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Earlier this year, with the announcement of Westfield Washington Schools Superintendent Paul Kaiser’s retirement, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. John Atha was appointed to the position, officially starting July 1, 2025.
Atha has been an educator for more than three decades, serving as a teacher, coach, principal and assistant superintendent in Noblesville Schools, Bishop Chatard High School, Avon Community School Corporation, St. Theodore Guerin High School and, for the past four years, with Westfield Washington Schools.
He hopes to continue some of the momentum already in progress at Westfield and plans for the future success of the district, too.
“We want to continue to focus on our core mission, which is learning, but we’ve also recently completed what we call the Life Ready Shamrock Academy. It focuses on three areas: academics, careers and wellness. An educated workforce is the best workforce, so we not only want to prepare our students academically but with employability skills and the soft skills they will need in the future,” Atha said.
As the fastest-growing city in the state, Atha said that also makes them the fastest-growing school district, and they will continue building a master strategic plan for the projected growth.
Currently, the district welcomes more than 10,000 students. In the past four years, it has grown by more than 1,700 students and, with the new neighborhoods coming in, they expect to serve 16,000 to 18,000 students in the next 20 to 25 years.
“We need to make sure we have the facilities, but that’s probably the easy part. The difficult part is to ensure that we continue to hire the best. We believe we have some of the best educators in the state, if not the country, and as you grow, you need to continue to attract the best and retain the best, so that will be another focus of ours,” Atha said.
As a coach and the assistant superintendent overseeing professional learning communities and collaborative team leaders, Atha knows the importance of supporting teachers and offering continued professional development to create an atmosphere welcoming to both teachers and students.
His father was also a coach and school administrator. It provided Atha with a unique way of looking at leadership.
“My dad raised me to be a great teammate, and he taught me that everybody needs a coach, so we try to provide our teachers in each school with a coach that supports them and helps them get better each day,” Atha said. “I think that’s what I was meant to do. Instead of coaching athletic teams now, I coach principals and help coach teachers so they can be the best version of themselves.”
He said teaching is a profession that doesn’t often provide immediate feedback, recalling a young student delivering his valedictorian speech several years ago.
“I taught advanced algebra at the middle school, and five years later, one of my students graduated valedictorian. He mentioned me in his speech, and I happened to be at the commencement,” Atha said. “It took five years to hear that feedback, so there’s definitely a joy in seeing former students and where they are today. There’s a retired superintendent that said, ‘You don’t get to choose what students remember,’ so the goal is to stay focused on the positive and create memories that send them in a positive direction.”
Most of all, Atha is looking forward to collaborating and partnering with leadership in the community, staff at the Westfield Washington Schools and those at home, too.
“We know parents and caregivers are the first educators of their kids, and it’s our job to partner with them in that endeavor to provide support, especially in those academic areas,” Atha said. “We want to create a strong community with a sense of belonging for all of our families to feel welcomed, and the key to that is building successful relationships and preparing our students for the future.”
