New Head of Lake Forest Academy Enjoys Lengthy Experience with Prep-School Life

By Spencer Trees Tom Johnson is humbled to have been chosen to head a venerable preparatory school. “I am honored to lead the school into its next phase as a hallmark of global education and extremely grateful for this opportunity,” said Johnson, newly appointed head of school at Lake Forest Academy.

"Our job is to support our colleagues and make their lives as easy as possible, because our teachers and coaches and dorm parents are the ones doing the really important work with our students," says LFA head of School Tom Johnson.

Johnson -- who has worked at LFA since 2017 -- lives on campus with his wife Leigh and daughter Harper. His spacious, wood-paneled office includes photos of the duo. He has always had a passion for education and teaching. 

“I've taught my entire career as a history teacher. I understand that experience,” he said. “I love working with students individually in small classes, getting to know them and what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how we can help them achieve their goals. I've always wanted to do that quadruple-threat job of teaching and coaching and advising and being in the dormitory.”

Johnson believes that his time as a teacher will help him in his new role. 

“Having a keen understanding of what that's like for my colleagues and being able to support them in that work, I think it's been really vital for me in my administrative path to really have a good understanding of what that world is like,” said Johnson.

He is already familiar with the role after serving as the interim head last year, replacing former head Chris Tennyson. Before that, he was the dean of faculty and a history teacher. Prior to LFA, Johnson worked at the Hill School, a prep school in Pennsylvania where he was a director of student activities, the dean of faculty, and a history teacher. In fact, he has been involved with education and the boarding school experience for the majority of his life. He graduated from a Massachusetts boarding school (Deerfield Academy) in 1996 before attending Princeton University. He later received a degree in educational leadership from Villanova University.

LFA is the number-one-ranked private school in Illinois. Johnson sees a crucial part of his job as providing the necessary support to the work his colleagues are already doing.

“I really believe that as leaders, our job is to support our colleagues and make their lives as easy as possible, because our teachers and coaches and dorm parents are the ones doing the really important work with our students,” he said. “I've always viewed our role as to do whatever we can to make them as successful as possible.”

This is part of his larger project of continuing to strengthen the school’s culture.

“We have four pillars here at the school: character, scholarship, citizenship, and responsibility, and the character piece is a big one," he said. "The idea of being part of a larger community, of doing your part within that community, of being selfless and hard-working, taking accountability, I think that all of those things really align with doing this job well at the school.”

Johnson also sees the school’s diversity – students come from more than 40 countries -- as a strength. 

“We have little pockets of students within the school from different parts of the world. That sharing of cultural backgrounds and experiences is a big part of our culture here at the school,” he said, “We have lots of really engaged affinity groups at the school, and I think that makes it a really attractive place for our international students to come and really have an American secondary school experience.”

He admitted the new role also has its challenges.

“The head of school job can be hard at times. There are key strategic decisions that need to be made,” he said. “There are a lot of parts of the job that come at you constantly between fundraising, personnel, student issues, families and engagement.” 

Through any challenge, Johnson’s focus is always LFA. 

“There's a lot that goes into the job, and the buck stops with me. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions where not everyone is going to be happy with the decision. But I start with this question: what's best for the school in the long run?” he said.

Students are excited about Johnson’s appointment.

“I’m hoping that under Mr. Johnson, we can keep traditional LFA culture the same while continuing to better our community,” said Noah Goldfayn, a student at LFA. “I hope that Mr, Johnson will continue to bring together our community with events, start of the year activities and perhaps garner more participation in morning meetings.” 

Goldfayn has already had first-hand experience with Johnson.

“My freshman year, I transferred history classes because of a schedule shift –- I found myself lucky enough to be sitting in his history class,” he said. “Although I was nervous, and new to the class, he made me feel immediately included and excited to learn. From the very beginning he was welcoming, warm, and charismatic. I was ecstatic at the prospect of him becoming a leader on campus.”