By Gretchen Keiser

Father Joel Konzen, S.M., who has been headmaster of Marist School and most recently its president, will be leaving the school June 1 to return to graduate study in education and English.

He will be succeeded by Father James L. Hartnett, S.M., who taught at Marist when it was located in downtown Atlanta on Ivy Street in the 1950s, who returned in the 60s as business manager and teacher, and who served as principal of Marist from 1971 to 1982. This year he is a teacher in the school’s religion department.

In remarks to the faculty and staff April 26, Father Konzen said that his one year as president, a post concerned with leadership in public relations, fund-raising, and financial planning, has taken “a certain toll from someone whose heart is in the educational process rather than its periphery.”

“Before the incongruity becomes more uncomfortable, it is best to see that the work belongs to someone whose talents are better suited, by experience, than mine to the considerable business that maintaining and developing Marist School has become,” he said.

Father Hartnett will take on the duties of Father Konzen with the title of executive director of business and advancement. The team leadership, initiated at Marist last year, will continue as Father Hartnett joins Headmaster Brother Paul Leonarczyk and Pastor Father Kevin Duggan in the task of leading the school.

A reception in honor of Father Konzen will be held on May 21 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Marist cafeteria, 3790 Ashford-Dunwoody Road, N.E. Students, parents, alumni and alumni parents, and friends are invited to join the faculty and staff at the reception.

In his remarks to them, Father Konzen noted that Father Hartnett was principal of the school for 11 years of “tremendous growth in enrollment, facilities and faculty. He is known to perhaps 25 classes of Marist alumni, spanning almost 35 years, and, after Father Brennan, is the person still around who is most familiar with all the people and events that have shaped Marist into what it is today.”

Father Harnett will now supervise all the non-instructional areas of the school.

In his nine years at Marist, Father Konzen has held various positions including director of admissions, headmaster and president. While director of admissions he also taught English, and as headmaster “managed to fit an occasional English or religion class into his hectic schedule,” according to an article in Marist Matters.

Under his direction, the campus ministry program has grown to include a full-time and part-time campus minister as well as a community service coordinator. Community service has become an integral part of all clubs and activities at Marist as a result. The Emmaus retreat program has been expanded and a campus ministry program for grades 7 to 9 has begun.

Marist was recognized in 1987 as a National School of Excellence by the U.S. Department of Education during his time as headmaster.

He also strived to improve salaries and benefits for the faculty and staff and to reduce the teaching load on each teacher.

In addition to academic improvements and accomplishments, Marist sports teams have excelled, winning state championships in baseball, swimming, track, boys’ and girls’ tennis, golf, wrestling, basketball and volleyball, and becoming runners-up in football.

Brother Paul Leonarczyk, currently the headmaster, said Father Konzen had “a penchant for academic excellence and excellence in education,” shaping a faculty of “very highly competent and very caring teachers.” The 1987 national award for the school was a fitting statement for Father Konzen’s final year as headmaster, brother Paul said.

He created and supported the campus ministry program and placed a strong emphasis on service, “trying to instill in students the responsibility to give back to the community,” the current headmaster said. For example, Marist students have a service requirement for graduation of at least 10 hours of service during their junior year. Clubs, teams and activities groups are strongly encouraged to make service a part of their extracurricular efforts also. Sports teams, for example, might work with the Special Olympics and the drama group puts on after school plays at day care centers and for the elderly, in addition to time given by students to St. Francis Table and the night shelters of metropolitan Atlanta.

Father Hartnett, a native of Abington, Pennsylvania, taught at Marist College in Atlanta from 1955 to 1957, returned to Marist School as business manager and teacher from 1962 to 1965 and as principal from 1971 to 1982. He is a past president of the Atlanta Area Association of Independent Schools and the Georgia Association of Independent Schools. He holds a master’s degree in education from Catholic University of America and received a second master’s in ongoing formation from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 1983.