Michele Jurich
Staff writer

Sister Kathleen McAvoy, OP

New assignment: St. Elizabeth Elementary, Oakland

Last assignment: Directora of the Preescolar and of the English Program (Primaria y Secundaria)

The Dominican Bilingual School, Collegio La Paz, Delicias, Chihuahua, Mexico

Becoming principal at St. Elizabeth Elementary School is a homecoming for Sister Kathleen McAvoy, OP. The Oakland-born Dominican sister is completing a four-year assignment in Mexico that should prepare her well for her new assignment at the vibrant Fruitvale school, where she will succeed Sister Rose Marie Hennessy, OP.

"Our congregation, the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose (Mexican Province) administers Colegio La Paz, which is a big bilingual Catholic school in Delicias," said Sister Kathleen, who is one of the directoras (principals).

"Our kids go to school half-day in Spanish and half-day in English," she said. "We have 2-year-olds to ninth-graders. At the end of ninth grade, they are usually completely bilingual."

And what lessons will she bring to her new school from this experience?
"I have learned so much these four years both professionally and personally and will be able to use what I have learned (including Spanish) as I minister at St. Elizabeth," she said. "Personally, I now know what it feels like to live in another country and learn a new language. Not easy tasks."

Sister Kathleen, who was "born and raised on 52nd Avenue in Oakland," went all eight years of elementary school at St. Bernard School and was graduated from Bishop O'Dowd High School. She went to Cal State Hayward for her bachelor's degree in liberal studies, Queen of the Holy Rosary College in Fremont for her associate degree in religious studies and San Jose State for her credential. "I only ventured far away for my master's," she said. "I went to the University of Portland in Oregon while I was teaching up there."

She has ministered at St. Bernard´s CCD program (before she entered the convent), St. Elizabeth Elementary and High School, Dominican Kindergarten/St. Joseph School Fremont, Our Lady of Guadalupe School, Fremont, and St. Martin de Porres, Oakland.

"I am sad to leave the Sisters, families and children in Mexico, but I am really excited and honored to be able to minister in my own pueblo again. I love Oakland."

One of the highlights of her visit in May to St. Elizabeth School was when a mom walked into the school board meeting and said that Sister Kathleen had been her second grade teacher a while ago.

"She even remembered the song I taught her for her First Communion," Sister Kathleen said, "and after the meeting sang it with prayer gestures and all.

"I also instantly fell in love with the students and was very impressed with the staff. What an amazing place. God is good, all the time."

Sister Kathleen's education ministry began when she was in high school and teaching CCD at St. Bernard Church.

"Father Tony Valdivia walked up to me after our Christmas program and asked me if I ever considered being a Sister," she said. "He said he really thought I had what it takes to be a sister and a teacher. This affirmed the desire that I had had since a child to become a teaching Sister. Two years after high school I entered and the rest is history."

Colleen Curran

New assignment: Principal, Holy Names High School

Last assignment: Internet education company, Houston

Among the factors that attracted Colleen Curran to the opportunity more than 1,500 miles from her Houston home: the presence and deep involvement of the Sisters of the Holy Names, the school's storied 144-year history and its all-female student body.

"I'm a product of a single-sex Catholic high school," said Curran, who will succeed Sister Sally Slyngstad, SNJM, as principal of the Oakland school.

Curran was graduated from St. Cecilia's School in Houston and the Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart in Houston, an all-girls high school.

"My cousin is an RSCJ," she said. Sister Anne Wachter, after serving as head of Convent of the Sacred Heart Elementary School in San Francisco for the past 12 years, is heading to Nova Scotia, where she will serve headmistress of Sacred Heart School of Halifax, just as her cousin arrives across the Bay.

In addition to family trips to the Bay Area that have brought the cousins together, they have another connection: Curran is named for Sister Anne's mother, Colleen Curran Wachter.

Curran's father's sisters graduated from the Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart in Omaha.

The connection with the Sacred Heart schools has brought Curran to the Bay Area several times. She's is an active member of alumnae groups and has visited the Sacred Heart campuses in San Francisco and Atherton.

Childhood trips to the Bay Area are pleasant memories for Curran, who remembers seeing the sights — Ghirardelli Square and Alcatraz pop into mind — but her family also showed her the less-visited side of San Francisco.

The opportunity to live and work in the Bay Area is most welcome. "It's been a place I've always loved," she said.

Curran has bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Houston. She has taught students in elementary, middle and high schools. Her students have included those in special education, as well those in programs for gifted students.

She spent four years at St. Francis Episcopal Day School in Houston, where she directed the middle school on the 800-student campus with children ranging from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade. She has spent the last year working for an online learning company, adapting a digital literacy project.

Curran said she looks forward to her new life at Holy Names, where the charisms of the Holy Names make her feel at home already. "It feels so familiar, so comfortable," she said.

"The physical facility is stunning," she said. "It's a beautiful building, well cared for."

She received a warm welcome from the faculty on a recent visit, where she said she was impressed with the devotion of the teachers. "They talked about their students," she said. "They didn't talk about themselves."

The students were also welcoming. "They were fantastic," she said. "They asked tough questions. It was very courteous and respectful. They asked about cultures and beliefs." They were interested in knowing if she has experience in working with diverse communities.

Turns out, she has taught in Fort Bend, Texas, recently named the most diverse suburb in the nation, she said. Her classroom included students from China, India Nigeria, Kenya and Philippines, among other places.

The Holy Names alumnae community has added its greetings. "What a warm welcome from the alumnae community," she said of her introduction. As an active Catholic all-girls high school graduate herself, she said of the alumnae: "They're my people."

Her plans for Holy Names include to "reinvigorate our profile out there," meeting principals of the K-8 schools, and getting to know principals of the other schools.

She'll be "making sure Holy Names is out there for a choice of an excellent education for girls of all faiths."

Ana Hernandez

New assignment: Principal, St. Clement School, Hayward

Last assignment: Director of admissions, St. Elizabeth High School, Oakland

Ana Hernandez said she is "thrilled to have this opportunity," as she becomes a first-time principal at St. Clement School, where she will succeed Lana Jang-Rocheford.

Hernandez, a native of Mexico, moved to Oakland with her family when she was 9. She was educated in Catholic schools in Mexico, followed by public schools in Oakland. After graduating from Castlemont High School, she enrolled at Occidental College. While earning her teaching credential at Mills College, she worked for the Upward Bound program.

She spent two years as a senior counselor in that college prep program, working with youth to get resources they need to go to college.

She has spent time in counseling, admissions and in the classroom, where she taught Spanish from Level I through AP Spanish, digital photography, and English as a second language.

She spent four years at Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward, where she was summer school principal, before leaving to work for Leadership Public School, a charter high school in Hayward. She arrived at St. Elizabeth High School in the fall to direct admissions at the Oakland school, which celebrated its 90th birthday last year.

"I always knew I wanted to be in education," Hernandez said. But after a couple of years, she knew her calling stretched beyond the walls of a single classroom. "I was thinking about the possibility to be a school leader and bring in innovative ideas to a school community," she said. "I wanted to impact an entire community."

She graduated with a master's degree in administration from Mills College two years ago. She has begun work on a doctoral degree, and is on leave from the program.

She has visited her new school in Hayward, where she will have the opportunity to make that impact. "They were a very warm and welcoming community," she said.

Maria Ward

New assignment: Principal, St. Isidore School

Last assignment: Vice principal, St. Isidore School

Maria Ward, who has been vice principal at St. Isidore School for the past four years, will move to the principal's chair upon the retirement of Jean Schroeder, longtime educator and principal.

"I'm fortunate to have had Jean Schroeder as a mentor for a long time," she said.

Ward has spent 10 years at the Danville school, previously serving as part-time vice principal, fourth-grade teacher and eighth-grade teacher.

"It feels like home," she said.

It's the same feeling she had 10 years ago, when she came to the school at midyear. "The moment I walked in, I felt that sense of home."

She had worked as a substitute teacher in public schools when a midyear opening occurred at St. Isidore.

She had worked in outside chemical sales and in the auto business before her move with her husband to California from her native Louisiana allowed her to follow her passion. "I've always wanted to be a teacher," she said.

She attended Catholic schools in New Orleans from kindergarten through 12th grade, graduating from St. Mary's Dominican High School. A graduate of a state university in her home state, she received her teaching credential, master's degree in curriculum and administrative credential at Dominican University in San Rafael.

The mother of three children — her 8-year-old is a second-grader, her 5-year-old son will start at St. Isidore in the fall, and the 3-year-old will have to wait a bit — said St. Isidore School is the school her children know.

"I was here before I was a parent," Ward said.

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