The annual three-day SPICE conference on Selected Programs for Improving Catholic Education took place at Boston College, June 24–26, cosponsored by the Lynch School’s Roche Center for Catholic Education and the National Catholic Education Association. SPICE was started in 1996 to identify and promote innovation in Catholic elementary and high school education. In addition to sessions on special needs education, learning environments, and teacher evaluation and pay, this year’s conference featured presentations of model programs by Catholic school leaders from Toledo and Warren, Ohio, Minneapolis, and San Jose, California.
Brian Sinchak (shown above, in the Heights Room), the principal of John F. Kennedy Catholic Junior and Senior High School in Warren, Ohio, detailed the efforts of his team to involve skeptical teachers, parents, and students in an “extreme school makeover” that tackled discipline, curriculum, technology, and admissions.