New Principal prepares for role at St. James

WASHINGTON — As St. James Elementary Principal Erik Buchholz prepared to retire after the 2024-25 academic year, he knew he’d need to find a replacement that could take the reins at the private Catholic school.

And so, he reached out to Collin Stark, a math teacher at Washington Middle School for the last 10 years.

“I knew Collin before this,” Buchholz said. “He’s very professional, he’s very well-organized, and I would say, especially for this position, he’s got a very strong Christian background.”

Stark, for his part, said he was eager to take on a more administrative role in education.

“As I was going through my master’s program, it really started to bring more interest in the organization, leadership side of education,” he said.

Like Buchholz did before him, Stark will have to transition from a middle school environment to an elementary grade level, a big change in age groups that comes with a host of different behaviors and learning styles. He’ll also need to get acquainted with St. James’ bookkeeping practices, its staff and its various policies.

The two started working through many of those details, hashing out next year’s schedules and finishing up state year-end reports over the course of this month, before Stark’s contract begins in June. Both said it helped the newcomer learned the ropes, and get prepared for the coming school year.

“For him to get a chance to see the things that have to be done at a state level, working together on that, I felt better working together on that,” Buchholz said. “I would rather that transition be really smooth, rather than just finding things out on his own.”

Some differences, according to Stark, will be positive.

The incoming principal said he looked forward to melding faith with education, an approach that doesn’t happen at public schools.

“To have a conversation with a certain student, you’re able to use faith,” he said. “If you’re having a conflict, we’ll talk them through what God and Jesus would do in that certain situation, and that type of thing.”

Stark also said he appreciated the support already available at St. James as he enters the new role.

In addition to guidance from Buchholz, he said the building’s staff had an impressive level of know-how on their own, and praised the forward momentum of the school under its previous leadership.

“The two years that Mr. Buchholz has been here, I think, really set things up to be successful with this transition,” Stark said. “A challenge for me is to try to continue that expectation for the leadership.”

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