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More
than 200 Catholic School Principals, Assistant
Principals, Superintendents,
Associate Superintendents, Clergy and other leaders
gathered at the Grand Hyatt
Tampa Bay Feb. 14-16, 2007 for the FCC
Administrators' Conference.
The
special Conference is held every two years to
promote a spirit of collegiality
and community among school leaders, who share a rich
heritage of service to
students and families, while often facing similar
challenges such as handling
demographic shifts or managing the use of
technology.
In
describing the theme for the Conference, Dr. John L.
Cummings, Ed.D.,
wrote: "Like the Bay area's annual Gasparilla
celebration, which re-enacts the
pirates' invasion and take over of the city of
Tampa, the invasion of Catholic school
leaders from all seven dioceses and the Diocese of
Savannah, will also be a
celebration of our past and present, and a
"rekindling the spirit" for a stronger future
in our Catholic schools." Dr. Cummings serves as the
Superintendent of Schools for the
Diocese of St. Petersburg, which hosted the event.
The
Catholic school communities from the Diocese of St.
Petersburg worked hard
to line up professional development via nationally
renowned speakers, as well as
exhibits from a plethora of vendors for educational
goods and services (ranging
from campus security systems to interactive "white
board" technology for
the classroom).
The
Celebrant for the opening liturgy Feb. 14, the
"Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit,"
was Bishop Robert N. Lynch of the host diocese. In
the program for the
Conference, Bishop Lynch wrote: "We know that
Catholic schools are the best
vehicle for sharing the totality of our Catholic
faith and traditions. The Catholic
schools in Florida and the Diocese of Savannah are
strong signs of our Catholic
faith because of dedicated men and women like
yourselves and the thousands of
teachers who interact more closely with the
students."
From an
Accreditation Program perspective, one of the
highlights for the
Conference was a workshop entitled: "Accreditation
Team Ministry: Training for
Visitation Team Members." The workshop was provided
twice by Sr. Joan
Dawson, O.S.F., who is the current Chairperson for
our 14-member Accreditation Committee. More than 30
school administrators attended the workshop to learn
more about the process for becoming a team member or
even a chairperson for a
visitation under the SIP or "School Improvement
Plan" model, created by the
National Study of School Evaluation (NSSE). (The
FCC uses the SIP model
under a special agreement with NSSE.
Another
of the many highlights was the homily given by Msgr.
Laurence
Higgins at a Mass on Feb. 15. Msgr. Higgins, who is
the pastor of St. Lawrence
Catholic School in Tampa, spoke for nearly 20
minutes about the challenges and characteristics of
our Catholic schools.
"I think our Catholic school system is
absolutely essential, I think the school system is a
foundation, like the home, it’s
so necessary for our people," he said. He also
stated that our students are often
the best witnesses of the Catholic faith to their
peers. "I’ve often thought that by
working together in the parish, our young people are
taught ... that they could be
the evangelizers ... ."
During
the conclusion of his homily, Msgr. Higgins
addressed the mission of
Catholic schools. "The
primary purpose (of a Catholic School education) is
to
know, love, and serve God. And that ... is
something that all of us need to hear."
He added: "We teach, my dear friends, by example.
And ... the children have to
know that religion is not a subject. It’s a way of
life. Religion is the center of every aspect. It’s
living it, it’s putting it into practice, it becomes
the star that the wise
men saw. We were all called to be that, in
Baptism. We are called to honor Christ; really, we
are called to give witness to the message of the
Gospel of good news by the
way we live, the way that we talk, the way that we
treat one another.
Yet
another highlight of the Conference was
the
20-minute address by Larry
Keough, FCC Associate Director for Education, on the
closing day. Drawing from
his ten years of service to the Florida Catholic
Conference, Keough stressed the importance of giving
prayerful consideration to difficult decisions made
on a daily
basis.
"I hope
that each of you will pray for all of us to be
blessed with inner-strength to
make the right decisions, which are often the most
difficult," said Keough.
"I began a couple of years ago when confronted with
important decisions to ask
myself what is the right decision, regardless of how
it impacts me. Yes, there is more external criticism
with this approach, but more internal peace, if that
makes sense."
Other
highlights included a variety of workshops, ranging
from brain based research
on the learning process to the effective use of
technology in the classroom.
Speakers included: Br. Robert Bimonte, F.S.C.,
Executive Director of the
Elementary Department for the National Catholic
Educational Association
(NCEA); Sr. Jeanne Hagelskamp, S.P., President of Providence Cristo Rey
High School in
Indianapolis, IN; and many others. The keynote
address, entitled "Catholic
Education Rekindled with Disney Imagination," was
delivered by Fr. Michael
Caruso, S.J. Fr. Caruso serves as Assistant
Professor of Education at Loyola
Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA, and
Coordinator of the university's
Catholic School Administration Program.
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