Sister Patricia Clune

BY PRISCILLA GREEAR

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--Having served for 29 years as a teacher and administrator in Catholic schools in the archdiocese and in Delaware, Sister Patricia Clune, CSJ, is eager to become the first principal of Queen of Angels Elementary School scheduled to open in Roswell this fall.

The school, planned for 500 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, will be located on 100 acres at the intersection of Highway 92 and Woodstock Road. The future Blessed Trinity High School, expected to open in the fall of 2000, is also planned for that site.

“I am really excited,” Sister Clune said. “I’ve said over the years, wouldn’t it be wonderful to start your own school. There’s a certain freedom in not having to deal with ‘We’ve always done it that way.’”

A member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet who served at St. Anthony’s School, Atlanta, and St. Joseph’s School, Marietta, Sister Clune is currently finishing work as assistant superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Wilmington, Del., where she has served since 1994.

“I’m a Southerner at heart--I just don’t happen to have been born here--so it kind of feels like I’m coming home,” she said in a telephone interview. Her position is effective July 1.

Superintendent of Schools Sandra Smith affirmed Sister Clune’s dedication to Catholic education.

“I am pleased that Sister Clune has accepted the position of principalship at Queen of Angels Elementary School. She has demonstrated a commitment to Catholic education for 29 years as teacher and principal in the Archdiocese of Atlanta and as assistant superintendent in the Diocese of Wilmington,” Smith said. “Throughout her experiences she has demonstrated her concern and advocacy for children, belief in the ability of the child to reach high expectations set for them and the leadership to provide an environment to nurture the growth of the child.”

Designed by Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates of Atlanta, Queen of Angels is one of three elementary schools being built in part with funds from the “Building the Church of Tomorrow” Capital Campaign. Principals for the other two schools, Our Lady of Victory in Tyrone and Holy Redeemer in northeast Fulton County, were named in July 1998.

In addition to the core classes, the curriculum at the new schools will offer Spanish, computer technology, music, art and physical education. There will be a full-time resource teacher and guidance counselor, a state-of-the-art, fully-computerized library/media center, a middle school science laboratory, a full-service cafeteria featuring a hot lunch program, a school clinic, a regulation-size gymnasium for basketball and soccer and softball fields.

In her first year as principal, Sister Clune, 53, said she hopes to establish a faith community that values peace and justice and to get to know students and staff, helping them to recognize their own gifts and leadership abilities.

Sister Clune hopes to work closely with parents, as she views education as a joint venture between them and the school, and plans to include life skills instruction on topics such as problem solving in the classroom.

She is particularly interested in building a strong religious education program filled with service opportunities to create an environment through which students can live the Gospel message.

“I don’t want faith to be just in religion class. I want the Gospel to be integrated in every single thing we do,” she said. “I want to work as closely (as possible) with other schools in the diocese. We’re in this together. I want a strong educational program.”

Sister Clune said she has gained a broader vision of education through her work in Wilmington, where she has served as a liaison to 13 schools, has worked in technology and curriculum development and overseen all federal programs. Other responsibilities included diocesan staff development.

Prior to that position, Sister Clune served the archdiocese at St. Anthony’s School, where she was an administrator for 12 years and a second-grade teacher for four years. After leaving St. Anthony’s in 1991, she received her doctorate at Georgia State University.

Before working at St. Anthony’s, she taught for four years at St. Joseph’s School, Marietta, and for four years at a Catholic school in St. Louis.

She holds a master of arts degree as a reading specialist from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, an education specialist degree which she received in 1989 from Georgia State University and a doctorate in educational administration and supervision which she received from Georgia State in 1994.

In addition to other organizations, Sister Clune is a member of the National Association for Year-Round Education and has researched and given presentations on year-round education and its benefits to students. She said the schedule must be desired by a school to be successful, however, and that she wouldn’t consider it for a school unless the community wanted it.

She will be in Atlanta in mid-January for the first of several planned trips to the archdiocese to visit the site, meet with Catholic educators and plan for the school opening. In addition, Sister Clune said she is reviewing staff applications and student applications from Wilmington where her work ends in late May. She will move back to Atlanta in June.