Year in Review

When school started in August of 2019,no one could have anticipated the year we would have and the wild ending we would all experience. Despite the unexpected ending, the Diocese of Jackson- Office of Education had a busy and productive school year, making progress in many of the areas that were outlined in last year’s Annual Report.

We started the school year with our annual Diocesan Faith Formation Day, where we gathered teachers from across the diocese for a day of prayer, reflection, and fellowship. We welcomed speaker Jonathan Doyle, who spoke to all of our teachers, staff members, and administrators about our unique calling to the vocation of Catholic Education. Jonathan’s witty sense of humor and inspiring message left everyone recommitted to their calling and ready to begin a great school year.

In October, we welcomed a team of six leaders in Catholic education to complete our Cognia Accreditation External Review. Over three days, the group visited schools, spoke with stakeholders, and reviewed a plethora of supporting evidence that our schools put together. The team was very impressed with the direction our schools are moving and provided great insight into ways we can continue to grow. Keep reading to learn more about the details of their report and recommendations. The team recommended to the Cognia Global Commission that all schools within the Diocese of Jackson be accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), which is the accrediting arm of Cognia.

In February of 2020, our school principals and early learning center directors came together for our annual retreat. Administrators worked with guest speaker Lisa Corona to focus on the concept of Servant Leadership and our call to serve those in our community. During our business meeting at the retreat, we discussed new and exciting initiatives, including the Sister Thea Bowman Art’s Collaborative, our Emerging Leaders Program, and the process we’ll be using for strategic planning. You can read more about all of these initiatives in the coming pages.

Then, as we all know, the end of the school year took an unexpected turn with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the urging of public health officials and the order of Governor Tate Reeves, schools in the state transitioned to distance learning, and our Catholic schools followed suit. Teachers, administrators, and staff members immediately mobilized and adapted to our new virtual reality. While there were challenges to be addressed, our teachers worked diligently to ensure that students experienced as little disruption to their learning as possible. Once the quarter ended, a survey was sent to parents to understand what worked, what did not work, and how we can improve our use of distance learning tools in the future. Some highlights from those surveys can be found on the next page. We are confident that the valuable feedback from all of our stakeholders will help us better meet all of our students’ needs in the year to come. While we plan to be in-person, we are also planning to supplement that learning with aspects of virtual education year-round to make their experience even better!

Finally, we rounded out the year with non-traditional celebrations of our graduates across the Diocese. While the ceremonies may have looked different, the graduating class of 2020 continued our long tradition of academic excellence and personal development. Did you know that individuals in the Class of 2020 completed an average of 159 service hours this year? That’s a total of 28,050 hours of service to others. In addition to their service to others, their hard work allowed them to accept a total of $7.5 million in scholarships! The exciting plans for our graduates include prestigious schools such as the Rochester Institute of Technology and West Point Military Academy. The class of 2020 even includes one student, Grayson Foley, who has accepted his calling to the priesthood, and will attend St. Joseph Seminary College in St. Benedict, Louisiana.