Ida Dahan: 3 Steps Toward Strategic Succession Planning

Ida Dahan worked for many years in IT at Marlborough School in Los Angeles. During this time, summer program leadership was fairly decentralized with various department heads stepping up to take on the extra work as summer director. But eight years ago, the school decided it was time to hire a full-time dedicated auxiliary director.

This came just as Ida was looking for a new challenge. With encouragement from a friend who worked in admissions, she applied, interviewed, and was hired as Marlborough's first ever Director of Summer School and Enrichment Programs.

"During the school year, it's just me. I do everything and there's so much information in my brain that I kept thinking, we can't lose this."

Now eight years into the job, Ida has turned Marlborough's summer into a tightly-run K-6 co-ed summer and enrichment program that prioritizes a joyful experience, revenue generation, and mission alignment. Looking toward a likely 2028 retirement, she realized she needed to do strategic planning for the future. She knew her successor could bring fresh energy and new ideas, but her own experience had taught her that hard-won practical knowledge could get lost in the shuffle.

“I started to panic really, because during the school year, it's just me. I do everything and there's so much information in my brain that I kept thinking, we can't lose this." 

After speaking with her CFO, Ida reached out to SPARC for help. Executive Director Nat Saltonstall and Senior Advisor David Sullivan traveled to Marlborough School to meet Ida and school leaders, visit classes, and speak with a variety stakeholders. Then they wrote an advisory report providing what Ida needed most--a strategic succession plan.

As she lays the groundwork for a smooth transition to a new Director, Ida is focused on three key strategies laid out in SPARC's report: hiring an Associate Director, documentation, and program development.

Hiring an Associate Director

The first step was for the school to create a new full-time position for an Associate Director whom Ida hopes will be hired before summer 2026 begins. Ideally, with a seasoned background in auxiliary and time working and learning under Ida, the Associate Director would take over when she retires.

"Our 'joyful culture' is our greatest intangible asset. My job is to protect it and to turn it over to a Director who will continue protecting it while scaling the program."

With this plan in place, the Associate Director will have time not only to learn the basic day-to-day tasks required of a Director, but also access to Ida as a mentor and guide that will make the transition smoother. And it allows Ida to personally pass on what's most important to her about Marlborough summer. "Our 'joyful culture' is our greatest intangible asset. My job is to protect it and to turn it over to a Director who will continue protecting it while scaling the program."

Documentation

Ida emphasizes the critical importance of comprehensive documentation—which software to use and how to use it, how programs are run, how far in advance to book venues, how to plan events, whom to contact with questions—the list goes on. And a lot of information is written down but not consolidated: notes, folders, stickies, or in various digital files and spreadsheets. Even more challenging is knowledge gained from years of experience that's still in one's head that needs to be identified and documented for the next Director.

"If somebody had given me a little handout that said, these are the things you need to do when you're doing this in Camp Brain, it would have made my life a lot easier the first year.”

As an example, Ida discussed documenting how to use software, even when it seems straightforward. “The other day I was changing a teacher to a different class. And I thought, I have to do it in Camp Brain. And then I thought, oh no, I also have to make sure it's on the spreadsheet for HR so they know. And then I have to make sure the class schedule looks right. If somebody had given me a little handout that said, these are the things you need to do when you're doing this in Camp Brain, it would have made my life a lot easier the first year.”

Regardless of how experienced and capable a new hire is, there is always information to learn that is specific to a school’s auxiliary program and the school itself, their unique culture, traditions, and strengths. This makes it necessary to codify methods, strategies, and processes as much as possible. Ida wants to ensure that Marlborough's unique spirit, joy, and expectations are passed on and that the new Director learns how to transition from the school year--an all girls' high school--to a co-ed K-6 summer program. 

And this is on top of a new hire’s need to establish relationships with school leadership, department heads, the admissions director, and all the people who help make auxiliary programs run.

Program Development

One of SPARC’s recommendations is to create and develop new programs. Camp Mustang, Marlborough’s program for kindergarten and first graders, is extremely popular.  “It fills up within 10 minutes of registration opening up. It's not pretty,” Ida says.

"There's still those moments just where I’m watching the kids or listening to somebody in a classroom and think, oh, my God, this is what is right."

She’s now considering SPARC’s recommendation to create more programs for older kids, despite concerns about retention. By the time participants have been coming for four or five years, they're often ready to do something different during the summer. Based on SPARC's recommendations, Ida looks forward to brainstorming with an Associate Director to thoughtfully plan how to improve the summer experience for older kids while still leveraging the program's strengths and keeping what works. 

The SPARC Effect

Now in the process of strategic succession planning, Ida reflects on SPARC’s influence, recalling attending the second conference when it was “so tiny” to today when the conference is fully booked, virtual webinars and roundtables are abundant, and a large, well-connected auxiliary community has evolved to share, support, and collaborate as SPARC members. 

"SPARC has been very supportive and I think they're that way for everybody. I've always felt they were in my corner. They were always around to answer questions or tease out things with me. And that, I think, has helped a lot, certainly for somebody who was brand new at this.”

Professional Philosophy

Ida says she always tries to look through the students’ perspective and asks herself what they would want. She still finds great delight and joy in the summer, even in the midst of the five-week chaos and exhaustion, saying it's all because of the kids.

"There's still those moments where I’m watching the kids or listening to somebody in a classroom and think, oh my God, this is what is right. And I don't want that to get lost. I mean, I love Marlborough. I must love it because I’ve been here so long."

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