Back 2 school_Mississippi Catholic_8 20 2021

MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC AUGUST 20, 2021

BACK 2 SCHOOL 1

JACKSON – First grade student Ja’Kayla Davis clutches her supply bag tightly on the first day of school at Sister Thea Bowman Elementary as she enters the doors for the 2021-2022 school year. (Photo by Deacon Denzil Lobo)

NATCHEZ – Cathedral School second grader, Jett Biglane dives deep into his studies during his first week of school. (Photo by Cara Moody)

COLUMBUS – Annunciation prekindergarten teacher, Lashander Williams teaches in the home living center on the first day back to school. (Photo by Katie Fenstermacher)

AUGUST 20, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

2 BACK 2 SCHOOL

MERIDIAN – (Left) Father Augustine blesses St. Patrick Catholic School backpack tags during students first school Mass of the year on Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021.

(Photo by courtesy of St. Patrick School)

Meet the new principals Will Vollor – St. Patrick School, Meridian This year, like every year of his career, Will Vollor says he looks forward to serving others. This year he will get to serve and support the teachers, staff, parents and students at St Patrick School in Meridian. Vollor was named principal of St. Patrick last spring and has hit the ground running as he prepared for this school year. Vollor received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Mississippi, and master’s degree from Mississippi College. Before becoming principal of St Patrick, he taught and coached at St Aloysius High School in Vicksburg, and Lamar School, Enterprise-Clarke High School, and Northeast Lauderdale High School in the Meridian area.

When asked what made him decide to go into education he said, “Several members of my family were educators, so I had a great deal of admiration for the profession. Most influential to me as an educator was Valera Meachum Vollor. Besides being my grandmother and hero, she was a teacher herself at St. Francis Xavier Elementary School in Vicksburg for twenty-two years.”

Vollor is married to Leslie Horn Vollor, and they have two daughters, Anne Larkin and Lauren. They are active members of St. Patrick Catholic Church, where they have taught both parish school of religion and children’s church in the 10 years that they have resided in Meridian.

Jessica Carter – Cathedral School, Natchez In April, Jessica Carter was named the next lead administrator of Cathedral School in Natchez. This year marks somewhat of a homecoming for Carter as she has previously served as a teacher and the middle school coordinator at Cathedral.

She comes to her new position with fourteen years of experience in education, including four years as the assistant principal at Vidalia High School in Vidalia, Louisiana. Carter received her bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and master’s degrees from Louisiana State University and the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

Carter is married to her husband Mark, who is an alumnus of Cathedral School.

They have two children, Macy, who is in fourth grade, and Maddie Paige, who is one year old. They are active members of St. Mary Basilica parish.

When she accepted this new position, Carter said, “I am excited to serve as the next lead administrator of Cathedral Catholic School. I am deeply honored to be entrusted with the leadership of our great school and want to thank Father Scott Thomas and the principal search committee for bestowing upon me this great responsibility. As a member of St. Mary Basilica and past employee of Cathedral, I want the tradition of a rich Catholic education to continue in our community. I want to lead the school to continued success and build on the posiWill Vollor Jessica Carter tive impact it has had for students, St. Patrick School Cathedral School parents, alumni, stakeholders and Meridian Natchez the community since 1847.”

New principals

VICKSBURG – (Right) Third grader, Jack Stanley, had some pep in his step on his first day of school! (Photo by Lindsey Bradley) MADISON – (Below) St. Anthony fourth grade students Gunner Denman and Maddie Vanderloo spend time in prayer on the first day of school. (Photo by Kati Loyacono)

MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC AUGUST 20, 2021

BACK 2 SCHOOL 3 GREENVILLE – Kindergarten students, Jayce Roscoe and Owen Swafford, practice writing their names on their first week of school.

(Photo by Nikki Thompson)

GREENWOOD – (Below) St. Francis of Assisi principal Jackie Lewis and sixth grade students pray on Aug. 9 during the dedication of the San Damiano Cross at the school; a gift from the Franciscans of ABVM Province. This was in view of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the school. (Photo courtesy of St. Francis School)

Office of Catholic Education issues mask mandate for safety of all

SOUTHAVEN – Teacher Ms. Sue assist the 3-year-old children with their first school snack at Sacred Heart School in Southaven. (Photo courtesy of Sacred Heart School)

Dear Catholic School Community Members, After consultation with healthcare professionals, principals, canonical administrators and Bishop Joseph Kopacz; and following the Mississippi Department of Health and CDC recommendations for schools, beginning Monday, August 16, all teachers and students in Catholic schools in the Diocese of Jackson were required to wear masks.

This decision is not one the Office of Catholic Education takes lightly. Our number one priority is the health and safety of everyone entrusted to our care. In addition, the office recognizes that in-person learning is the best environment for our students. It is our responsibility to do everything we can to ensure these two things can happen simultaneously.

The decision to require masks has been made based on the data and research demonstrating that masks work to mitigate the spread of this virus. Throughout the pandemic, as mask mandates were implemented across the state, case numbers fell. Unfortunately, we now face higher case numbers than at any point during the last school year. In addition to higher case numbers, we are seeing an increase in infections in young children.

We feel it is counterintuitive to relax our mitigation strategies in the face of a stronger enemy in the delta variant. This mask mandate will be re-evaluated weekly until it is determined it is safe to relax our protocols.

We recognize and appreciate that families make sacrifices and pay tuition to send their children to our schools. While not everyone will agree with this decision, we hope you have enough trust in our office and your local school to understand we are working to serve our entire community.

Sincerely, Karla Luke, Executive Director of School Operations and Stephanie Brown, Director of Curriculum and Development

AUGUST 20, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

4 BACK 2 SCHOOL JACKSON – (Right) Father John Bohn visited classrooms and blessed bookbags at St. Richard School. (Photo courtesy of St. Richard School) VICKSBURG – (Left) The Class of 2022 began the first day of their senior year celebrating Mass with Father Rusty Vincent. As leaders of Vicksburg Catholic School, they will work hard to spark joy for all of the Flashes Family. (Photo courtesy of Vicksburg Catholic Schools) MADISON – Nathan Vuelban, second from left, Jack Rosamon and Trey Compretta listen on Friday as J.J. Tice explains how to shoot video for the award-winning, student-produced weekly newscast Bruin News Now. (Photo by Terry Cassreino)

NATCHEZ – The senior class, along with Father Mark Shoffner met on the Cathedral School football field to begin their day with prayer as they watched the sunrise on their last first day of school together.

The Senior Sunrise has become a Cathedral School senior class tradition. (Photo courtesy of Cathedral School)

HOLLY SPRINGS – Teacher, Mimi Henderson poses with her second grade class for a first day photo at Holy Family School. (Photo by Laura Grisham)

What are you looking forward to this year?

I am so excited to get school started for our St. Richard Cardinals. We will learn to let our light and love shine forth as we inspire disciples of God. Jennifer David, Principal, St. Richard Catholic School We are looking forward to having a more normal year than last year especially being able to eat in the cafeteria, move from class to class and attend whole school masses.

After a difficult year Karla McHan, filled with anxiety, we High School decided our school Principal, Vicksfocus this year will be burg Catholic joy. We are excited to Schools find joy in each other and look for ways to bring joy into our community.

This year I am most looking forward to our students returning to traditional instruction, and helping our teachers create and implement a vision of excellence for themTunia Sangster, selves and our stuPrincipal, Holy dents.

Family School

I look forward to serving others and to supporting the great teachers and staff at St. Patrick School. I look forward to providing quality growth opportunities for Will Vollor, Prinyoung people. cipal, St. Patrick Catholic School

20 DIOCESE

AUGUST 20, 2021 MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC

Office of Catholic Education restructures to better serve diocese

BY JOANNA PUDDISTER KING STEPHANIE BROWN

table wages that they deserve while also pursuing the resources and infrastructure needed to provide the highest quality of JACKSON – The 2020-2021 school education to all of our students" said Luke. year was one like no other before it. First, "It is important to look for other ways to the pandemic challenged the Office of keep our schools financially viable outside Catholic Education to assess how it has of raising tuition." functioned and how they can best support Second, the office hopes to improve schools in the diocese. As schools navigattheir service and outreach to minority ed the year, new tasks and responsibilities communities across the diocese. "When were created to deal with the demands of we look at enrollment trends at our virtual learning, contact tracing and overschools that serve our minority commuall management of our response. Then, nities, we see a larger decline in enrollin March of 2021, it was announced that ment," said Brown. "We have challenged Superintendent, Cathy Cook, was planning ourselves to find ways to better meet the to retire. needs of these communities by looking at When Cook's retirement was anbarriers to accessibility." nounced, it opened the door for the office Their next goal is to continue to focus to critically examine how to address areas of improvement that they observed during MADISON – Karla Luke speaks to St. Anthony principal, Anne Cowger and on college and career readiness, with a their system-wide accreditation that came fifth grade teacher, Katie Williams, at a vaccination event at the school in large emphasis on career planning. "We to fruition in October 2019; as well as, March. The Office of Catholic Education was restructured and Luke is now hope to help our students identify their make any changes to the structure of the the executive director of school operations. (Photo by Joanna Puddister King) God-given strengths and talents and set them on a path toward success in a career office. they will enjoy by providing the tools they "To help us better understand our schools' current trajectory, we decided to dive into as much data as possible. We looked at survey results, enrollment, and finance fig- need to adequately prepare for college or whatever their next step may be," expressed ures, as well as current policies. After looking at everything, it was determined it is time Brown.

Additionally, the office also hopes to standardize clerical tasks completed at schools to do something different. One theme that we focused on was the difference between a public-school superintendent and a Catholic school superintendent. While their titles across the diocese. Brown said that they found that many staff members and adminare the same, the scope and authority of the roles are very different," explained Karla istrators at schools spend time doing tasks that could easily be consolidated and performed at the diocesan level. "With the addition of the Coordinator of School Support, Luke of the Office of Catholic Education.

The office even reached out to Kathy Mears, a senior consultant for the National we hope to find ways to free up the time of our administrators by taking these tasks Catholic Educational Association, to discuss national trends that should be considered. off of their plate."

Finally, just as the office evaluated roles and job descriptions, they hope to spend "She explained that many dioceses across the country are reevaluating the structure time clarifying job descriptions for all positions within our schools. "Accountability is of their education offices to try to meet the needs of their schools better," said Luke.

After much discussion and research, the office decided to make a move. Rather the key to forward movement. We hope that by clearly delineating responsibilities, than seek to fill the superintendent position, it was decided that the Office of Catholic everyone can better understand their role in moving our school communities forward," Education would have three new positions: executive director of school operations, said Luke.

AND

director of curriculum and development, and coordinator of school support. Luke, believes that a change in title and reassignment of responsibilities will better articulate what the office does to best serve schools in the diocese.

Luke has assumed the position of executive director of school operations for the diocese. In this role, she will continue many of her responsibilities as associate superintendent and interim superintendent. In addition, this position will oversee the diocesan advisory council for education, local school advisory councils, personnel and legal issues, parent and student concerns, and government programs.

Stephanie Brown, the former assistant superintendent, assumes the position of director of curriculum and development. Previously, Brown oversaw the accreditation process, curriculum, assessment and professional development. In this new role, she will also work closely with the Department of Temporal Affairs on ensuring financial viability and increasing enrollment in all diocesan schools.

The third position in the restructured office will be the coordinator of school support. This role will be similar to an administrative assistant but will play an active role in daily operations at diocesan schools. "We hope that this position's addition will help us streamline many of our administrative tasks, such as record-keeping and verification, school reporting and textbook procurement," said Brown.

They are actively looking for the right person to join the office in this new role.

The Office of Education, working in its newly established structure, recognizes that they have a great deal to be proud of and a great deal of work to do moving forward; and have set five areas of focus for the coming year and beyond.

Their number one priority will be focusing on marketing, development and advancement. While increasing enrollment is always a goal, the office recognizes that they must also seek alternative sources of income outside of just tuition. "As the cost of living rises, we must find the funds necessary to provide all staff members with equi-

COLUMBUS – Stephanie Brown, director of curriculum and development, leads a teacher's retreat at Annunciation Catholic School in August. (Photo courtesy of Annunciation School)