For the past 15 years, Head of School Russell Shaw has asked every senior one question: What will you take with you from GDS? On March 31, he posed that question in an email to the class of 2025.
In an interview with the Bit, Shaw answered his own question: “I will take extraordinary relationships with students, faculty and families. I will take the satisfaction of having been part of something that feels much bigger than me. This is an institution that has both a rich history, an incredibly relevant present and a really promising future. And I feel really lucky to have gotten to steward it for a brief chapter of time. And I will take a deep belief in the capacity of young people to have an impact and help build a better world.”
Shaw arrived in 2010, back when GDS still had two campuses. “Four or five times a year I’d show up to a meeting on the wrong campus,” he said. Unifying the school in 2020 became his signature brick‑and‑mortar project: “Seeing lower‑school kids cross the street to cheer a varsity game, or high‑schoolers read to first‑graders—those were dreams on paper that became real.”
In 1996, The Washington Post published an article headlined “School’s Leader Leaves a Legacy of Success, Love.” This was in reference to former Head of School Gladys Stern’s retirement. The Bit asked Shaw what his Washington Post headline might be. “I’ll leave it to others to define legacy,” he said. “I’m proud that we have broadened access to the school. In the last fifteen years we’ve tripled our financial‑aid dollars and expanded the number of students receiving aid. I’m proud of the civic engagement work that we’ve done, including things like the Policy Institute and the Consent Summit.”
Civil discourse is Shaw’s current fixation. He mentioned political sociologist Robert Putnam—a speaker GDS hosted two weeks ago—and lamented that the country overdoses on “bonding capital” while starving for “bridging capital.” Shaw referred to Putnam’s theory that we only expose ourselves to people who hold the same views as us; hence, “bond.”
“GDS was founded to build bridges,” Shaw said. “Our job is to create space for complexity, to help kids start a conversation open to a perspective different from their own.” This summer’s Policy Institute, he notes, will enroll students from across the DMV—another bridge extended beyond Davenport Street.
When Shaw began his tenure as head of school in 2010, his predecessor, Peter Branch, gave him a piece of advice: make time for joy. Shaw said his biggest regrets are the events he missed—“sometimes I don’t get out of this office enough.” He said his best days involve kindergarten questions, senior lunches, packed gyms for Thursday‑night volleyball and, yes, fundraising: “If you believe in the mission, asking for money is easy. You see the impact.”
When asked what advice he would give to the next head of school, Shaw said he would tell them something he tells school leaders all the time. “There’s a difference between good will and trust. When you come in new, everybody is very excited. That’s not trust. Trust is experiential and trust builds over time,” he said.
One famous rumor about Shaw is that he memorizes the name of every student, pre-kindegardners through seniors, before each school year. “I used to keep index cards in my desk; this year a student made me a Quizlet,” Shaw said, pointing to the old index cards behind his desk.
Shaw’s tenure has included moments when GDS was in the national spotlight, namely the confirmation hearing for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. “A national brouhaha doesn’t change who we are. Our mission is our mission; our values are our values,” Shaw said. “The microscope moves on, and we go back to making sure kids feel belonging and joy.”
Shaw cited his tenure and family as his main reason for stepping away. He pointed out that 16 years is the average tenure for a GDS head of school, and his wife, Shira, has accepted a job in Aspen, Colorado. He will finish the 2025‑26 school year, then hand the baton to a successor chosen by the Board of Trustees. “Whoever comes next gets to steward something beautiful,” he said.
Finally, Shaw told the Bit what he hopes GDS looks like in 2030: “I hope there are still rich connections between the divisions and that they’re even deeper. I hope that high school kids are still here until nine o’clock at night and hanging out. I hope it’s still a little bit messy, physically and intellectually. I hope it’s a place where people are okay coloring outside of the lines.”