The posting
Diocese of Tulsa & Eastern Oklahoma — Superintendent of Catholic Schools
Position Success Profile
Reports To: Fr. Gary Kastl, Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia, who provides day-to-day direction and the annual evaluation. The Superintendent is appointed by Bishop David A. Konderla.
Direct Reports: Catholic Schools Office staff. The office is small today; including an existing administrative assistant, the Superintendent will also redefine and hire an associate superintendent and additional roles as the office grows.
Key Partners: Pastors, principals, diocesan Human Resources and finance, LRN (Learning Research Network, the diocese's strategic planning consultants), Bishop Kelley High School leadership and board, independent Catholic schools in the diocese, Catholic Charities, and community and philanthropic partners
Schools & Enrollment: nine diocesan PreK-12 parish schools in Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Bartlesville, and Muskogee, Bishop Kelley High School (an independent diocesan high school), and three additional non-diocesan schools (San Miguel Middle School, Cascia Hall, and Monte Cassino), together serving roughly 4,500 students from PreK through grade 12
Education and Experience: Master's degree (any field) with preference for education, educational leadership, or a related field; teaching experience and a record of school leadership. (Strong candidates completing a master's degree may be considered.)
I. Why This Role Exists
The Superintendent role exists to lead the Catholic schools of the Diocese of Tulsa & Eastern Oklahoma as one cohesive system, so that every school is equipped to form its students in faith, knowledge, and virtue. In view of this end, the diocese seeks a leader who brings three qualities together: steady, trustworthy leadership; a sound background in teaching and Catholic school leadership; and an authentic Catholic faith that shapes how this person leads. Appointed by Bishop David A. Konderla and reporting to the Vicar General, the Superintendent serves as the chief educational leader of the diocesan school system.
The diocese is halfway through a strategic plan for its schools. Principals, educators, and diocesan leaders have named six priorities, and the next phase will set the goals, timelines, and responsibilities that turn them into a working plan. The Catholic Schools Office has served the schools faithfully with a small staff. As the plan moves forward, the office will need to grow into a team that can support every school in carrying it out. The next Superintendent will lead both efforts, completing the plan with the principals and building out the office to serve them.
Catholic schools share in the Church's mission to form the whole person (spiritually, intellectually, morally, socially, and physically), guiding students toward the fullness of life in Christ, in partnership with parents as the primary educators of their children. The Diocese of Tulsa & Eastern Oklahoma expects its Superintendent to make that mission the measure of the work. That means ensuring every school teaches with academic excellence in light of the Gospel. It means serving every student well, from those who need extra support to those ready for greater challenge. And it means keeping Catholic education within reach of families of every financial means. The Superintendent supports each school in carrying out this mission faithfully and achieves a diocesan-wide unification toward this end. The diocese begins this work from real strength. Its schools are led by faith-filled principals who know and support one another, and their teachers are deeply committed to their students.
Over the past year, principals, educators, and diocesan leaders have worked through a strategic planning process with consulting support. What emerged are six strategic priorities, each grounded in the commitment that every student should be known, welcomed, challenged, and supported in academic, spiritual, social, emotional, and moral growth:
1. Strengthen diocesan leadership and organizational infrastructure
2. Strengthen funding, affordability, and long-term financial capacity
3. Build educator and building-leader capacity
4. Establish a coherent system of assessment, data use, and continuous improvement
5. Strengthen teaching, learning, and curriculum coherence
6. Develop a whole-child system for learner variability and student support
The priorities set direction; they do not yet exist as programs. They were written deliberately with the next stage of planning in mind, allowing the next Superintendent to join the leadership team in shaping and defining the priorities, deciding what comes first, and setting goals, measures, and responsibilities in the next phase of planning (Spring 2027). The Superintendent will then lead the work of carrying out that plan, building each of the six areas from the ground up and turning strong individual practice into a diocesan system that serves every school.
This is a role for a builder: a leader who earns trust, knows schools from the inside, lives the faith, and is ready to passionately build something lasting.
II. Core Outcomes
The Superintendent will be evaluated on these eight outcomes. None is fully in place today; building them is the work of this role. The first grounds the whole effort, the second is completing and leading the strategic plan, and the remaining six follow the strategic priorities.
- Shared Catholic Mission & Trust: Principals, pastors, teachers, and families share a clear, common understanding of what Catholic education in the diocese is for: forming each student in faith, knowledge, and virtue, and serving every student well. That understanding honors the identity and community of each school, whether parish, classical, or college preparatory. The Superintendent is known and trusted in every building.
- The Strategic Plan, Completed and Carried Out: With Fr. Kastl, diocesan leadership, principals, and LRN, the Superintendent completes the next phase of planning: refining the six priorities, deciding what begins first, and setting SMART goals, owners, timelines, and measures for each. The plan is approved, communicated to every school, and carried out on schedule, with regular progress reports and honest adjustment along the way.
- A Built-Out Catholic Schools Office (Priority 1): The Superintendent designs, staffs, and leads a Catholic Schools Office that serves schools well, with clear roles, authority, and communication. Principals receive regular consultation, coaching, and problem-solving support, and schools share expertise across buildings.
- Affordability, Access & Financial Stewardship (Priority 2): A coordinated diocesan approach to tuition, tax credits, scholarships, parish support, grants, and philanthropy is developed and in use. More families can enroll and remain in Catholic schools, and schools direct new resources toward student needs, educator support, and the strategic priorities.
- Educator & Building-Leader Capacity (Priority 3): A sustained system of professional learning, onboarding, and leadership development is established for teachers, support staff, and principals. Professional learning is practical and tied to student needs, teachers learn from strong colleagues across schools, principals are coached and mentored, new educators are supported from their first day, and a pipeline of future Catholic school leaders is developing.
- Assessment, Data Use & Continuous Improvement (Priority 4): A balanced assessment system built on a limited set of shared measures is in place. Educators use it to identify needs early, guide instruction and intervention, measure growth, and report progress clearly to families and diocesan leadership.
- Curriculum Coherence & Instructional Excellence (Priority 5): Shared diocesan expectations for effective instruction and updated curriculum standards formed by a Catholic anthropology give students rigorous, engaging learning in every school, from students who need extra support to those ready for greater challenge, while each school keeps its distinct identity.
- Whole-Child Support for Every Learner (Priority 6): A diocese-wide system of tiered supports, similar to a Multi-Tiered System of Supports, helps schools identify academic, behavioral, social-emotional, linguistic, and mental-health needs early, beginning in early childhood, and respond with coordinated support. Clear diocesan guidance on accommodations and admissions, shared services, and partnerships with families, parishes, Catholic Charities, and community providers make that support consistent and sustainable in schools of every size. This is where the Church's commitment to serve every student is most directly tested.
III. Role Context
Key Partnerships
- Bishop David A. Konderla: Shepherd of the diocese and its schools. Appoints the Superintendent, whose leadership carries the Bishop's vision for Catholic education into every school community. Matters requiring the Bishop's decision come before him through Fr. Kastl.
- Fr. Gary Kastl (Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia): Direct supervisor. Meets with the Superintendent weekly, leads the annual evaluation, and engages directly on matters involving pastors. He has been closely involved in the strategic planning process.
- Parish Pastors: Each pastor holds canonical responsibility for his parish school and is a partner to its principal. The Superintendent strengthens the pastor-principal partnership and works with pastors in selecting and evaluating principals.
- School Principals: A faith-filled, collaborative group who lead their schools day to day and meet together monthly. They are the Superintendent's primary partners in completing the strategic plan and in carrying it out in their buildings.
- Strategic Planning Consultants: Have guided the planning process to date and continue into its next phase. The Superintendent works with them to complete the plan and prepare it for implementation.
- Diocesan Human Resources and Development Offices: Human Resources works with the Superintendent and principals on personnel matters for lay employees in the schools, who make up roughly half of all diocesan employees. The Development Office is a partner on tuition, financial assistance, tax credits, and school budgets.
- Bishop Kelley High School and Independent Catholic Schools: Partners in a shared vision of Catholic education across the diocese, including students' transition from the elementary schools into high school.
- Community & Philanthropic Partners: Catholic Charities, scholarship granting organizations, and local donors and foundations that support Catholic education.
Decision Rights
What this office owns, what it proposes for approval, and what it supports. Most of the frameworks named below do not yet exist; building them is part of what the Superintendent owns.
- Owns: The design, staffing, and leadership of the Catholic Schools Office; diocesan frameworks for curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional learning, and student support, developed with principals; diocesan curriculum standards; faith formation for principals, teachers, and staff, and review of Catholic identity in each school; principal coaching, mentoring, onboarding, and evaluation with pastors; the principals meeting and the diocesan professional learning calendar; shared services offered across schools; and diocesan guidance to schools and families on tax credits, scholarships, Title funds, grants, and other funding.
- Proposes for approval: The completed strategic plan, including the sequence, SMART goals, owners, and measures for the six priorities; the Catholic Schools Office budget and new positions; diocese-wide policies affecting all schools, including guidance on student support, accommodations, admissions, and class size; and diocesan approaches to tuition and financial assistance, with matters requiring the Bishop's decision brought forward through Fr. Kastl.
- Supports: Pastors' leadership of their parishes and schools; school budgets set at the local level; principal searches, in partnership with pastors and diocesan Human Resources; and personnel matters, which run through diocesan Human Resources for lay employees and through Fr. Kastl where a pastor is involved.
- Informs: Fr. Kastl through the weekly meeting, and promptly on any material personnel, legal, financial, or reputational matter.
Salary: Competitive
Benefits:
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage
- $10,000 life insurance, provided at no cost
- $10,000 accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance, provided at no cost
- Long-term disability insurance, provided at no cost
- Short-term disability coverage through the Paid Time Off program
- 6% retirement plan contribution after two years of employment, with no employee match required
To Apply: Send resume or CV and cover letter to Penny Jenson: [email protected].
