By Joe Winter
Catholic Herald correspondent

Three schools start year with new principals

Warren to lead St. Bridget School in River Falls

RIVER FALLS --Working as a team toward a common goal is a virtue Sheila Warren intends to keep at the forefront in her first year as principal at St. Bridget School.

To do that she will draw on her experience as a special education teacher, her job for the past six years. She graduated with a bachelor of science in that field from the University of Minnesota-Moorhead in 1993. In addition, she is nearly finished with a master's in educational administration from the University of Wisconsin - Superior.

"As an undergraduate this was in the back of my mind, Warren said. "I found when I started teaching that I wanted to be in educational administration."

Her jobs were at Baldwin-Woodville High School, where she taught students with a range of special needs, and at West Elementary in New Richmond, where she taught kindergarten-to third-grade students with emotional disturbances.

Warren will enjoy being a principal because of leading people to one goal, she said. "We all are here (at St. Bridget School) for a reason. We have faith as a grounding base. We have that in common."

Warren's coursework for her master's is completed and the St. Bridget job will serve as a six-credit internship. She plans to graduate from UWS in mid-2003.

St. Bridget School is in transition and this is a healing period, Warren said. "We need to make sure the school climate and culture is good and positive."

Hopefully her emphasis on being a team will help accomplish those things, Warren said, adding that Fr. Gerry Harris, pastor of St. Bridget, and herself will try to get into use "love languages," which are how people can interpret or how they can feel appreciated. At that same time, she recognizes that educators use differing teaching styles.

"Since we are small, we have to work together," Warren said. On a recent Thursday prior to school starting, she gathered the staff for an informal, evening social event at one of their homes to build in that direction.

How will her undergraduate work help? Warren said her background equips her with an effective discipline style, and that she's skillful at disciplining students well, often by pointing out logical and natural consequences. Warren said she also excels at working with parents and managing any conflicts with them.

As a special education teacher, she coordinated meetings between parents, administrators and teaching staff. She also worked with regular education, such as art and music, as well as the core curriculum.

At Baldwin-Woodville High School, she served as an assistive technology core team member, a member of the team working with at-risk students, staff development committee member and a North Central Accreditation Curriculum Committee member.

At West Elementary School in New Richmond, she was on these committees: district-wide technology, activities, social committee and mentor committee.

Warren is certified in nonviolent crisis intervention, cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and basic first aid.

She and her husband, Jeff, live in Glenwood City, kitty-corner across St. Croix County and located in its northeast end. No move is foreseen in the near future because that spot is good for both her and Jeff, who is a corrections officer at a prison in Oak Park Heights, Minn., which is near Stillwater. They have two children: Shania, 3, and Blake, 1.

St. Patrick School

HUDSON -- Mary Piasecki is the new principal at St. Patrick School in Hudson. She replaces former principal Patricia Brandner. Last year Piasecki served as principal of St. Joseph School in Rice Lake.

St. Joseph School

RICE LAKE -- Sr. Claudine Balio, SSJ-TOSF, returns to St. Joseph School in Rice Lake as interim principal. Balio served as principal at the school from 1998-2001.

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2002