Both-And

Both-And

Last weekend's Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity highlighted a keystone aspect of our Catholic faith: both-and.

The Most Holy Trinity posits God is both three Persons and one God. The Paschal Mystery combines both death and life. In the Incarnation, Christ is both fully human and fully divine. The Eucharist reveals the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the substance of Christ's body and blood: we experience both the outward appearances (accidents) of bread and wine and the essence (substance) of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. The Annunciation proclaimed both Mary's virginity and her pregnancy. The Holy Spirit unites us both as one and maintains our unique gifts.

Both-and.

Catholic schools and the diocesan/network offices that support them would do well to embrace this theme as an approach to many aspects of school administration: both-and.

DuFour and Fullan (2013) argue that schools should be both autonomous and directed by a larger system. In what they describe as "The Loose-Tight Dilemma", they document the dangers of both too much local-level control (loose) and overly-restrictive district controls (tight).

Site-based management has a negative correlation with student achievement (Marzano & Waters, 2009). Similarly, top-down approaches to motivating people to change with punishments and rewards has a negative impact on the organizations under such a heavy handed approach (Pink, 2011).

The right balance of loose-tight, however, provides a degree of autonomy within the context of direction, coordination, and accountability (DuFour and Fullan, 2013, p. 38). DuFour and Fullan (2013) suggest that organizations define the non-negotiable priorities and parameters within which schools and personnel must operate. Within these tight parameters, local level leaders and educators can creatively work to accomplish these expectations.

Catholic schools and offices of Catholic education should work together to clarify that which must be tight across the network which can then allow for more understanding as to what can be innovatively pursued at the local level. These are exercises that should also occur at the local level - clearly defining both what must be tight - like ensuring students' safety and security - and the loose areas in which employees will be empowered to use their professional and apostolic gifts and talents to advance the mission of our schools.

Loose-tight.

Both-and.

Who We Are

As a Catholic school leader, I would often remind teachers, staff, parents, families, students, and other community members that maintaining the safety and security of the school stood as my top priority. In a sense, I considered it a pre-requisite in order for us to do the work of formation in the Catholic faith and intellectual tradition.

A safety concern remains the only time that I yelled in the presence of students as a principal. While I can imagine handling that situation differently at this point in my career, I see my tactic at that time as justified and in accord with my fundamental responsibility as a school leader.

Along these lines, a number of schools from across the Diocese of Cleveland invested in the safety and security of our schools during a recent Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (CSTAG) Training. Even though it may have surfaced more questions than answers, our engagement with the threat assessment forms, case studies, and dialogue with colleagues from our schools and across the diocese has provided a template for us to use in these incredibly emotional, high stakes, time consuming, and important situations.

As we take this system back to our school communities and use it as our process for identifying and documenting threats, and designing and implementing plans to ensure and restore safety and security in our schools, I also hope that it inspires other deeply held convictions and detailed plans that will allow us to live them out.

For example, Dr. Frank O'Linn, Superintendent of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Cleveland, often describes the goal for our schools to be "irresistibly Catholic, academically excellent, operationally sound and geographically accessible." We would do well to embody these goals as the non-negotiable covenants that we make with our school communities. As we do this, we can stand with confidence upon the guarantees to teachers, staff, students, and families that our tactics will allow us achieve these noble ends.

It will give new life to our efforts to celebrate the Eucharist, offer a comprehensive program of retreats, and turn service hours into opportunities for our students to build the Kingdom of God on earthy by performing corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

Rallying together in this way will provide even greater focus to our efforts to form and support teachers to enhance learning in our classrooms.

Working as a network of Catholic schools will multiply best practices regarding finances, advancement, marketing, communication, enrollment management and other administrative functions that will ensure the operational vitality of our schools.

Finally, as a system of schools spanning across the diocese's eight counties, the longevity of the Catholic schools in Cleveland remains essential to Bishop Malesic's vision for providing Catholic education in geographically accessible areas.

This is who we are. 

This is who we must become: irresistibly Catholic, academically excellent, operationally sound and geographically accessible Catholic schools forming students in the Catholic intellectual and faith traditions. 

Alignment and Coherence

Alignment is structure; coherence is mindset. Shared mindset equals system coherence.

-Richard DuFour and Michael Fullan, Cultures Built to Last, 2013, p. 31

This past year my ministry has focused on the theme of alignment. Much hard work has gone into - and will continue to go into - designing structures and systems to streamline the implementation of Bishop Malesic's vision for Catholic secondary education in the Diocese of Cleveland.

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These systems from the diocesan level have the ability to impact student learning (DuFour and Fullan, 2013), which in our context of Catholic education also includes formation.

However, even the best of systems - the most user-friendly observation form, the most detailed performance management tool, the most comprehensive dashboard to collect and analyze data, etc. - depend upon people to use them and to work together in doing so.

As such, our systemness requires coherence in addition to alignment.

Put another way, while we need policies and procedures that are effective and efficient, we also need people who have a shared sense of why using these systems is important.

Coherence entails sound logic and understanding among those of us within the system. DuFour and Fullan (2013) call this the "social glue that makes people's commitment and work" stick together and succeed (p. 31).

Coherence requires that we continue to build a shared purpose as a network of Catholic schools while also doing the same within our respective school communities. We must clarify our goals, strategies, and progress, strengthening and edifying the system itself as we build a collective mindset.

As we clarify these components of our network and individual schools, we must communicate and overcommunicate "clearly, repeatedly, enthusiastically, and repeatedly (that's not a typo)" (Lencioni, The Advantage: Why organizational health trumps everything else in business, 2012, p. 3).

With this in mind, let us take up the dual work of alignment and coherence.

Let us commit to our shared purpose of carrying out the educational mission of the Catholic Church to form disciples to build the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

Let us continue to take action steps to design the systems of measuring the effectiveness of our missions, observing teachers, creating budgets, working with boards and committees, and gaining approval for hiring and temporal goods requests.

And, let us strive to accomplish the goals of increased enrollment, higher teacher retention, improved standardized test scores, more favorable net promoter values, greater financial viability, and - most importantly - stronger Catholic identity and faith formation.

Alignment and coherence. Systems and a collective mindset. Mind, body and soul. Scholars and saints. On earth and in heaven.

The Lukewarm Go Elsewhere

 “It is necessary for us to undergo hardships...” (Acts 14:22).

We are an Easter people and alleluia is our song!

Once of my favorite parts of the Easter season includes hearing the stories from the Acts of the Apostles. Filled with the Holy Spirit, the apostles work to establish the Church by being Jesus to others in word and action. From huge conversions to miraculous healings to living in community to prison breaks to earth shaking prayers, listening to these pioneers of our faith fills me with zeal and conviction.

This Easter, one theme has resonated with me in new and compelling ways: ministry entails hardships.

Put another way: Good Friday precedes Easter Sunday. This is the Paschal Mystery. 

The apostles "rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name (of Jesus)" (Acts 5:41).

They encourage each other to "continue in the faith, saying 'It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God'" (Acts 14:22).

In his second letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul boasts of the following: "Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure. And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches" (2 Corinthians 11:24-28).

This reminds me of a line from Fr. Ron Nuzzi, who served as the Director of the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program when I joined in 2007. As a way to recruit aspiring Catholic school leaders to this graduate-level course of studies, he quipped, "The lukewarm go elsewhere."

*jump to the 7:27 minute-mark:

In so many ways, we are conditioned to avoid hardships and difficulties - and for good reason. Air conditioning/heat keeps us comfortable. Snacking staves off "hanger." Online shopping saves time. Frequent communication with teachers, families, and students can prevent all sorts of problems. Detailed plans for events such as assemblies, standardized testing, open house can mitigate real-time mishaps and errors. Building systems - enrollment management, moves management, observation cycles - and aligning our efforts to mission should improve efficiency and effectiveness across our organizations.

But, the tales of these early Church ministers should remind us that we work in enemy occupied territory. Therefore, expect difficulties, embrace opposition and rejoice in toiling for Christ's kingdom here on earth.

The work is hard but we can do hard things. 

We should reframe challenges as opportunities for us to grow and minister, literally replacing the words challenges, hardships, difficulties, etc. with opportunity or even blessing!

Let us find encouragement from the apostles as we work in the vineyard of Catholic education. Let us support each other in the efforts expended to advance the Church's vision for Catholic education - to form students who will go out into the world and make it more aligned to the principles of the Gospel.

And, let us rejoice - I say it again, rejoice - for being found worthy to endure whatever comes our way in Catholic education for the Holy Name of Jesus.

The lukewarm go elsewhere. 

Built to Last

The election of Pope Leo XIV filled me with wonder and awe over the longevity of the Catholic Church. As the 266th successor of St. Peter, the first Pope, Pope Leo XIV stands solidly upon the foundations of our faith, firmly established by Jesus when He declared, "And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). 

Standing in front of the center of paganism at the time, Caesarea Philippi, Jesus planted the seeds of the Church that more than 2,000 years later continues to flourish. 

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The longevity of our Church fills me with great conviction and inspiration to ensure that the Church's various structures, including and especially Her Catholic schools, can similarly withstand the test of time. 

Recently, I have been rereading the book, Cultures Built to Last: Systemic PLCs at Work (DuFour and Fullan, 2013), and a few messages from this text have resonated with me in new ways. My previous interactions with this book were prior to working as an associate superintendent.

First, the authors site research that reinforces the impact that a strong central office can have on student learning. Candidly, this has reinforced and galvanized my conviction surrounding the work that I have been entrusted with doing in the Diocese of Cleveland:

Numerous other studies have now affirmed that an effective central office can play a major role in improving schools throughout the system. When Robert Marzano and Tim Waters (2009) conducted one of the largest-ever quantitative research studies on superintendents, they found a statistically significant relationship between district leadership and student achievement. (DuFour and Fullan, 2013, p. 5)

Second, the text centers on the importance of both people and systems. In fact, the authors encourage readers and practitioners to recognize that systems are built and implemented by people. Without this human element - sweat equity, input, buy-in, tweaking - systems and the success they can bring won't last.

Third, the text provides a framework to create and facilitate systems within schools. These components should sound familiar: a clear purpose, a shared vision, detailed action steps, and defined criteria of success. 

Not surprisingly, the authors repeatedly point everything back to doing what is best for students.

As I reflect on the collective work of the Diocese of Cleveland's Catholic high schools this year, our year-long theme has been alignment - to the bishop's vision for Catholic secondary education and to the mission of the school. We spent much time and energy on constructing data that we can analyze in order to improve - aligning our efforts to get better with concrete indicators of whether or not we have been successful. All of our schools have taken steps to reclaim, boldly proclaim, and explain the schools' mission, respectively. From ensuring that Advisory Boards know the mission to including it in Newsletters, much good work has been done to align school communities to the school's mission.

We have tried to provide clarity to processes on the diocesan level. Additionally, we have worked to offer expectations for teachers as it pertains to teaching, planning, assessment, and classroom management, aligning their work to form our students with best practices and standards of excellence worthy of the name Catholic. Similarly, we have brushed the dust from our schools' performance management systems, and taken many good steps toward providing evaluative feedback and support to all who have a part to play in advancing the mission of our schools.

As we move toward the finish line of the 2024–2025 academic year, celebrate the progress that has been made to design structures within Catholic schools that will allow us to ascend to new heights of academic achievement, faith formation, and operational vitality. Celebrate the many ways that you have made improvements so that any success achieved will be sustained and enhanced, regardless of who has our, or any, role within our schools. Finally, as we reflect on the successes of this year, let us set our sights on the creation and implementation of even more systemness within our Catholic schools next year and beyond.

As we do this, we will ensure that all Catholic schools - like the Catholic Church - are built to last.

Good News

“A humanity reawakened by Christ can generate new protagonists in the history of the world – new witnesses able to make judgments, able to discern right from wrong, good from evil, true good from passing pleasure.” 

-Archbishop Christophe Pierre, 2018

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

As ministers of Catholic education, our Church recognizes that we form an apostolate - meaning that like the apostles we have been sent on mission by Jesus Christ. As we share the story of our personal encounter with Jesus Christ, may we also consider the impact of stories in our broader leadership as well.

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Stories have the power to move us. God hardwired our brains to connect with stories. While listening to a story, the activation in our brains mirrors that of the storyteller (Stephens, Silbertc, & Hasson, 2010). We have the ability to predict the next parts of stories and some of the best stories are those that surprise us or twist what was anticipated. We tell stories naturally, seeing our lives in the context of settings, characters, themes and plot.

Stories possess incredible cultural weight. The stories that communities tell over and over convey that which the group values and holds as important (Hammond, 2015). These stories tell the tales of the heroes and protagonists of our organizations and inspire listeners to emulate the actions of the giants upon whose shoulders we stand.

As storytellers, we have the ability to choose the heroes that get honored, the actions that we value, the metrics by which we judge success, and the ways in which we expect the community to behave. Everything tells the stories of our schools: from the news that we share in our newsletters to the data that we decide to collect/construct to the words that we use during graduation ceremonies, welcome nights, and faculty meetings. All of it contributes to the overall narrative of our schools (Deal and Petersen, 2016).

Marshall Ganz (2009) frames stories within the context of leadership in three movements: the story of self, the story of us, and the story of now.

As you tell people your story - why have you said yes to leading at your school at this time in this capacity - you start to rally others to craft, share, and repeat a story of us - why they have similarly answered the call to serve in this place, at this time, in this way. As we build this collective tale of us - who we are as a school, what we value and hold as sacred - we can inspire people to tell the story of now: the motivating account that shows the gap between our aspirations and reality, providing the necessary spark for change.

Tell your story. 

Share the story of your school. 

Inspire action, creating even more good news.

Many United as One

One of the podcasts I listen to weekly is from Fr. John Ricardo. The leader of an organization called "Acts XXIX" (to signify that we are meant to live in the 29th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles) this past week Fr. John discussed the concept of "communio".

Providentially, Pope Leo XIV's episcopal motto mirrors this message: in illo uno unum - "although we Christians are many, in the one Christ we are one."

Simply, communio means many united as one while still being many. Rooted in the mystery of the Trinity - three Persons in one God - communio should also inspire our work as Catholic educators connected to the local traditions of our schools, the bishop of our respective dioceses, and the universal Church.

United and unique. Part of a system and autonomous. Together and individual.

Both/And.

Ideally, Catholic schools should benefit from being connected to centralized systems - parishes, orders, networks, dioceses - while remaining rooted in local charisms, traditions, and programs.

This duality requires strong balance and nimble flexibility. Much like differentiated instruction in a classroom, this dance between systemness and singularity demands that we create common structures while allowing for variance.

In my role as Associate Superintendent in the Diocese of Cleveland, much of my work has centered on alignment and the building of systems - hiring, temporal goods, budgeting, observations, board management, advancement, and data collection. This has been tempered with a respect for and consideration of the local realities of the schools here in the diocese. 

Like the early apostles who toiled to establish our Church throughout the world, much work remains in order for us to function in communio with each other while remaining unique. In a sense, this work always remains - we will always need to move and adapt in order to meet the needs of our current contexts while staying grounded in the beliefs of our faith.

For now, let us find inspiration in the zeal of the apostles for us to dialogue with and encourage each other through the various iterations of our systems. Let us mimic their hope that the Holy Spirit will continue to guide us in this important work of designing structures, programs, and procedures that will more effectively and efficiently allow us to carry out the missions of our schools, respectively. And, may we imitate the bold faith of the apostles as we ensure our efforts always brings others into a relationship with Christ.