12-04-2025
School leader retiring after leading expansion. What's next for Tri-Cities Prep?
A titan of the Tri-Cities' tight-knit private school community is calling it a career.
After a decade at the helm of Tri-Cities Prep Catholic High School, President Lisa Jacobs says she plans to retire after the 2024-25 school year.
'It's been a privilege and an honor to work at Tri-Cities Prep. It's been great,' she told the Tri-City Herald this week.
In her place, a hiring committee has selected Scott McNamee, 52, as the school's next president. The Indianapolis-area leader will take over in June.
Jason Sweesy, chair of the Tri-Cities Prep board of directors and search committee chairman, characterized McNamee as a 'highly accomplished leader with a deep passion for Catholic education and a heart for high school students.'
'On behalf of the search committee and the entire Tri-Cities Prep community, we are delighted to welcome Scott McNamee and his family,' Sweesy said in a news release.
Tri-Cities Prep is the region's sole Catholic high school, welcoming students of all faith backgrounds. It was founded three decades ago, in 1994, as a private, independent, co-educational school approved by the bishops of both the Spokane and Yakima dioceses.
The nonprofit school offers college-preparatory academics to students in grades 9th-12th in a faith-centered environment. It does not receive any public funding, but is approved by the Washington State Board of Education and Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Jacobs previously served on Tri-Cities Prep's board of directors and was a volunteer before serving as its president.
She also previously taught at Berney Elementary in Walla Walla Public Schools, and has been involved with Catholic education throughout her career.
'You don't replace a person like Lisa Jacobs; you strive to find someone who can build on what she accomplished here at Tri-Cities Prep,' Sweesy said. 'Lisa achieved a great deal in her 10 years leading the school.'
That includes two building expansion campaigns, overseeing the school's highest-ever student enrollment and guiding the school through the pandemic.
Sweesy said she also established a community presence that earned Tri-Cities Prep recognition as 'the best high school and private school over the last three years, as voted by the community.'
'Lisa has given us a strong foundation to move forward,' he added.
McNamee will be handed the baton in June. He currently works as the director of campus ministry at Marian University, a Catholic university that serves more than 5,000 students in Indiana and Tennessee.
He doesn't have ties to the area, but says he and his wife, Kristy, are looking for a long term home and somewhere for him to serve out the twilight years of his career.
'It looks like it's an up and rising community, but also has some pretty cool traditions established. So we can't wait to be a part of the overall community,' he said.
McNamee's served in Catholic schools, universities and parishes. He worked 14 years at Guerin Catholic High School, in Noblesville, Indiana, first as the director of student life and campus ministry, then as its director of operations.
He holds a bachelor's degree in business from Marian, and an MBA from Anderson University.
The Tri-Cities' smallest high school is undergoing the largest expansion that its 26-acre campus has ever seen.
It's currently 10 months into a $3 million project to erect six new classrooms, a state-of-the-art biology lab and enhanced security upgrades.
Half of those new classrooms will open this fall, according to previous Herald reporting. In total, the project will add more than 10,000 square feet of new education space.
In an era of plateauing public school enrollment, private schools are seeing a boom in student enrollment driven by school choice popularity and families seeking alternative learning environments for their kids. Much of the interest stemmed from in-person learning disruptions during the COVID pandemic and shifting sentiments around public school.
Like other private schools in the region, Tri-Cities Prep saw double-digit percentage increases during the pandemic years.
And while it continues to raise its student enrollment cap, the school's facilities — a one-floor, seven classroom building, plus two portable buildings — are lagging behind.
The school is located at 9612 St. Thomas Drive in Pasco, Washington.
