CRS’s Head of School Gabe Burnstein and Board President Kate Paglia are featured in the Spring 2026 issue of Independent School magazine, published by the National Association of Independent Schools. Their article, “Constant Contact,” offers a candid look at how Gabe and Kate partner and communicate in their roles and builds on a presentation they delivered earlier this year at the AISNE Heads of School Retreat on strengthening the Head–Board President relationship.
In every school, there are moments when leadership is tested—not just by budgets or strategy, but by uncertainty, feelings, and the weight of responsibility. In those moments, what steadies the institution is not the mission framed on the wall but the relationship at its center.
At Charles River School (MA), the mission lives at the heart of the partnership between Gabe Burnstein, head of school, and Kate Paglia, board president. It shapes how they lead, communicate, and make decisions together, grounding them when the work grows complex, emotional, or hard.
Their partnership isn’t about perfection; it’s about trust, accountability, shared purpose, and joy. Rooted in compassion, it keeps leadership human and serves as a constant reminder that every financial decision affects people. It shows up in how they listen deeply, respect each other’s expertise, and pause to understand the lived experience behind the numbers. The mission doesn’t eliminate hard choices, they say, it shapes how they approach them—with humility, care, and respect.
In this edited conversation, Burnstein and Paglia reflect on what makes their relationship work, and how a mission-aligned partnership allows governance to become not just a structure but a way of holding the school with both courage and care.
Click here to read the article.