Written by Rebecca Jones, executive director, St. Eugene and St. Monica Schools, Archdiocese of Milwaukee
Catholic schools in our country continue to evolve as we gain understanding of how students learn, study best practices for classroom instruction and seek financial stability by creating new models of leadership and governance.
On the Northshore of Milwaukee, WI, we are blessed with four strong Catholic schools with rich traditions, outstanding academics and lived out faith formation. The schools are relatively close to one another, yet each school maintains healthy enrollments. The respective four parishes are also independent and vibrant.
Close to fifteen years ago, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee asked the four Northshore parishes to form two clusters. The parishes remain separate; however, each cluster is made up of two parishes that share ministries and staff. Each of the two clusters has a pastor and associate pastor. Learning to acknowledge each neighboring parish as family, not competition, has been a rewarding journey.
During the 2022-2023 school year, after years of brainstorming how the four Northshore Catholic schools could enhance collaboration, the cluster parishes of St. Eugene in Fox Point and St. Monica in Whitefish Bay solidified a plan to change the schools’ leadership structure. This shift entailed a new position, an executive director providing a consistent vision, mentoring principals, strengthening curriculum and supporting teachers through shared professional development.
The new model consists of one executive director for both schools, a principal for each school and an assistant principal for the larger school. Both schools also have advancement and enrollment directors who oversee recruitment and retention of students, along with raising money through an annual fund.
We chose the National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools (NSBECS) as the guiding document for the executive director’s job description. Each domain along with its benchmarks provides the perfect road map for the executive director.
In 2023-2024, the inaugural year of the new leadership included the hiring of an executive director, new principals at each school and a new advancement and enrollment director for one of the schools. The other leadership roles were in place. The executive director established the schools’ executive team (SET) consisting of the executive director, principals and assistant principal. SET meetings occur twice a month and allow for information sharing, strategic planning, support and prayer.
The executive director also established regular meetings with the advancement and enrollment directors. Eliminating the competition between schools has provided opportunities for recruiting new students, marketing through social media and sharing best practices for building the annual funds. Both schools’ open houses were successful, evidenced by the large number of tours given and the equally large number of new registrations.
The cluster parishes of St. Eugene and St. Monica experienced a setback with the unexpected resignation of their pastor in December 2023. However, having an executive director allowed the schools to carry on their mission without interruption. The principals received support and guidance from the executive director through an uncertain time.
The executive director’s role includes supervising the principals and utilizing the Principal Effectiveness Framework developed by the Office for Schools of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. This tool, originally developed for pastors to use with principals, aligns with the NSBECS. Having the executive director, rather than the pastor, use this tool allows the executive director to provide more focused supervision of the principals. It also affords the pastor more time to serve the schools pastorally.
Entering the second year of this model the SET leadership team will create goals for advancing curriculum, delving into the best practices for literacy. There is planning for intentional, collaborative professional development where teachers at both schools can learn together. Future goals include reviewing compensation structures, common tuition fees, facility planning and upgrades.
The leadership model created by St. Eugene and St. Monica is unique in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The office for schools is monitoring its success and hoping that other clusters of parishes and schools may adopt similar systems.
Ed Foy, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee had this to say about the model, “The executive director role is designed to provide support, guidance and stability for pastors and principals. Our best leaders work in collaboration with other staff members and community stakeholders. When pastors and principals are isolated by the complexity of their roles, they are not able to operate as true collaborative leaders. This new model puts an emphasis on shared leadership and sustainable collaboration to support continuous school growth.”
One might ask, why would successful, independent schools want to adopt this new leadership model? Simply stated, we want Catholic education on the Northshore of Milwaukee to continue to thrive for future generations. With our unique charisms, we can offer families a choice of Catholic schools that aren’t a consolidation of schools and traditions, but instead a collaboration of schools that honor past traditions while creating new systems for the future.
