Inspiring principal leaves legacy at Cardinal Mooney

Cardinal Mooney High School on Youngstown’s South Side has stood as a proud beacon of quality education in the Mahoning Valley for more than a half-century. For nearly half of that time, one singularly successful leader has guided the largest high school in the six-county Catholic Diocese of Youngstown to high levels of growth, achievement and acclaim.

That leader, Sister Jane Marie Kudlacz, will retire later this month as Mooney’s principal, ending her 24-year tenure at the helm of the Roman Catholic high school.

We join thousands of Mooney students, staff and alumni in wishing Sister Jane Marie the best as she moves on to take a stronger leadership role with the Sisters of Humility of Mary at Villa Maria. We join them as well in recognizing and praising Sister Jane Marie for the incredible and indelible imprint she has left on the school.

An ‘outstanding administrator’

James Cooney, who worked side by side with Sister Jane Marie as assistant principal for 23 years, sums up her talents succinctly: “She was an outstanding administrator. The overriding thing was she always tried to do what was best for the students.”

In academics, Sister Jane Marie early in her tenure implemented a plan to bolster enrollment and enhance academic quality. It called for expanding the curriculum, initiating block scheduling, offering additional advanced-placement courses for students and increasing the fine-arts curriculum. Today, the school consistently ranks in the top percentiles in the Ohio Graduation Test and bucks local and national trends of declining enrollment at private diocesan schools.

Just last month, the Diocese of Youngstown honored Sister Jane Marie with its prestigious 2011 Golden Apple Award for her professional development, commitment to students and school, leadership qualities, service to church and community, teaching skills and standing as a strong role model for Catholic educators.

In athletics, Sister Jane Marie carried on Mooney’s tradition of superiority. During her tenure at the school, Mooney won a multitude of state championships: four in football, 1987, 2004, 2006 and 2009; two in golf, 1988 and 1989; track in 1990; cross country in 1999; and soccer in 2002.

A LEGACY OF CARING

But Sister Jane Marie’s legacy at Mooney extends well beyond the confines of the classroom and the playing field. She has gone far and above the call of duty as a high school administrator.

Mary Therese Driscoll, who has 14 children who are attending or who have graduated from Mooney, would know. She testifies to Sister Jane Marie’s abiding commitment to the triumphs and adversities experienced in her extended Cardinal Mooney family.

“When there’s a tragedy, she’s the first one to try to help you out and do things,” Driscoll said, adding that the principal rushed to the hospital when her husband was critically injured in an automobile accident.

Above all else, Sister Jane Marie has excelled in her stalwart commitment to the tripartite mission of the school that is emblazoned on Mooney’s emblem: scholarship, sanctity and discipline.

Her quarter-century of devotion to those ideals has transported thousands of young people to successful, meaningful adult lives. Her leadership at Mooney stands as a fine model for all private and public school educators to emulate.