Prep-Villa names head of Catholic school in Oklahoma as new president; school colors to change

Cathedral Preparatory School and Villa Maria Academy are getting a new president — and reconfiguring the merged school's official colors.

Prep-Villa on Thursday announced that Kevin M. Smith, 58, a Cleveland-area native who is now the CEO of the pre-K-8 Monte Cassino School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, will lead Prep-Villa as the two Catholic high schools prepare to consolidate at the start of the 2022-23 academic year.

Smith will start in Erie on July 1 as the president of Erie Catholic Preparatory School, the entity that oversees what is now the all-boys Prep and the all-girls Villa and the coeducational Mother Teresa Academy, a K-8 school that is also part of Erie Catholic Preparatory School.

Prep-Villa has a combined enrollment of more than 750 students, and Mother Teresa, more than 160.

“I am truly honored and humbled to have been chosen to serve the Villa Maria-Cathedral Preparatory Catholic School System community,” Smith said. “I’m inspired by its mission and the leaders who came before me.”

Smith said he will “listen to the voice of the community" to help it set priorities for the new school. The Prep-Villa system has “an incredible foundation” and tradition, Smith said, which he said was enticing.

Change of colors

Also on Thursday, ECPS announced that the new merged Prep-Villa will incorporate, as the school colors, the blue of Villa Maria Academy along with the black and orange of Cathedral Prep.

The school will still be named Cathedral Prep, but the name of Erie Catholic Preparatory School will be changed to Villa Maria Cathedral Preparatory Catholic School System, according to Thursday's announcement. The consolidated school will also retain traditions from both schools, such as pep rallies and Villa Maria's Mary's Day, Prep-Villa said.

In announcing the merger in 2020, Prep-Villa said the consolidated school would retain the Cathedral Prep name, Prep's Rambler mascot and school colors of orange and black. Critics of the merger said it shortchanged Villa and its traditions.

The head of the ECPS board of directors, Sara Kallner, addressed the changes as she announced Smith's hire at Prep-Villa's Hagerty Family Events Center, on West 12th Street.

Kallner heads a 16-member board made up four women and 12 men, according to a list on the Prep-Villa website.

"Part of this journey led us to reexamine past decisions," Kallner said, referring to the search for a new president. "It became clear after listening to both Villa and Prep students, parents and alumni that building a successful future is about drawing from the historical strengths of the two communities that brought us to this point.

"In the most straightforward terms, it is never the wrong time to do the right thing."

Also present at the announcement were Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence Persico and other officials connected to ECPS. Students were not present.

In a statement that echoed the comments she made at the announcement ceremony, Kallner said: "This intensive national search for our next president united our school community as we identified the qualities and attributes desired in our next leader, through a thorough and inclusive process. It also offered us the opportunity to reflect on our collective history as we prepare for a transformational change as a united school community in the fall of 2022.

“This process led us to reconsider past decisions. Our combined high school will be named Cathedral Preparatory School (Cathedral Prep). Our grade school will continue to be named Mother Teresa Academy. However, our corporate name, currently Erie Catholic Preparatory School, will be changed to Villa Maria Cathedral Preparatory Catholic School System to properly honor our 230 year-strong combined high school history, and recognize that our organization consists of both a high school and a grade school.

"Additionally, we will incorporate orange, blue and black together as our new colors when we consolidate on one campus next fall as the new co-educational Cathedral Preparatory School."

Regarding Smith, Kallner said: "Kevin Smith demonstrated to our community that he is the best candidate, as he possesses the experience, qualifications, vision, and history of success to lead our school community to its fullest potential as the leader in the region for an exceptional educational experience."

Smith graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dayton in 1985 and later earned a masters of education degree in exercise sciences from Bowling Green State University.

Smith and his wife, Maria, have two children.

Smith talks about traditions

As president of ECPS, Smith will fill a post that became open in March, when the previous ECPS president, Chris Hagerty, abruptly resigned after less than a year in the job.

The outgoing chairman of the ECPS board, Dave Slomksi, has been serving as interim president.

Smith currently serves the 780- student Monte Cassino School as its head of school and CEO. He has worked for several private schools in his 37 years as an educator, Prep-Villa said.

Asked why the Prep-Villa system appealed to him, Smith said: "From the moment I read the job description and the posting, it just yelled out that this is going to be one of the best and most innovative schools in our country. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?"

He also promised that the history and traditions of both schools will be honored and preserved.

"Understanding the history and the culture of the schools, it is important to carry that forward," Smith said. "Everybody needs to have their voices heard and everybody needs to be included."

Thursday's announcement came after ECPS said in a letter on Dec. 2 that its search committee had come up with two finalists after interviewing six candidates: three women and three men. ECPS did not disclose whether the two finalists were men or women.

Narrowing the field: Will a woman be picked as new president of merged Prep-Villa?

The search committee invited the two finalists to Erie in early December to tour the schools, to meet with students, parents and faculty, and to sit for in-person interviews with the ECPS board of trustees, according to the search committee's Dec. 2 update.

National consulting firm used

ECPS hired a national educational consulting firm, Carney, Sandoe & Associates, of Boston, to facilitate the search for a new president. Kallner said the search generated more than 700 responses the job posting.

Carney, Sandoe vetted 20 national candidates, and presented the ECPS search committee "a diverse slate" of 12 candidates, according to the Dec. 2 update. The committee interviewed the six candidates on its way to coming up with the two finalists.

In its job description for the new president, the ECPS search committee stated: "The successful candidate will be a mission-driven, entrepreneurial servant leader. The President is responsible for the overall leadership and management of the school and reports to the Board of Directors.

"With the merger of the two campuses and the transformation of the curriculum, the next President will oversee the process of bringing this powerful vision to fruition and establishing Erie Catholic Prep's position as a premier Catholic high school."

Full merger announced: Villa Maria students will attend renovated Cathedral Prep, with expanded STEM facilities

Cathedral Prep was founded in 1921 by Archbishop Mark Gannon. The sisters of St. Joseph founded Villa in 1892, and its campus is on West Eighth Street in Millcreek Township.

In 1993, faced with declining enrollment and financial concerns, Prep explored the possibility of admitting girls, but Bishop Donald W. Trautman, then the head of the Catholic Diocese of Erie, said in 1994 that Prep would remain all-boys for the foreseeable future.

Unexpected move: As Prep-Villa prepares to merge, its president, Chris Hagerty, resigns 'effective immediately'

As enrollment continued to decline, Prep and Villa announced in January 2009 that its administrations and faculty would merge in July of that year, creating one school with separate campuses. The 2008-09 academic year was also the final academic year in which Villa accepted boys as students. It had been coeducational starting in 1989.

The administrative consolidation, which included the creation of Erie Catholic Preparatory School, set up the groundwork for the coming merger of the Prep and Villa student bodies on the Prep campus, in between West Ninth and 10th streets and Myrtle and Sassafras streets.

With Bishop Persico present, ECPS officials in November 2020 announced that the full merger of Prep-Villa would occur at the beginning of the 2022-23 academic year.

"We believe the move to coed school opens tremendous possibilities," the ECPS president at the time, Hagerty, said in announcing the merger.

"This isn't 1921 or 1892," he said, referring to the years the schools were founded. "This is 2020. I call it Catholic rigor mortis. It's hard to let go. But sometimes letting go is exactly what's necessary."

Persico's thoughts

On Thursday, Persico said he had an hour-long one-on-one talk with Smith in Erie "sometime before Christimas," and came away impressed.

"We had a great discussion and I liked what I heard," Persico said. "You could tell he was prepareed to meet the faculty, the students and everyone else. He did his homework on Prep, Villa and MTA. That was clear.

"I also liked his commitment and enthusiasm," Persico said of Smith. "This is going to be a challenge and we have a lot going on right now. He said to me, 'No, this is exciting. I'm ready for it.'"

When Prep and Villa announced the administrative merger, in 2009, Prep's enrollment was at 570 students. Villa's was at 300, including 60 boys.

Process starts: President vacancies: Prep-Villa starts national search

Eleven years later, the ECPS search committee's job description for the new president listed Prep's enrollment as 435 and Villa's at 321. The description listed the enrollment at Mother Teresa Academy as 163. Tuition at Prep-Villa is about $10,000 a year.

The other Catholic high school in Erie is the coeducational Mercyhurst Preparatory School. Its enrollment is 425.

Mercyhurst Prep in October named as its new president Joseph J. Haas, who since 2008 has been the CEO of Catholic Charities Counseling and Adoption Service. It serves the 13-county Catholic Diocese of Erie as an affiliate agency of the diocese's Catholic Charities.

Another new leader: Mercyhurst Prep names new president: Joseph Haas, Erie Catholic Charities Counseling CEO

Prep-Villa expansion

As the new head of ECPS, Smith will be responsible for handling what was Hagerty's main task: overseeing the Prep-Villa merger and the $14.5 million renovation of Prep's campus.

The renovations include the construction of a three-story addition to Prep's main building as it faces West 10th Streets.

Prep-Villa broke ground in April on the $12.5 million building, to be called the Salata Technology and Innovation Center.

On Thursday, Smith said that, to his knowledge, the Prep-Villa consolidation "is off to a great start and is making excellent progress."

"I have no doubt the school will be off to a great start next year," he said.

Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ETNflowers.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Prep-Villa names new president, announces new school colors, other changes