By Barbara McArdle
With the start of the 2016-2017 school year, newly appointed principals are preparing to meet their school communities and to assume the diverse and challenging role of leadership.
New administrators or those who are new to the schools and academies within the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens are required to participate in the St. Frances Cabrini Leadership Institute, a three-year program that culminates with a professional development certificate granted by Fordham University.
The purpose of the Cabrini Institute is to provide training, mentoring, and professional services on a regular basis for new school leaders. This mandated program anticipates the needs of the novice administrator to develop the required leadership standards: to strengthen Catholic identity, to encourage student achievement through instructional leadership and supervision of teachers and to promote the educational programs within the schools and academies.
The St. Frances Cabrini Institute strives to enable principals to strongly exercise spiritual and academic leadership in the Catholic elementary parish schools and academies, while also reflecting the skills necessary for success in promoting the mission and vision of Catholic education within the Diocese of Brooklyn.
The Office of the Superintendent-Catholic School Support Services is pleased to announce that there are more than a dozen newly appointed principals who will lead Catholic schools and academies in the diocese this academic year.
Among them are:
Nicholas Troiani – Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Academy, Bensonhurst;
Dana McCann – Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Academy, Forest Hills;
Margaret Tyndall – Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Academy, Sunset Park;
Ligoria Berkeley-Cummins – Our Lady of the Angelus Catholic Academy, Rego Park;
Juan Rodriguez – Queen of All Saints Catholic Academy, Fort Greene;
James Daino – Queen of the Rosary Catholic Academy, Williamsburg;
Maryann Cooke – Sacred Heart Catholic Academy, Bayside;
Andrea D’Emic – St. Edmund Parish School, Sheepshead Bay;
Craig Mercado – St. Ephrem Parish School, Dyker Heights;
Jennifer Hernandez – St. Leo Catholic Academy, Corona;
Jan Marie Brunswick – St. Luke School, Whitestone;
Victoria Richardson – St. Margaret Catholic Academy, Middle Village;
Philip Heide – St. Mary Gate of Heaven Catholic Academy, Ozone Park;
Kathleen Curatolo – St. Patrick Catholic Academy, Bay Ridge;
Susan McCabe-Walsh – St. Saviour Catholic Academy, Park Slope; and
Zofia Swiatek – St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Academy, Woodhaven.
Barbara McArdle is assistant superintendent for principal professional development.