Kirk Walker has temporarily traded his blue McCallie ties for green Webb ones
Despite the distance in miles, Baylor, McCallie and Girls Preparatory schools compete regularly with Webb School of Knoxville in athletics and in various academic realms.
The familiarity between the independent schools apparently exists at the faculty and administrative level as well, as two former Chattanooga administrators have been tapped for the top post at Webb.
The West Knoxville school recently announced that former Baylor administrator Michael McBrien has been named as its new president beginning in 2015, while recently retired McCallie School head Kirk Walker is presently serving as interim president.
Mr. McBrien, who is currently headmaster of the American School in England, was at Baylor from 2004-10. He started as associate head for student affairs at the Chattanooga school and later also served as acting senior vice president.
In 2007, he was named head of school under then-president Dr. Bill Stacy and left Baylor in 2010 to become headmaster of the school in Surrey, England.
Dr. Walker was just finishing up his 15th and final school year at McCallie before his planned retirement when he was named interim president on May 23, an announcement that apparently received little media attention in Chattanooga at the time.
In an interview with chattanoogan.com last April prior to being hired at Webb, he said he was looking forward to seeing what is next in his life after 32 years as a headmaster at Bright School in Chattanooga, Ensworth School in Nashville, and McCallie.
In a brief follow-up interview by email earlier this week, Dr. Walker said he is excited to be serving at Webb.
“I feel honored to serve as Webb’s interim president,” he said. “I am impressed with the school’s values, its programs and particularly its people. Knoxville is very fortunate to have a school like Webb.”
He added that he returns to Chattanooga on the weekends and is even continuing to teach his Sunday School class at First-Centenary United Methodist Church.
He and Mr. McBrien are replacing Scott Hutchinson, who retired from Webb in the summer but was recently named as the head of Renbrook School beginning next July. That school, located in Connecticut, serves students from age 3 to grade 9.
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Michael McBrien