At Butler Catholic, new principal emphasizes importance of community support
Elizabeth Baptiste accepted the position of principal about two weeks prior to the school year’s start at Butler Catholic School, a place familiar to her.
Following a kickoff kickball tournament to start the school year and a relatively smooth transition after over a decade working at the school, Baptiste said she wants to put emphasis on striking a balance between “letting kids be kids” and supporting a rigorous academic curriculum that creates successful students.
“It’s been a whirlwind. But I mean that in the best possible way,” Baptiste said. “I think it worked to my advantage that I know our families and I know our community.”
Baptiste started working at Butler Catholic in 2009 as a student teacher and has been there ever since. Originally from Fenelton, she now lives in Center Township and has a daughter in fifth grade who attends the school.
She now oversees a facility that currently has about 175 students. A significant portion are from Butler city and township, while other students get bused in from districts around Butler County.
Baptiste primarily taught fourth graders. She also has experience teaching middle school Spanish and was a faith teacher at the school.
Until the position opened up, she originally intended to attend Carlow University’s educational leadership program to attain her master’s degree.
“Leadership has been in my heart for quite some time,” Baptiste said. “This past summer, the position opened up. Now I don’t have my degree, but this is my home. I love this school so much.”
Baptiste is not a product of Catholic schools. She said she began her Catholic education while at college, where she developed a deep admiration for the faith.
Now leading a Catholic school, she sees great importance in guiding students through the pre-K through eighth-grade years. The teachers, she said, are molding students.
Baptiste said she wants to put an emphasis on using test scores to inform individualized education while instilling Catholic faith in students.
“Nothing against high school teachers, they are wonderful people. We’re molding little humans here,” Baptiste said. “I can name every teacher I had from kindergarten through sixth grade. That’s the impact elementary teachers have.”
With a bachelor’s degree is in Spanish, Baptiste still occasionally teaches Spanish to preschoolers, she said. Programs at Butler Catholic she points to as unique and growing at the school are its public speaking program and the gardening club.
“It feels like everybody’s more of a community now,” said eighth-grader Helena Portenier. “We have a lot of advanced math and they give us a lot of hard challenges. They challenge you more to think and be your best self.”
But in addition to the academic curriculum, Baptiste touts the “tremendous support” of families at the school along with the teachers, her longtime colleagues
“A lot of people have approached me and have asked, ‘Do you miss teaching?’ And I think at first, I thought this is a big change. But this is what I wanted because I want to be in a capacity where I can meet all the students. I felt as a teacher I was being confined to my classroom,” Baptiste. “Yes, my office changed. But my reason for coming to work every day hasn’t wavered.”
