Ms. Collette Tate

Ms. Collette Tate brings more than twenty years of experience in education, serving in both stateside public schools and overseas DoDEA schools. She has worked across elementary, middle and high school levels and is known for her student-centered leadership, collaborative mindset and commitment to academic excellence and positive social-emotional development.

Most recently, Tate served as principal of Brussels Elementary High School, where she supported students across multiple grade levels. Prior to that, she served as principal of Ansbach Elementary School in Bavaria, guiding the school through a successful implementation of the College and Career Ready Standards for Mathematics. She also served as assistant principal at Ansbach Middle High School. Before joining DoDEA, she worked in Idaho as a principal in an alternative high school credit-recovery program and as a classroom educator.

Her teaching background includes extensive middle school instruction along with high school chorus, music theory, AP Music Theory, piano lab and music history. She has directed a performing arts academy, coached musical theater programs and provided community music instruction. These varied experiences have shaped her belief in fostering independent thinkers, creative problem solvers and active participants in their learning.

Tate grew up across several western U.S. states and earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and performing arts K–12 from the University of Idaho, followed by a master’s degree in educational leadership from Idaho State University. She is married to a DoDEA educator, and their daughter—an Ansbach Middle High School graduate—is completing a degree in environmental economics at the University of Wyoming.

Outside of school, Tate enjoys traveling to remote destinations, gardening, playing music, hiking and diving. She and her family are excited to explore and experience all that Belgium has to offer.