Palmisano reflects on career in Catholic education

Thirteen years after stepping into the role of Superintendent of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Dr. Melanie Palmisano is ready to take on new challenges in Catholic education. 

“One of the gifts of being a leader is that you get to see things at all 30 schools,” said Palmisano. “You also get to see how it interplays with community groups, through the ministry of the church and different scenarios. Personally, it’s been extremely interesting and has helped me grow in my understanding of the work of Catholic schools, how they impact students, families, society and the church.”

Palmisano’s decades of work in Catholic education took her from the classroom to the principal’s office and finally the top spot, overseeing 30 Catholic schools in seven civil parishes in the Baton Rouge diocese with more than 14,000 students. Along the way, she never stopped learning. 

The New Orleans native began her own education in Catholic primary and secondary schools in the Crescent City, then on to Loyola University of the South in New Orleans, where Palmisano graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Elementary and Secondary Education. 

She earned a master’s degree in education from the University of New Orleans, along with other post-graduate leadership certificates, and a doctor of education degree from the University of San Francisco, another Catholic institution.

“I started serving as a teacher in a classroom, and I served as an administrator in two schools, and while I was in the second school I was the district representative for NCEA (National Catholic Education Association) for elementary schools across the south, plus the southern region,” she said. “So I had 14 states that were in my representative area.  Then I became superintendent and I had 30 schools, and I could see how they were different and how they were alike. 

“And now it’s time I think I can serve bigger than that in a different way that might not be quite physically demanding on my time and stress.” 

As she reflected on the past decade, Palmisano noted one thing she thinks made a huge impact on building a stronger Catholic schools system: collaboration. 

“A lot of walls came down in the last 13 years between schools,” she said. 

Palmisano said it started with a three-day leadership summit in the summer of 2010, an event that has continued annually. 

“We used to have it on the (Mississippi) Gulf Coast and now we have it at the Baton Rouge Hilton because of the (COVID-19) pandemic, and it’s been great,” she said. “But it was like overnight, because they had never done that. And that created a culture of collaboration in our diocese.

“I think that was pivotal for everything we accomplished and, to me, that is the Catholic tradition. We’re called to that by our faith, we’re called to build bridges and not walls.”

She also joined forces with the other six Catholic schools superintendents throughout Louisiana to share ideas and best practices. The superintendents from the dioceses of Shreveport, Alexandria, Lake Charles, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, Houma-Thibodaux and the Archdiocese of New Orleans meet four times a year.

“I just think collaboration always serves better than isolation,” said Palmisano.
 

Other important areas of development, according to Palmisano, were leadership development at each school site; national accreditation at every school; and the special education program.

“That’s been a lot of work but it’s been well worth it,” said Palmisano. “We are keeping current but at the same time, we’re not losing our strength, you know, our legacy of quality education. We don’t do the latest thing because it’s the latest thing. I think that kind of decision-making every day, what we work with, what we promote, what we share, how we collaborate to decide, has resulted in excellent education for the kids.”

When the world went into lockdown because of the pandemic on March 13, 2020, Palmisano said Catholic schools in the Diocese of Baton Rouge were ready. Professional development workshops had been an ongoing event for teachers and administrators and federal grant money for each school was being pooled to provide more technological resources, according to Palmisano. 

 “We have always worked on technology, and we were able to get an online program called ‘IXL,’ which is reading and math predominantly, along with other subjects. And we were able to provide that to each and every school in the diocese. We didn’t know there was going to be a pandemic. We just knew that that might be something that could enrich learning. That’s what we knew. Well, don’t you know, the pandemic hit and those teachers were able to continue teaching using IXL, they used Google Classroom, I mean, they did a great job,” said Palmisano. 

Test scores proved it. Palmisano said there was no learning loss in Catholic schools in the diocese, as experienced in other school systems across the country.

Palmisano is looking forward to a slower pace but new challenges when she steps down as superintendent June 30. She’ll work as a consultant and coach to schools through her company, Inspir-ED.

“As the name indicates, I have been inspired by so many – clergy, colleagues, board members, administrators, teachers, parents, business partners and community members – and hope to share that inspiration with schools and districts across the country,” said Palmisano.

“Hopefully, my service in Catholic education was and will continue to be filled with the mission and spirit of Catholic education to which we are called by our church!”