Headmaster

Arcadia Education • Nashville, TN

1d • Onsite

About The Position

Jonathan Edwards Classical Academy (JECA) is seeking a Headmaster to lead its mission of providing classical Christian education. Located just outside Nashville, Tennessee, JECA serves approximately 150 K-12 students and is accredited by SCL. The school has a strong K-12 curriculum, low faculty turnover, and an engaged parent community. The board is seeking a leader who is passionate about forming students in wisdom, virtue, and faith, and who can galvanize the city around a life of virtue and meaning. The Headmaster will be responsible for unified mission and leadership culture, faculty and academic excellence, student formation and outcomes, enrollment growth and family retention, advancement and donor development, and financial stewardship and operational integrity. This is a mission field rife with potential, and it needs an electric leader fueled by a passion to see Christian families anchored in a metaphysic deep and robust enough not merely to withstand a meaning-starved culture with their faith intact, but to become the very catalyst for revival.

Requirements

• Experience in classical Christian education.
• Familiarity with SCL, ACCS, or comparable frameworks.
• Understanding of orthodox Christian faith and the school's confessional alignment.
• Ability to lead theologically diverse classical Christian faculty with wisdom and charity.
• Knowledge of liturgical and formational practices appropriate to school culture.
• Understanding of budgeting, P&L interpretation, tuition-dependency risks, financial-aid strategy, and earned vs. contributed revenue.
• Knowledge of what a capital campaign requires and how to sequence toward one.
• Understanding of major gifts, annual funds, case for support development, donor stewardship cycles, CRM basics, and the grant landscape for Christian education.
• Knowledge of K-12 school operations and governance, including accreditation processes (SCL or equivalent), state regulatory requirements for private schools in Tennessee, board governance norms, and HR and employment basics for a school environment.
• Ability to cast a compelling mission narrative.
• Ability to articulate where the school is going and why.
• Ability to galvanize board, faculty, and families around a shared direction.
• Ability to distinguish urgency from importance.
• Ability to plan in sequences, not just goals.
• Ability to build authentic relationships with major donors outside the current parent base.
• Ability to make the direct ask with confidence.
• Ability to tell the mission story in ways that move non-classical audiences.
• Understanding of the arc from friend-raising to fundraising to capital campaigns.
• Ability to partner with admissions on inquiry-to-enrollment strategy.
• Understanding that mission clarity is the school's strongest enrollment tool.
• Ability to coach the Assistant Headmaster to build a functioning PD and accountability system.
• Ability to attract teachers who love learning.
• Ability to delegate with confidence.
• Ability to distribute responsibility without abdicating it.
• Ability to ensure the board receives accurate, timely information.
• Ability to not let administrative failures erode institutional trust.
• Ability to maintain a healthy, appropriately bounded relationship with the board.
• Ability to keep the board well-informed without over-involving them in operations.
• Ability to understand the board's proper governance role and model it in every interaction.
• Ability to speak with conviction and depth about the Christian worldview.
• Ability to defend and celebrate the classical curriculum with parents, donors, and skeptics alike.
• Ability to connect the Great Books to the Gospel persuasively and naturally.

Nice To Haves

• Experience in the liberal arts, Great Books, and the Western canon.
• Familiarity with classical pedagogy (Grammar/Logic/Rhetoric stages).

Responsibilities

• Foster a culture of trust, candor, and shared purpose across every constituency, and model the character the school expects of its students.
• Recruit, develop, and retain faculty at a high standard, ensuring a functioning observation and feedback system is in place.
• Ensure the classical program is delivered with consistency and rigor from K through 12.
• Ensure students graduate having been genuinely formed in wisdom, virtue, and faith.
• Oversee an academic program that produces measurable growth in literacy, reasoning, and subject mastery.
• Grow JECA enrollment from 150 toward 250 students over the coming years.
• Maintain strong re-enrollment rates and attract new families, including those from the broader north Nashville community.
• Personally cultivate major donor relationships and build a giving base that extends meaningfully beyond the current parent community.
• Lay the foundation for a future capital campaign.
• Ensure the school operates within its budget, with accurate reporting and sound HR and compliance practices.
• Partner transparently with the board on financial health.
• Lead the day-to-day operations of the school.
• Serve as the school's primary external face and build awareness among North Nashville families.
• Set and communicate a clear standard for excellent teaching.
• Conduct or oversee meaningful classroom observations and give specific, growth-oriented feedback.
• Coach the Assistant Headmaster to build a functioning professional development and accountability system.
• Attract teachers who love learning.
• Quickly and accurately read the capabilities and gaps of the leadership team and faculty.
• Clarify roles and decision rights, build trust through transparency, delegate with confidence, and distribute responsibility without abdicating it.
• Read and interpret financial statements, manage to a budget, and understand HR, compliance, and accreditation requirements.
• Ensure the board receives accurate, timely information.
• Maintain a healthy, appropriately bounded relationship with the board.
• Keep the board well-informed without over-involving them in operations.
• Understand the board's proper governance role and model it in every interaction.
• Speak with conviction and depth about the Christian worldview.
• Defend and celebrate the classical curriculum with parents, donors, and skeptics alike.
• Connect the Great Books to the Gospel persuasively and naturally.

Benefits

• Competitive Salary and Benefits Package

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed