Angelus News | January 14, 2022 | Vol. 7 No. 1

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Giron and St. Jane Frances pastor Father Antonio Carlucci credit a close working partnership to the improvements in the school’s finances and infrastructure while growing its enrollment from 180 to 250 students. them. I say, ‘Don’t come to me, talk to Mrs. Giron. Because what she tells you, I believe.’ And sometimes they’ll say, ‘But you’re the last word,’ and I’ll say, ‘Yes, and the last word is ‘Talk to her.’ ” Giron credits their partnership with St. Jane Frances’ relatively quick turnaround. “It amounts to a make-orbreak kind of thing for the success of a school,” she said. “It’s so liberating to know he has my back and I have the autonomy to get what needs to be done, accomplished.” Teachers with a mission It’s no secret that teachers at Catholic schools often must perform above and beyond those at public schools. Apart from teaching the same subjects, Catholic school teachers are also expected to support their students’ spiritual life, offering a strong example and transmitting lessons that go beyond academics. “Public schools don’t teach religion and that’s the difference,” said Reynald Ventura, who went to St. Jane Frances as a child and is now in his first year of teaching first-graders there. “It becomes the basis of how we teach.” Because Catholic schools ask teachers to do more — and often with fewer resources — schools like St. Jane Frances look for candidates who are innovative, teachers who are “not just going to teach from the textbook, and that’s it,” Giron said. In other words, someone who “considers their job a mission,” added the principal. That standard was tested during the initial COVID-19 shutdown that forced teachers to quickly pivot to remote learning. Teachers made themselves available after school hours. Some dropped learning packets at students’ homes when their parents couldn’t pick them up. “It was ‘Anything you need, we’re available at all hours,’ ” said Nerkins, who also serves as vice principal at the school. “I had students emailing me at eight at night, asking me questions about homework. I’d answer their questions and then tell them it was late, stop working.” Perhaps that show of commitment is connected to the school’s COVID-19 enrollment spike, Nerkins wonders. “Quite a few parents approached me and said how happy they were with how we handled things,” she said. “Those parents told all their friends about it and the friends were saying, ‘That’s not how it is at my kid’s school.’ I think that’s how word spread about what we’re doing here, and I think it’s why a lot of people wanted to send their kids here.” Fix the plumbing Like so many before her, Giron first handled the plumbing problems with patches, doing whatever necessary to get through that day. But when the middle-schoolers began to complain about the restrooms, Giron knew she had to look for long-term solutions. Her first problem was, she didn’t have the money to make them. So Giron began looking outside the school for help. She found two nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping Catholic schools, the Shea and Smet foundations. “They came in and they handled everything,” Giron said, before correcting herself: “Well, not everything. I remember I showed them all the items on the dream list and they said, ‘Umm, no.’ ” But, together, working in concert with Giron, the grant money brought new classroom equipment and, instead of patches, problems got more permanent fixes. Those middle-school restrooms are now something to be shown off. A part of the school once used for storage was remodeled into an auditorium that now hosts performances of all stripes. The facelift was certainly welcomed by teachers. But getting students excited to return last fall to a virtually new(ish) campus was a feat of its own. “You could see in their faces how happy they were to be here, how much they loved the changes,” recalled Giron. “It was so joyous!” Giron said that getting the school finances in order, and being open to asking for assistance from outside partners, has allowed the school to thrive while helping it focus more on what is important. Mindful that she is charged with forming the hearts and minds of the school’s students, she knows that doing so is much better if things are in order with the bricks and mortar. “To focus on academics, we had to put our financials in order, had to get our facilities in order, so now it’s not some everyday thing we have to deal with because something has broken. Now, we are able to focus on our kids and our school community.” Steve Lowery is a veteran journalist who has written for the Los Angeles Times, the Los Angeles Daily News, the Press-Telegram, New Times LA, the District, Long Beach Post, and the OC Weekly. 16 • ANGELUS • January 14, 2022
January 14, 2022 • ANGELUS • 17
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Angelus News | January 14, 2022 | Vol. 7 No. 1

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