Dear St. John Eudes Family,

We are most grateful for Mrs. Lizette Strom and what she has meant for our community especially in this trying interim year of COVID.  She stepped in with a nearly impossible task, to carry forth the legacy of Mrs. Barbara Danowitz, while simultaneously leading our school into remote learning.  Mrs. Strom found a way to gracefully bring this challenge into a reality.  She was able to do this while also being a student, as she concluded her Master’s Degree program, and teaching her middle school classes.  Mrs. Strom continued on this year as our interim principal and led us all the way back to having classes on campus.  We are so proud of her and appreciate her generous spirit and dedication to our school community.  Thank you, Lizette, from the bottom of our hearts.

We were about to begin a search process last year, in March of 2020, after the retirement of Mrs. Danowitz.  However, because of COVID, we were advised by the Regional Bishops Office and the Department of Catholic Schools, to postpone it until this year.  We were advised to have Mrs. Strom stand in as interim principal during that time.  In consultation with the Regional Bishops Office and the Department of Catholic Schools, we followed their recommendation to appoint an interim principal for the 2020-2021 school year and conduct a full search utilizing a search committee for the 2021-2022 school year.  Our search committee includes a teacher, school parents, and members of the school board along with the advisement and consultation of Anna-Marie Silva, assistant superintendent of the Department of Catholic Schools.  After weeks of intensive interviews, the parish is pleased to share that we have concluded our search process and selected our principal for the upcoming school year.  While the interviews themselves are confidential, the process was fair, transparent, and thorough and included many cycles for several leading candidates.  We are so thankful for the dedicated and committed search committee.  They accepted this task and conducted themselves with the utmost integrity and professionalism on behalf of our students, families and teachers of our faith filled school community.  We were fortunate to receive interest from many excellent candidates.

St. John Eudes Parish is announcing the principal of our school for the upcoming school year.  Our new principal has earned a B.A. with a major in Sociology and minor in Spanish from UCLA.  She has also earned a M.A. in Elementary Education from Pepperdine University.  She also possesses a CA Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from Pepperdine University.  In addition to her multiple university degrees, our new principal has taught internationally in Asia for six years, including the American International School in Hong Kong.  She is also proficient in three languages.  With this diverse experience, our new principal has spent the last five years serving in local Catholic schools in the San Fernando Region.  One year has included a resident principal position as part of a prestigious select group of leaders chosen to participate in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Onward Leaders Program.  Perhaps the most impressive briefing I can share is her care for our children, families and teachers.
We assure our new principal of our prayers and support as we welcome Mrs. Monica Lucariello into our school family.  She shares our family values as she is a happily married mother with two elementary school aged children.  Mrs. Lucariello grew up in the valley, went to elementary school at St. Mel’s, and fondly remembers coming as a student to play volleyball games at St. John Eudes School.

We look forward to meeting and growing with each other as we share our giftedness and our renewed life and spirit in our new post-pandemic chapter of our school.  We are grateful for the continued wise consultation of Mrs. Strom and the rest of the experienced school teachers and staff.  And now we will be getting to know each other anew at a soon to be announced meet and greet.

We ask you dear St. Joseph that as you watched over your little family in Bethlehem, while in exile in Egypt, and at home in Nazareth, to please show the same care for our little post-pandemic school family here in Chatsworth.  Thank you.

Love,
Father Ethan 

Archbishop José H. Gomez will lead an outdoor prayer service with civic leaders and representatives of the first peoples of the land on Wednesday, September 8 at 7 p.m. at Mission San Gabriel Archangel to commemorate the 250^th anniversary of the founding of the mission, 428 S. Mission Drive, San Gabriel, CA 91776. More than 40 priests and the auxiliary bishops of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will accompany Archbishop Gomez at the event preceding the opening of the “Forward in Mission” Jubilee Year on Sept. 11.
 

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