St. Mary’s principal recognized at White House

Sister of the Holy Family Jennie Jones, principal of St. Mary’s Academy since 2001, was among an elite group of nine Catholics honored as “Champions of Change in Catholic Education” at a special White House ceremony Jan. 24.

A component of President Barack Obama’s “Winning the Future” initiative, the Champions of Change program recognizes role models from a different sector of American life each week for their contributions, innovations and service to their local communities.

Sister Jennie, whose 42 years as a woman religious include 27 years as a principal at New Orleans Catholic schools, was singled out for her role in the rebuilding of St. Mary’s following its devastation in Hurricane Katrina. Under Sister Jennie’s leadership, the all-girls high school not only was rebuilt, but expanded to include boys and girls in grades pre-K through eighth as a temporary post-Katrina accommodation to returning families.

“There are so many wonderful educators in New Orleans, especially after Katrina, who put in so much hard work to bring our schools back, so I felt very humbled (to be nationally recognized),” said Sister Jennie, a 1970 graduate of the school she now helms.

St. Mary’s middle and high school students are now ensconced in a state-of-the-art building that opened last February, while long-range plans include either renovating or building a new facility for students in pre-K3 through fifth.

During the White House ceremony, Sister Jennie noted that Catholic schools believe that all children are capable of learning, encourage students to do their best, and continually strive to foster academic excellence and improve test scores.

“Now you might say, ‘That’s what allschools do,’” Sister Jennie said. “But what makes Catholic education just that bit different is that Christ is the center of all that we do in education. We teach our children morals, and we share our values with them, encouraging them to do the best they can do and to use the talents that God created them to use.”

Defied ‘green space’ plans

Sister Jennie shared the story of her congregation’s 145-year-old school, which prior to Katrina served girls in grades 6-12. After Katrina, Sister Jennie, her fellow administrators and teachers were determined that St. Mary’s would rise again as “a beacon of hope,” especially after city planners labeled the school’s Chef Menteur Highway campus as “green space” in their initial post-Katrina blueprint for New Orleans.

“We knew that it was important to be a light and a beacon to our students and our parents in the Archdiocese of New Orleans,” said Sister Jennie, addressing attendees of the White House ceremony. “It was a tremendous honor for me to join our archbishop and our archdiocese to come back and help rebuild our Catholic schools.”

“With the support of the archdiocese and the Sisters of the Holy Family, not only have we rebuilt our all-girls high school for grades 6-12, we also took in ages 3 through fifth grade, and we let that continue to be coed, because there were so few schools for (those students) to go to at the time,” Sister Jennie said.

‘National treasures’

At the ceremony, Joshua DuBois, executive director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, noted that Catholic schools constitute the largest faith-based schooling group in the country. He said the U.S. Department of Education refers to Catholic schools as “national treasures” for their value not only to the students who attend them, but to the nation as a whole.

DuBois also reminded his audience that some 201 Catholic colleges and universities are educating “the next generation of leaders and innovators,” and are providing programs in teacher education and school leadership so that elementary and secondary school teachers can “sustain the promise of a high-quality education.”

“Catholic schools step up to the plate on behalf of all children – Catholic and non-Catholic schoolchildren alike,” Dubois said, pointing to their pivotal role in recovery efforts following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

“Catholic schools responded quickly and compassionately to all victims,” DuBois said. “Many Catholic schools voluntarily enrolled large numbers of students displaced from public and private schools. Catholic schools were the first to reopen in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.”

He said the White House deliberately held the Catholic Champions ceremony in advance of Catholic Schools Week (nationally observed this year from Jan. 29-Feb. 5) “to spread the word about how much Catholic schools mean to our country.”

Catholic schools as anchors

Roberto Rodriguez, President Obama’s special assistant on education, spoke of the key role played by Catholic schools in the overall strength of American education.

“With over 2 million students attending nearly 7,000 elementary and secondary Catholic schools in America, our administration wants to say thank you for the contributions that you’ve made and continue to make to the strength of our democracy, to the educational landscape, to the lives of students and their families around the country,” Rodriguez said, repeating the day’s refrain of how Catholic schools were “first responders” to families and students after the 2005 hurricanes.

During a Q&A session with the honorees, Rev. Brenda Girton-Mitchell, director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, noted that 30 percent of total Catholic school enrollment comprises people of color, and that “extraordinary efforts have been made to reach (those looking for a quality education), whether they are Catholic by faith or not.”

“We celebrate your commitment to serving the underserved – and sometimes the unserved and unrecognized – in our communities,” Girton-Mitchell said, sharing another statistic with the national media: of the 49 private schools designated as National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education for school year 2011-12, 46 are Catholic schools.

For profiles of the other honorees, visit www.whitehouse.gov/champions.

Beth Donze can be reached at bdonze@clarionherald.org.

Sr. Jennie Jones recounts the post-Katrina renaissance of SMA

I have always loved God and trusted that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

On Aug. 28, 2005, my faith in God, my strength and my desire to face reality were challenged by the approaching hurricane.

(Upon returning to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina), the city had an awful smell and gave me an eerie feeling. There were no cars, no people and no sounds.

The biggest shocker of all was when I exited to Chef Menteur Highway, where our motherhouse and St. Mary’s Academy had taken on seven feet of water. Everything was brown, giving the impression that a bomb had been dropped.

At that time the city was talking about making our area green space. They felt it was too risky to rebuild. Too risky? What would become of our girls?

As hopeless as it looked, we knew the mission of St. Mary’s Academy had to live on. With that in mind, in January 2006, St. Mary’s merged with two other African-American Catholic high schools – St. Augustine and Xavier Prep – to form the “MAX” High School on the campus of Xavier Prep. With an enrollment of over 600, the healing and the dream of rebuilding began.

In August 2006, as part of a generous gift from the Archdiocese of New Orleans, St. Mary’s Academy started over at St. James Major School. With the help of FEMA, the State of Louisiana and volunteers from across the United States, St. Mary’s Academy returned to its Chef Menteur Highway campus in fall 2007 in a temporary facility provided by FEMA. Today our middle and high school students are enjoying a beautiful new state-of-the-art building.

The “green space” is now the home of a $32 million school.

Rebuild, yes we did!