A new leader for a Wichita private school — after an international search
Wichita Collegiate School has named its new leader.
Nathan Washer, an administrator at a private school near Palm Beach, Florida, will be the new Head of School at Collegiate, a private school in east Wichita.
Washer will assume his new post July 1. He will succeed Tom Davis, who announced his retirement last fall, after 17 years as Collegiate’s Head of School.
Washer, 50, serves as assistant head of school at The Pine School in Hobe Sound, Florida. Prior to that he was head of the upper school and athletic director at The Pine School. He originally is from Warrington, England, and has lived in the United States since 1994.
Washer said he had never been to Kansas before his interview process this past summer, but Collegiate and the Wichita community impressed him and his wife, Mary, an interior designer.
“As far as the arts, cultural opportunities, the fact that you’ve got arenas with big concerts in the city, the whole Riverfest and that kind of stuff — there’s actually more going on in Wichita than there is in south Florida,” he said.
“Right from the start it was just this warm, generous community,” he said. “They made me feel so welcome, and we had great conversations about where the school is at right now and where it may want to go. . . . I’d never been to Wichita before, and I was surprised how much I liked it.”
Collegiate conducted an international search process led by Carney Sandoe & Associates, said Shari Male Powers, chairwoman of the board of trustees. The final three candidates participated in open forums involving faculty, staff, parents and others, and officials issued anonymous surveys after each forum to collect feedback on each candidate.
“We are thrilled to welcome Nathan as our next Head of School,” Powers said in a statement Thursday. “He is a proven educational leader with an engaging personality who will bring vision and passion to Collegiate while holding true to our values of educational excellence, character development and diversity.”
A spokeswoman for the school would not disclose Washer’s salary or any terms of his contract, saying the school, which is private, “does not disclose details of personnel contracts.”
Washer said great schools focus on three primary areas: curriculum, instruction and culture. Most importantly, he said, families need to know that people at the school know the students personally and truly care about them.
“It’s important that a school, particularly in today’s market, that is charging a significant tuition dollar has to be excellent in every way,” he said.
“It’s not just enough to be excellent in the classroom. It’s excellence in the way parents are greeted at the door, it’s excellence in the way that we communicate to the community, it’s excellence in the way that if someone’s walking through our halls they are clean, organized, well-ordered. It’s excellence in athletics, it’s excellence in the arts,” he said.
“Basically I’m a big believer in what I call the nuts and bolts — making sure everything is organized and everything is in place to let the teachers teach. . . . If teachers feel like they can be creative and deliver engaging academic work, then you’ve got a great school.”
Washer earned his bachelor of arts in physical education and sports from Newcastle Polytechnic (now Northumbria University) in northern England. He received a post-graduate certificate of education from Liverpool Polytechnic (now John Moores University) and a master of arts from Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.
Washer and his wife have two daughters — Maryn, a college student in Charlotte, N.C., and Macy, a senior at The Pine School.
This story was originally published October 25, 2018 at 12:01 PM.