a school community, filled with challenge and opportunity. My predecessor, Vance Wilson, shared with me during his final year that what makes St. Albans a truly great school are the boys, the faculty, and the incredibly talented senior team that together are the heart and soul of the community. Vance said that if a Head does his job well, the school is able not only to endure the Head’s departure, but continues to thrive and flourish because of the eternally strong foundations of the school. I know that will be the case here.
I am proud of all that we have achieved together and the strong position the school is in, from the historic efforts we have made to moderate tuition, the significant increases in the value of our endowment and annual giving program, the generational investment in the Little Sanctuary expansion, the advances in the Teaching and Learning Program and Civics Education, the joy and success of our boys in our revitalized athletics programs, and most of all the way in which we have sustained our distinctive sense of mission and community during an enormously complex number of years in the broader world. St. Albans continues to be a benchmark for excellence in boys education around the world, a fact I am reminded of each time I gather with other boys school educators and leaders.
My intention for the coming year is to remain wholeheartedly focused on the most important things: the well-being and flourishing of our amazing boys and the daily work of the school. To the greatest degree possible, I want the year to be defined by the boys and their journeys, not my own. And I pray that as we enter the new school year and resume its familiar and reassuring rhythms, the news of my departure will quickly recede, with the boys — their joys, their growth — being the singular focus. I will communicate to them at every turn that they are why we exist as a school and that they have my full commitment as their Headmaster this coming year. And I stand ready to support the leadership transition process however I can, in partnership with the Board.
Olinda and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the gift of your friendship and the privilege of serving this special school community for the years we have been blessed to be a part of it.
Sincerely,
Jason F. Robinson
Headmaster
Located in Washington D.C., St. Albans School is a private, all boys day and boarding school. For more than a century, St. Albans has offered a distinctive educational experience for young men in grades 4 through 12. While our students reach exceptional academic goals and exhibit first-rate athletic and artistic achievements, as an Episcopal school we place equal emphasis upon moral and spiritual education.