Headmaster

Overview

The Board of Directors for Mary Seat of Wisdom Academy is seeking a Headmaster to lead the only Catholic classical high school in the Wichita metropolitan area starting summer 2027. Mary Seat of Wisdom Academy opened to students in the 2023-2024 school year and will graduate our founding class in May 2027.

Responsibilities

Working with the Board of Directors, the Headmaster will lead the efforts to build the school community, fundraise, hire staff, continue developing curriculum, and meet all day-to-day needs of the school as required to grow the school and execute on its mission of embodying Catholic classical education in the Wichita Diocese.

• Lead the school and inspire students, faculty, and the larger school community to fulfill the mission of MSW Academy – to more deeply know, love, and glorify God through Christ and His Church
• Manage school operations, including academic, communications, financial, personnel, regulatory, and facilities as needed
• Teach 1–2 courses per academic year
• Coordinate the enforcement of all school policies
• Foster a school community through a common spiritual, intellectual, moral, and physical life with students, staff, families, and supporters
• Grow the student body by developing and executing a recruitment plan, and hitting target student body numbers
• Spearhead fundraising efforts and develop logistical plans to sustain and grow the school with the assistance of the fundraising committee
• Hire, manage and coach school staff, observing teachers at defined intervals, documenting results, providing feedback to educate teachers in their craft, and promoting unity of the staff through a shared study of truth, goodness and beauty
• Provide admissions, retention, and fundraising status reports at regular meetings with the Board of Directors

Qualifications

The ideal Headmaster possesses a deep intellectual life, marked by a love of learning in their personal life and a desire to aid others in their pursuit of wisdom and virtue. The Headmaster will have the ability to discern ends that fulfill the nature and purpose of MSW Academy, and to chart a course to reach those ends. The Headmaster must demonstrate a strong understanding and love of classical education along with the prudence to make short-term and long-range decisions in order to build a sustainable program. As the leader of a young school, the Headmaster will be a dynamic leader who can both paint a vision and execute on plans that excite benefactors and engage the school community while continuing to develop a strong and lasting school culture.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in the liberal arts, graduation from a liberal arts institution, or experience in liberal arts education
• Clear understanding of the classical approach to high school education
• 2–5 years of teaching experience
• Experience with fundraising, ideally developing and implementing a long-range donor-centric development plan with goals, objectives, and budgets for annual operations
• Experience with personnel management, ideally including recruiting, hiring, supervising, evaluating, and individual and organizational development
• Excellent communication and relationship-building skills to leverage in maturing the school’s vision
• Deep understanding of and committal to the teachings of the Catholic Church

Preferred Qualifications

• 5+ years teaching experience at a high school level, preferably in a classical environment
• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in one or more of the liberal arts or education
• Experience in classical school administration
• Experience hiring and managing teaching staff
• Prior experience as Head of School, Assistant Head of School, Dean of Upper or Lower School, or Dean of Students
• Prior experience leading a classical liberal arts school, ideally high school, with a demonstrated success of producing favorable academic and life outcomes over time
• Prior experience managing a school’s student, staff, faculty, and facility growth and expansion over time

About Mary Seat of Wisdom Academy

Mary Seat of Wisdom Academy is an independent Catholic classical high school in the city of Wichita. As a Catholic classical school, we embrace the Church’s perennial form of education and seek to cultivate virtue in the entire person – mind, heart, and body – so that each member of the school is better able to know, love, and glorify God through Christ and His Church.

Mary Seat of Wisdom Academy is:

• Catholic: The school seeks to pass on the Church’s wisdom and understanding – of God, of man, and of creation – as conveyed in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition. Illuminated and enkindled by these wondrous riches, the student is awakened to the presence of the Creator in all things.
• Classical: Classical education, the Church’s perennial form of education, seeks to cultivate the entire person. The goodness and beauty of poetry, great books, and the wonders of creation form the heart and body, while the mind is freed through the liberal arts for the truth in philosophy and theology.
• School: The school (from the Greek word, schole, meaning leisure) is a place where learning occurs in an attitude of receptivity and rest. Under the tutelage of expert faculty, students contemplate the truth, goodness, and beauty of creation and so are led to a knowledge and love of their Creator.
• Snapshot: Mary Seat of Wisdom Academy is a growing school. Opening its doors in 2023 with a freshman class, we have added a class each year and will graduate its first full senior class in the spring of 2027. The incoming freshmen class for the fall of 2026 is the largest that the school has witnessed and will bring the student body up to 38 students. We have eight faculty members, with an average of nearly 10 years of teaching experience. Half of the faculty have master’s degrees covering the classes which they teach, and all are passionate about the work of Catholic classical education.

Mary, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us!

For more information about Mary Seat of Wisdom Academy, please visit www.mswwichita.org. To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to board@mswwichita.org. For more information or to speak with a member of the Board of Directors, contact board@mswwichita.org.