*Original article published December 12, 2007.*

**Posted with permission from Lancaster New Era.**

Challenging Change for St. Anne School

**Published December 15, 2007**

By Jane Holahan
New Era Staff Writer

 

 

Last year, when Christopher Kennedy was being interviewed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg, he took a particular interest in the St. Anne School in Lancaster. It’s not the biggest or the flashiest Catholic school in the diocese, which includes Lancaster County.  But Kennedy, who became the principal there last May, liked what he saw.
“When you look at the facility, well, it looks 80 years old and you might go, ‘Oh, I don’t know.’…But I saw the community that’s here, and that’s what it’s all about, that’s what matters,” says Kennedy, who was changing careers after 20 years in the Navy.
But there was another reason Kennedy, 41, liked the idea of leading St. Anne’s, 108 E. Liberty St.
“During the interview, when they told me they might be planning to build a new school, I knew it was such a good match for me to come here,” he says.
That’s because Kennedy had worked as a project manager during his Navy career, and the idea of overseeing the logistics of the project appealed to him.
While the idea of moving the school has been floating around for a while, Kennedy made it semi-official this week by sending out a letter to members of St. Anne’s Church, which is located right next to the school. 
The plan is to build a new elementary/middle school at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Manheim Township, with plans to open it by the 2011-2012 school year.
About half of the students who go to St. Anne School are from the St. John Neumann parish, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year.  St. Anne’s parish, in the northern end of the city, is home for the other half.
Demographics show that the parish in Manheim Township is growing at a much faster pace than St. Anne’s. 
“There are nearly 1,000 kids in Catholic education in the St. John Neumann parish,” Kennedy says.  “Our population is shifting.”
But the school is growing too.
About 230 students are in kindergarten through eighth grade, and another 30 students are in pre-kindergarten classes.  About a quarter of the students are not Catholic.
“We have been increasing in size in the last several years,” Kennedy explains.  “If we continue to grow, we will outgrow this building.  Already, space is limited.”
The tentative plan is to double the size of the school, which now only has one class in each grade.
As much as he loves St. Anne School, Kennedy knows its limitations.
He cites three major reasons behind the need to build a new school – or a religious education center, as he put it in the letter.
One: the shifting population of the parishioners.  Another: security.  “In the era of Columbine and Nickel Mines, we have to improve security in our school,” he says.  “It would be tough to modify a building this age.”
The school does lock doors and has video cameras throughout, but Kennedy knows parents and students expect more in this day and age.
The third major reason cited in the letter: technology.
“We do a good job keeping current with new technology, but it will never be financially feasible to update the school as much as we need to,” he says.
When St. Anne’s parishioners got the letter, some wondered what would become of their church.
“The church will still be operating, and they will be able to use the school and have a lot more room,” Kennedy says. “I think everybody wins.”
He notes that support has been strong for the 3 ½ mile move, even in this early stage.

“We are still in the information phases, still trying to determine what our needs are.  Then we will get permission from the diocese,” Kennedy says. “The plans have to meet the needs of both parishes.”
Kennedy believes that Catholic schools are doing well these days, in large part because parents want to send their children to a school that educates them not just academically, but in religious ways as well.
“I think they are looking for more than just a book education,” he says. “They want their children to have moral and spiritual training as well.”
And he is proud to note that St. Anne School does well academically.
“We’ve done well on our standardized testing.  We’re in the mid-90th percentile,” he says.  “Parents want education for the whole student.”
In the past, most Catholic school principals were priests or nuns.  That’s no longer the case.  But, Kennedy says, he and the faculty share a commitment to Catholic education.
Kennedy was educated in Catholic schools as he grew up in High Point, N.C. His mother still teaches at a Catholic school he attended.
“She thought I talked too much, he recalls with a laugh.  Kennedy has carried on  the tradition.  He and his wife, Sheellah, who is the librarian at St. Anne, have three children: Ryan, in sixth grade, and twins Adrienne and Erika in fourth grade. They all go to St. Anne’s.
Kennedy spends most of his spare time with his family, and he coaches softball and baseball teams that his kids are on.
The Kennedy family belongs to the St. John Neumann parish.  They live in Lititz, near the airport, and Kennedy jokes that the noise never bothers an old Navy man.
“If the windows don’t rattle when a plane goes by, it’s nothing,” he says with a laugh.
When he decided to retire from the Navy, Kennedy got a lucrative government contractor job, but then realized he wanted a job doing something he believed in.
“I see a need for Catholic education,” he says.  “I believe in it.”
A big believer in being a “lifelong learner,” Kennedy has numerous degrees, including three master’s degrees (one in business administration, one in public administration, and one in national-security affairs), as well as a doctorate in educational leadership.
He joined the Navy through the ROTC, and during his 20-year career was deployed throughout the world as a navigator.
His military background brings a sense of authority to the school, but Kennedy also exudes warmth and friendliness as he walks the halls of the school.
Nobody seems intimated by him, yet all the students he sees offer him a polite “Good morning, Dr. Kennedy.”
While the many changes ahead excite Kennedy, he says the biggest challenge in moving to a bigger school will be keeping the sense of community that attracted him to St. Anne’s in the first place.
“We have four or five generations of families who have come through here,” he says.  “Our challenge is to move forward but keep that sense of community, that spirit. We take care of each other here.”

**Posted with permission from Lancaster New Era**