The Catholic Schools Center of Excellence announced two leadership changes July 22: A new president, Brian Ragatz, most recently principal of St. Odilia Catholic School in Shoreview, and a director of excellence, Jennifer Haller, currently principal at St. Michael Catholic School in St. Michael.

Brian Ragatz

Ragatz succeeds Gail Dorn, CSCOE’s founder, who was promoted to executive chair. Dorn will lead an expansion of the Minneapolis-based nonprofit to support Catholic elementary and middle schools nationwide.

Ragatz and Haller are entrepreneurial and “star principals” who seek growth and excellence, Dorn said.

“It’s an incredibly important and humbling responsibility for the future of our kids,” Ragatz said of his new post, adding he loves helping schools increase enrollment and deliver excellence.

Ragatz mentioned two areas of focus, improving literacy and supporting the mental health needs of students, staff, parents and principals. The CSCOE-supported, opt-in Believe and Read program, which helps students improve their reading grade level, had already started in some archdiocesan schools in partnership with Groves Academy of St. Louis Park, a national leader in helping students with reading disorders.

“The results are simply amazing after one year,” he said.

Ragatz, who has nearly 20 years of teaching and administrative experience in archdiocesan Catholic schools, said he is aware of the stress the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice issues have placed this last year on everyone in the community and in Catholic schools. CSCOE wants to work with all involved to promote mental health wherever it can, he said. “In order to perform at our best, we have to be our best,” said Ragatz, who also has served as an adjunct instructor in graduate-level educational leadership programs at Winona-based St. Mary’s University and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

Jennifer Haller

Haller has worked as a national education consultant in school improvement, served as a curriculum development coordinator and taught at all levels, from elementary to graduate schools. At CSCOE, Haller will oversee and plan programs designed to lead schools to greater excellence, while working with Catholic school principals on their needs and championing their efforts.

“The entrepreneurial spirit and ‘can do’ mindset of this team (at CSCOE) fuels our schools and positions our principals to lead the mission that God has set before us — to lead more souls to Christ through exemplary formation in faith, knowledge and service,” Haller said.