CHARLOTTE — Four Catholic schools in the Diocese of Charlotte will welcome new principals this fall. Bishop McGuinness High School in Kernersville, St. Gabriel School in Charlotte, St. Pius X School in Greensboro and St. Leo School in Winston-Salem will all have new leaders.
BISHOP MCGUINNESS HIGH SCHOOL
At Bishop McGuinness, Tracy Shaw, former assistant principal, fills the position left vacant after beloved longtime principal George Repass passed away unexpectedly last November. Shaw is a 20-year veteran of Catholic schools in the Charlotte diocese and served as a teacher at St. Pius X School before moving to Bishop McGuinness in a leadership role.
Her goals for the school include “building upon what George has done and making it even better,” she said. Shaw also plans to increase collaboration among students, teachers and parents and to more fully integrate technology into the academics of the school.
ST. GABRIEL SCHOOL
St. Gabriel School welcomes Michele Snoke as principal this year. She assumes the role after principal Sharon Broxterman retired after 30 years in the diocesan Catholic schools system. Snoke served as assistant principal for the past seven years.
Snoke, her husband and two daughters (MACS students) have lived in Charlotte since 2004 and are parishioners at St. Gabriel Church.
“I feel blessed to be a stakeholder of the Diocese of Charlotte, as a parent watching my daughters receive an amazing education from Catholic elementary, middle, and now high school, and as an educator and administrator in the Catholic schools system,” Snoke said.
“To my new and returning St. Gabriel families, I would first say thank you for all of your support and confidence in my leadership abilities to continue to strive to provide academic and spiritual success to all my students. I’m looking forward to a great school year.”
ST. PIUS X SCHOOL
Ann Flynt, assistant principal at St. Pius X School for the past seven years, was also recently named principal. Flynt has been an educator in the Greensboro area for two decades.
Flynt replaces Anne Knapke, who is relocating with her family to Pennsylvania.
St. Pius X is a K-8 school and will be adding a pre-kindergarten class in a new building this fall.
Flynt said she is “excited and thrilled to have the opportunity to work with wonderful professionals in both the church and school community, and to make a positive difference in lives of students.”
ST. LEO SCHOOL
Joanne Brown will serve as the new principal of St. Leo School. Brown has a Master of Arts in educational administration and a Master of Education in special needs learners. She has extensive teaching experience at the elementary level and has enjoyed successful leadership opportunities that have enabled her to initiate program development for academic growth, lead professional development and support environments of optimum learning.
“I am looking forward to joining the St. Leo Catholic School community as we continue the tradition of excellence in program development and high quality instruction,” Brown said. “I am truly blessed to join in the commitment to serve our students fostering gospel values and assuring learning for each child.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter. Melissa Kinsley contributed.
CHARLOTTE — As students return to school with shiny new bookbags and uniforms, parents and prospective families in the Charlotte area will also see shiny new websites and new, more robust social media presences.
Focusing on clean, easy-to-navigate websites with more information was a focus for Jennifer Harris, marketing director for Mecklenburg Area Catholic Schools, when she worked to update more than a half dozen school websites this summer.
The websites look different to fit each school’s colors and brand, but they follow a similar navigation and have the same customer service features, including registering and scheduling a tour.
Those are two features Sheila Levesque, principal at St. Michael School in Gastonia, said she’s seeing great response to with her school’s new website.
“It’s been remarkable,” she said to the response to the new www.stmichaelcs.com. “It’s working really well for us. We’ve been receiving a lot of tour inquires and requests because of the website, especially after we linked it to our Facebook page.”
More current families are also starting to use the website and Facebook page, Levesque said, which is linked from the school’s Edline communication system.
This school year, Levesque said she plans on using the Facebook page as another tool to communicate directly to families. The plan is to post pictures from school events and games, reminders, open house information and news from the schools.
“It’s also another reminder to parents to go to the website as well,” she said.
The new websites have easier to find web addresses, better search engine recognition and consistent branding with their new social media channels, Harris said. While not all of the schools are on social media, some have started with an official Facebook page this year. Others added Instagram and Twitter.
MACS has also created its own landing page at www.discovermacs.org for marketing and advertising purposes where prospective families can access admissions information, as well as a Facebook page at facebook.com/discovermacs, where information about all the schools is being shared.
Check out the new websites and follow the schools on social media:
- Charlotte Catholic High School: www.gocchs.com; facebook.com/gocchs; Instagram: gocchs; Twitter: @gocchs
- Christ the King High School: www.ctkchs.org; facebook.com/ctkhigh; Instagram: ctkgram; Twitter: @ctkchs
- Holy Trinity Middle School: www.htcms.org; facebook.com/htbulldogs
- Our Lady of the Assumption School: www.olacatholic.org
- St. Ann School: www.stanncatholic.org
- St. Gabriel School: www.stgabrielcatholicschool.org; facebook.com/stgabejaguars; Instagram: stgabejaguars; Twitter: @stgabejaguars
- St. Mark School: www.stmarkcatholic-school.net; facebook.com/saintmarklions
- St. Matthew School: www.stmattwildcats.com; facebook.com/stmattwildcats; Instagram: stmattwildcats; Twitter: @stmattwildcats
- St. Michael School: www.stmichaelcs.com; facebook.com/smcstigers
- St. Patrick School: www.saintpatrickschool.org
— Kimberly Bender, online reporter