School Consolidation Update

Educational Divisions and Administration

How will the Academy be divided and where will the divisions be located?

Marquette Academy will have four educational divisions: Prekindergarten – Kindergarten; Grades 1 – 5; Grades 6 – 8; and Grades 9 – 12. The Academy will continue to offer daycare as well as before-care and after-care. Prekindergarten and Kindergarten for Marquette Academy will be located on the St. Patrick campus in the early education building. Grades 1-8 will be located on the St. Columba campus; grades 9-12 will be located on the high school campus. For many years, some of our eighth graders have taken algebra classes on the high school campus. It is expected that this will continue to be an option for students who qualify and who are interested.

What will the school administration for Marquette Academy look like?

Marquette Academy will have one Principal and one Vice-Principal. The Principal will function as the chief executive officer of the school and will serve as principal for the entire PreK-12 school. The Vice-Principal will serve as vice-principal for the entire school as well. The Principal will likely have his or her office on the high school campus; the Vice-Principal will likely have his or her office on the St. Columba campus. The early education campus will have a lead teacher who will serve as an on-site administrator and will make administrative decisions that have been delegated to him or her by the Principal. It is likely that the high school campus will have someone serving as a dean. In most public school systems, a local superintendent manages the school(s) while the role of the Principal is to administrate. In a Catholic high school, these two roles (managing and administrating) are combined.

How does the Principal relate to the Board of Trustees?

Unlike most public school boards, which have the role of managing the school (usually through the Superintendent), the role of the Board of Trustees can be compared with a board of directors for a not-for-profit organization. The Board neither administrates nor manages the school; it governs – primarily by providing leadership in the areas of long and short term planning, use of resources, budgeting, formulation of policies, etc. This marks a significant difference between the way Catholic school and public school principals relate to their respective boards.

How does one become Principal of a Catholic School in the Diocese of Peoria?

All who are interested in applying for the principal position (Prekindergarten – 12^th grade) for Marquette Academy are encouraged to review the Principal Qualifications & Application Procedure on the Diocesan website and to download and complete the Principal Application. All of these materials are available at http://cdop.org/pages/EdSchoolsEmployment.aspx. Application deadline is February 19, 2010.

How will the Principal be chosen?

While the Diocesan Superintendent of Schools does not select the principals for schools in the Diocese, he oversees and supervises the process. The first step will be to convene a search committee that will consist of about six people including pastors, lay people, and a Catholic-school principal. The Superintendent will meet with the search committee and present the dossiers of candidates who have a completed application packet. Only those with a completed packet on file with the Office of Catholic Schools will be considered. All references are checked and the search committee may eliminate some candidates from consideration early on in the process. The search committee will then decide which candidates it intends to interview. Ideally, the interviewing of all the candidates takes place on a single day. If the committee finds a candidate it likes, an offer of employment is made to the candidate within several days. It is possible that the candidate will decline the offer, or that the committee does not find any of the candidates to be suitable in which case the search will continue until a suitable candidate is found.

When will the Principal be chosen and when will he or she begin as Principal?

People seeking principal positions typically begin their search in January or February. This reflects the natural cycle of a school year. Interviews will be conducted in late March. The new Principal will begin July 1, 2010.

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