Diocesan staff attend NCEA conference in Boston

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
April 29, 2004

Administrators, principals and teachers from throughout the Diocese of Sioux City along with educators from throughout the United States attended the National Catholic Education Association's conference that was held at the convention center in Boston April 13 through 16.

"It allows us to come together as a community of Catholic educators to worship together, to share our ideas and to celebrate the programs we have," said Kevin Vickery, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Sioux City.

Those from the diocese that attended the conference include Sister Joan Stoffel, OSF, Deacon Larry Sitzman, Pat Sitzman, Father Craig Collison from Sacred Heart in Sioux City, a delegation from Algona, a group from Spencer, a group from Carroll, one person from Fort Dodge, one person from Danbury Catholic and possibly others.

According to Father Collison, this was the biggest conference that the NCEA has ever had. He added that there were about 18,500 people in attendance.

"We saw more of an emphasis on schooling as a whole and not so much divisionally speaking, such as elementary schools, secondary schools and religious education programs, but talked more in terms of Catholic education together," said Collison. "It is fascinating to be together with teachers, administrators, pastors and school board members from all over the country and the world. They are there for one purpose and that is to certainly promote and be bathed in the good things of Catholic schools."

The conference started with a general session. The keynote speaker was Archbishop Sean O'Malley from Boston. That brought them into the opening liturgy. Vickery commented that it is exciting when that many people celebrate the liturgy and are focused on the same reason for them to exist as schools - Christ.

"NCEA did an outstanding job of providing a conference that had something for everyone," said Beth Bruner, a teacher at Kuemper Catholic in Carroll. "There were five teachers and two administrators at the conference from Kuemper Catholic Schools, and I feel as though I can say that each of us came home with valuable information for our individual settings. Meeting other educators at the general sessions and liturgies reinforces for me that Catholic schools continue to make a difference."

From the general session, the group split into hundreds of small group sessions. Each person that went to the conference was able to choose small group sessions that suited their needs as an educator. Bruner commented that she attended sessions that dealt with topics such as campus ministry, whole-community catechesis and faithful citizenship.

"I am especially excited about setting up a program here at Kuemper that involves peer ministers, where our students will feel more ownership of total campus ministry," said Bruner.

Most of the workshops are based on things that local schools are doing well, and that they want to share their success with other schools. The reasons that people go to sessions vary from it being something their school has done to something that their school would like to do.

"It is a neat way for us to exchange ideas," said Vickery. "It is not just a chance to learn but to share success stories in Catholic schools."

Ron Olberding, principal at Sacred Heart in Spencer and St. Mary Elementary in Storm Lake, went to small group sessions ranging from staff evaluation and staff morale to hiring and recruiting to school board assessment to weeding out bullying. He expressed that he will be able to use at least one thing from each session.

"It certainly helps us keep up on the most recent, best practices in education," said Olberding. "We were able to take four teachers this year. It was bonding for the teachers being together for several days in a different situation. These are teachers that are on different ends of the building and don't even see each other during the day. I think the bonding is worthwhile."

One of the pieces that was unveiled at the conference was the strategic vision statement for Catholic education that was crafted at the symposium in Washington, D.C. in January. The statement was brought back to the local diocese and the board of education will evaluate how the Sioux City Diocese is doing according to the statement and things that need to be addressed.

"This became a landmark piece for us to start guiding the local diocese as well as local schools in how we see the future of Catholic education in the local setting," said Vickery.

Vickery noted that in his view the greatest importance of the conference is that it pulls people together as a Catholic school community. Even though there are different ways that Catholic education looks across the United States, this is the opportunity for them to come together. It is like a "family reunion" in the sense that the people at the conference have a common mission and calling to the ministry of Catholic education.

"Attending the NCEA convention is just one way to nourish your teaching soul," said Bruner. "It was uplifting both spiritually and educationally. It was an opportunity to step away and see what other schools are doing. There was a wealth of information to bring back to both my classroom and campus ministry department."