Three LEI Mentors Appointed to Diocesan Leadership Positions
Since its inception, the Latino Enrollment Institute (LEI) has relied on the expertise of mentor principals to help Catholic schools around the country achieve significant enrollment gains. The experience, accountability, and personal attention that these leaders provide has been a defining characteristic of the LEI, helping Catholic school principals—and their teams—institute lasting changes.
We are excited to highlight three of our LEI Mentors who will soon have the opportunity to share their knowledge, experience, and gifts with an even wider audience. Patty Lansink, Haidee Todora, and Toni Vaeth have each been promoted to new leadership positions within their—or new—(arch)diocesan Catholic schools offices.
All three of these Catholic school principals attended the LEI as participants in 2014, and for the past three years have served as mentors to other principals in the program. They were each invited to join the LEI leadership team after exhibiting exceptional sensitivity to the needs of their school communities, knowledge of best practices in working with Latino students and families, and the ability to lead their faculty/staff in this endeavor.
Patty Lansink, New Superintendent in the Diocese of Sioux CityLast month, Patty Lansink was named Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Sioux City. She has more than 20 years of experience in education, and served as the principal of St. Rose of Lima Catholic School in Denison, Iowa, for the past seven. Over the past five years, enrollment at St. Rose has increased by nearly 35 percent, and Latino enrollment has more than doubled.
Patty’s leadership potential was first recognized by the diocese in 2015 when she became an assistant superintendent, while also continuing to serve as the principal at St. Rose of Lima. Since this past July, Patty has served as interim superintendent until officially being named superintendent in February 2018.
“My time at St. Rose has helped me realize the importance of relationships … It truly takes a village to keep our Catholic schools strong. My experiences with staff and students at St. Rose have made me a better Catholic, and awakened in me a passion to share the blessing of a Catholic education with as many families as possible. My involvement with the LEI has helped me focus on relationships in my school, and I will carry that with me in this new position as superintendent. The LEI also taught me a great deal about how our Catholic schools can be more culturally responsive and I've tried to share that not only with my school, but with other Catholic school administrators in our diocese.”
Last month also saw the promotion of another former LEI participant and now coach/mentor to an executive Catholic school leadership position. After a national search, Rochester Catholic Schools (RCS) in Rochester, Minnesota, named Haidee Todora as the new Director of Schools. Haidee has served at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic School in Port Arthur, Texas, since 2007, leading as principal since 2011. She also attended the Latino Enrollment Institute in the summer of 2014 and subsequently joined the LEI leadership team as a coach/mentor.
Haidee Todora, New Director of Rochester Catholic SchoolsWhile the move from Port Arthur, Texas, to Rochester, Minnesota, will bring with it a significant change in environment, Haidee is no stranger to change. She has led her school community through everything from the enrollment challenges that often accompany a demographic shift in a community to disaster recovery and reconstruction efforts after Hurricane Harvey devastated her school and community this past year. But through it all, Haidee remained a faithful servant and a steadfast leader for the community of St. Catherine of Siena, all the while increasing her school’s Latino enrollment by 64 percent.
Affording the opportunity for any family wishing to educate their child at St. Catherine School had always been Haidee’s goal, but she attributes much of her recent success and the passion that now drives her to very intentionally extend that opportunity to Latino families to her experience in the LEI.
“The LEI has been the driving force in my growth as a leader in Catholic schools. As a new LEI principal, the overwhelming support and guidance from the LEI/ACE staff and mentor principals helped me gain the confidence to recognize my own leadership qualities and how to use them to help other principals. Being chosen as an LEI mentor principal was an incredible honor that has pushed me to continue to grow in both faith and knowledge. Having the ability to touch others’ lives through my words and actions has allowed me to follow the call of my vocation. I take with me to my new position as Director of Catholic Schools the understanding and practice of grace and generosity.”
Also joining the ranks of LEI mentor principals earning a promotion to (arch)diocesan leadership positions is Toni Vaeth, principal at St. Therese Catholic School in Aurora, Colorado. Earlier this month it was announced that Toni had been selected to be an Associate Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Denver.
Toni brings a wealth of experience and expertise in Catholic school leadership to her new position, having served not only as a teacher and school leader in the Archdiocese of Denver since 2005, but also as an LEI coach/mentor, helping other schools in their turnaround efforts. Similar to Patty and Haidee, Toni attended the Latino Enrollment Institute in the summer of 2014 and was invited to join the LEI leadership team the following year.
Toni Vaeth, New Associate Superintendent in the Archdiocese of DenverToni applied to attend the LEI in her first year at St. Therese, after inheriting an enrollment crisis at the school that required immediate attention. She and the school’s long-time business manager, along with the parish religious education director, attended the LEI that summer and returned to St. Therese, working tirelessly to make the school more visible in the parish and the wider community. The goal was to create a culture that was responsive to the growing number of Latino families. These efforts quickly paid off as St. Therese had the second highest enrollment increase in the entire Archdiocese of Denver that year. Since then, the enrollment trend has only continued in an upward direction, with the school operating just under capacity.
“The opportunity to be a part of such a crucial mission to the future of our Catholic schools has been a blessing for me and my school. My role as an LEI participant and coach has enabled me to collaborate, learn, and grow from my interactions with principals from across the country. The colleagues that I have met are all up to the challenge to fill their seats and guide students on their journey to heaven. We are all constantly expanding our knowledge, refining our skills, and looking for creative ways to grow our enrollment, and we have shared insights and stories about our respective schools as we all face similar challenges. God has blessed St. Therese with increased enrollment, major capital improvements totaling over $1 million, and a host of life-changing activities for our students. I feel Him now calling me to utilize my talents and all that I have learned at St. Therese to serve all of the Catholic schools in our archdiocese.”
Toni now joins forces with another dynamic school leader, Elias Moo, who currently serves as the principal at St. Rose of Lima School in Denver, and was just recently named the new Superintendent of Schools in the Archdiocese of Denver. Elias is also a graduate of ACE Teaching Fellows and a current Remick Leader.
The appointment of these three Catholic school principals to executive leadership positions at the (arch)diocesan level is reason for much hope and optimism about the future of Catholic schools in our country. While the majority of success stories related to Latino recruitment and enrollment have come from isolated incidents in which school leaders make Latino enrollment a priority, we are seeing a growing number of dioceses prioritizing Latino outreach in their Catholic schools. We look forward to seeing the ways in which Patty, Haidee, and Toni build on their experiences serving Latino families in their respective school communities, as they now lead their (arch)dioceses in the effort to embrace, educate, and empower Latino families through Catholic education.