108. On Being a Head Here and There: A Comparison Among Schools, with Lee Fertig

What are international schools like? One way to find out is to compare them with schools in your home country. 

Since David and I both hail from North America, we thought it would be interesting to ask someone who has been a head of school in multiple oversea countries and in the U.S. to help us draw some of these comparisons. So we turned to Lee Fertig, who was a director in Brazil, Spain, and Belgium and is now the head of an independent school in California.Veteran International Educators, it will be fun for you to consider how closely Lee’s observations match yours; aspiring International Educators, I’m sure this look at the insider view will be enlightening for you.

Lee talked about some of the similarities and differences he has observed among overseas and U.S. schools. While avoiding sweeping generalisations, he was able to give us a taste of some of the characteristics that can be found in either type of school, while also giving us a sense of what his current school, the Nueva School in San Franciso, is like. Lee is someone I would love to work with again – and after this conversation, I’m betting you will want to work with him, too!

Lee is currently the Head of the Nueva School in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has 40 years of leadership and teaching experience in a wide variety of educational settings including five international schools (in Ethiopia, Brazil, Spain, and Belgium), a leading independent school in New York City, and a voluntary integration public magnet school in Minneapolis. Lee has been training for the Principals’ Training Center (PTC) for many years, has taught in the College of Education at the University of Minnesota, and is a guest speaker on contemporary educational issues at a wide variety of community events. He provides consulting services for schools and educational organizations around the world in the areas of governance, development and fundraising, learning innovation, student support systems, and school-based continuous improvement.

Our guiding question was: “What was your experience going from being a head of various schools overseas to becoming a head of an independent school in the United States with international aspects?”

Here are the topics covered in this episode:

• Moving from leading international schools to leading an independent school in the U.S.
• Comparing the mission and identity of international schools with those in the U.S.
• Similarities and differences in school culture or community life between international schools and Lee’s current U.S. school
• Balancing local and global culture in international schools
• Parent expectations 
• Governance and leadership expectations
• Teacher recruitment
• What the best international schools have in common

Resources shared in this episode: 

Connect with Lee on LinkedIn

Nueva School

Show recorded on June 12, 2026.

Categories: School Life | Recruitment | Transitions