In Search of Catholic School Excellence

Thomas Boles: Welcome to In Search of Catholic School Excellence, the show where we spotlight the program's, people, and practices making a real difference in Catholic education today.

If you're a school leader striving to build a community of faith, excellence, and innovation, you've come to the right place.

Each episode brings you ideas that are working, stories that inspire and new possibilities for your school's mission.

Let's explore what's working and what's possible.

Hello.

Today we are speaking with Mary McKeever, principal and fearless leader of St. Philips School in San Francisco.

St. Philip's School is a K eight school, and they do many things right, but I'm mostly impressed.

Especially impressed by the Smarts program, which is a unique take on how they round out their academic program.

Welcome Mary.

Thanks for joining us.

Mary McKeever: Thank you, Thomas.

Thank you for having me.

Thomas Boles: It's it's always a pleasure to have a conversation with you and today we get to talk about something that is nothing but happiness.

You know, most schools have their, what we, I guess we call the secondary round of academic classes.

Your once a week, your kind of, your specials, if you will.

That might be a foreign language.

It might be art, it might be music, it might be technology.

And a lot of folks just have a simple program where there's, you know, 30 minutes a week, let's try to introduce some things and hopefully, you know, it's a good use of time.

The kids learn something and, you know, eventually it amounts to something wonderful and the kids are all well-rounded.

But you weren't satisfied with how that went down.

Can you give us a little idea of how you started out with the Smarts program?

Where, what was the genesis for that and how did it all come to be?

Mary McKeever: Sure.

So it really started with us wondering if we could offer something a little bit different for our middle school kids, because when they get to middle school sometimes they tend to outgrow things.

And especially for our eighth graders, we wanted to give them something that would make them.

Feel, you know, a little bit more apart or in a special way from the rest of the students.

So we wanted to give them that opportunity and we thought that expanding.

Yes, our already pretty robust enrichment programs would be the way to do that by introducing something that would be more than and different from what all of the other kids did.

And so we had an idea that we would tap into.

Various genres, if you like being one of them being art.

We also had a, we started off with a stem and coding mindful program.

And then we also delved into mindfulness because we'd started to bring that in across the school.

So we thought those three areas, first of all would work and they would.

You know, cover a lot of different ways of thinking and offer something a little bit different in each class.

So we tried that, started that two years ago.

It was very successful.

But we did find as we went along, that having a class for an hour and a half was a little bit too long for the kids.

They weren't quite ready for that, and that we could expand our smarts program by actually.

Providing double the amount of classes in half the amount of time.

So we expanded it from three to six, and that's where the acronym smarts came from, all of the six classes.

But really it is just that we're strong on enrichment.

We feel that our school has a very good balance between.

Rigorous academics, which is part and parcel of being a Catholic school along with this enrichment program that allows all students, but maybe in particular students who struggle with academics to feel very successful.

And so it's important to us that we have been able to maintain the enrichment program.

And then, as I said the Smarts program for middle school was a further expansion of that.

Thomas Boles: expand a little bit on why the shift from some of those traditional classes to the three that you chose initially.

The, you know, doing mindfulness you know, is not necessarily direct replacement for any one of those other classes.

Right, right.

The art makes sense.

The stem makes sense on the technology front, but why that combo to start with and then how did that become.

Those particular six.

Mary McKeever: Right.

So as you said the mindfulness doesn't replace anything, but especially coming back after COVID, which was just shortly after COVID, we were very aware of the fact that our students needed a lot more social emotional learning.

And then we're also very aware that there are particular pressures on.

Eighth graders, for example, and sometimes seventh grade because they're thinking a lot about high school and that age group, you know, that.

Teenage age group it comes with its own set of stressors for them.

And so we felt that having a mindfulness program that was specifically geared to them and what they needed in mindfulness and social emotional support was critical.

The art program, it's amazing throughout the school, but we also wanted to give.

The artists in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade.

Something very different.

Something that was different from what the rest of the program was.

And then of course, stem and coding.

We wanted to tap into expanding technology and meeting the kids where they're at with that.

We felt that having these classes run for a trimester was about 11 or 12 weeks, which.

If my research is correct, I think that's about the right amount of time for kids to really start to learn and internalize what they're doing.

So it's not like they're learning something one day or one week and then they're moving on to something different.

There was a lot of consistency and there was an end product with all of these.

Even with mindfulness, you know, the end product was.

For them to be able to reflect upon the journey that they'd had for the last 11, 12 weeks and to document and journal and so on as part of that process.

But we did want to further expand for practical reasons, but we also felt that we could bring more options to the kids because the first three were very successful.

So we looked at ways of expanding and what else?

Would be something that the kids would enjoy doing.

And really what's behind it is that it's learning, if you like, outside the box.

It's learning beyond the book.

It's learning in a more practical way, in ways that kids who maybe are a little bit reluctant to quote unquote learn or, you know, attend school would not even see this as something subject based, like other classes might be.

And so we wanted to really, you know, get the enthusiasm going and we thought about, well, what would work really well?

Obviously STEM was working really well and we wanted to keep the practical, the technical component, the mindfulness program.

We've wanted to keep that.

And we've expanded that program into, you know, breath work and relaxation techniques and so on.

We actually.

Call it rejuvenation now.

And of course the art was always very successful.

One of our teachers felt that they needed something in computer systems because some of them were still, you know, pecking on keyboards and not able to make PowerPoints, so we wanted to set them up for success.

Not just for high school, but also for presentations here at school.

And of course they all love technology and being able to use their Chromebooks.

So that became another program that we offered.

And then the two other new ones were fashion and style and trades and traits and fashion and style to me are, they're the ones that have the most personal connection with me.

I come from a background that is a combination of trades and fashion and style.

I grew up in a household where creativity was central, whether that was music or art or decorating or whatever it might be, and so I always.

Those were my favorite subjects at school, and I always felt it was important to offer those to the boys and the girls.

Luckily we have an amazing group of parents who are very talented, and that's their baby.

They're in that field.

And so we, we brought the traits and style and or sorry, the fashion and style and the traits.

To the program because those two in particular are where kids get to really apply their smarts and their learning in ways that they maybe didn't consider.

There's so much math that goes into trades.

There's so much math in some ways that goes into fashion and style.

It's just a combination of everything.

I've always been a fan of.

Gardeners, multiple intelligences and how you can be smart in different ways and how you can show that you're smart in different ways.

So that's where we were going with that, and it's been hugely successful especially in those two areas because the kids absolutely love it.

We were able to break the classes up into smaller groups of 14 or 15 kids, which made it very manageable, and they were able to get a lot of one-on-one attention.

Thomas Boles: Yeah, it's it's amazing when you can, you know, take a different approach in the way that you can meet the kids where they're at and they've, they find a love they didn't know they had and then they start to shine.

You know, it's, and there's obviously you have kids who are gonna be strong academically and they're gonna shine and everything that they do.

But there's so many different ways that you can approach that educational piece and really bring out the best in a lot of these kids.

And most of 'em don't even know that they.

Have an interest or an expertise because they haven't even tried yet.

Right?

So bringing this variety is, I think a great thing.

Mary McKeever: Well, that was one of the reasons as well for trades is because, and I, it may seem a bit weird saying it as someone who's the leader
of an institution that is rigorously academic, but I think it's really important for kids to know that they can have a very successful career.

Doing something that might be different from your typical, I'm going to college to study this, or this.

Even teaching, or whatever it might be.

I'm not trying to discourage them from that, but I'm trying to open the possibility for them to explore and as you said, maybe discover, you know what, maybe this is something I really wanna do.

I never thought of it like that before, because there is a need for trades.

And we all know that we just can't get people anymore.

And there used to be trade schools and now there aren't and they're desperately needed.

I always said if I had a high school, that's one program I would put in place because I want kids to know I can go ahead and have an education and use my talents and my abilities and have a very fulfilling career doing something that is in the trades.

And we have an amazing parent who's also an aide at the school, and she has a background in trades and she has a degree in architecture.

She has a master's in design.

She took the trades.

Class and ran with it.

And she really created something very amazing from that is completely mission aligned.

Where and where kids see the value of trades in everyday life.

And so her presentations to get the kids kickstarted were just phenomenal.

Remember you and I talked about where would we take our skills with our kids and build something, for example, for homeless people or something that would align with.

Service projects.

So our that's where we're going with this program as well, is that every year the kids will have an end product, but the end product will also be something that aligns with our mission to be of service to other people, look after the environment, so on.

Thomas Boles: Yeah.

That's great.

When you include the, I mean, the whole reason why we're at a Catholic school is Right.

We're trying to live our faith.

We're trying to.

Show that we're growing in that way, and we can practice that and we can incorporate that into so many things.

I think this is a great example of how you can, you know, look at so many different aspects of your program and you can do some cool things.

You don't have to necessarily stay in that box and it seems like the kids are responding well to it.

Things like the parents are responding well to it and you're out there in the community, which, you know, impacts the school in such a positive way.

Do you have, yeah.

Sorry, go ahead.

Mary McKeever: No, I was just gonna say, you know, the mission as well as, and the philosophy is that every child should feel successful.

And I know that phrase about the whole child gets talked about a lot, but I really feel that doing something like.

Our Smarts program or any of our enrichment programs is speaking to that because I do see those kids who are the shy little kids and never realized that they had a talent for designing clothing or costumes or sewing boys or girls.

Or the girls who didn't think that they were gonna be interested in building something.

Like a tray, which they did make, and we brought coffee to the teachers on the tray.

But, you know, simple little things like that.

It's a starting point for where they can go with this.

And I know that they love it and are learning from it, and it's a great way to get parents in as well and be able to show the kids that what they do is very meaningful in their lives.

Thomas Boles: Yeah.

Getting the whole community involved and stacking smiles while the kids are learning.

Like you, you can't go wrong.

Yeah.

Do you have any other specific successes?

Any little vignettes about one of these programs that has impacted a particular kid or, you know, where are the roses that you're getting back from this?

Mary McKeever: Yeah.

I think having been in the classes where I've seen the focus, first of all, and.

The learning intentionality that there is among the kids and among the people that are working with them.

Definitely the small class size helps, but I see a lot of group work.

I see kids that are way more confident because they're in that very small class with that almost undivided attention, and they're able to stand up and give a presentation.

And have, they've designed something, they've made something by themselves or with another person and they're very proud of it.

And you know, something that they take home to their parents that they can.

Talk about and be happy about.

We give them certificates at the end of the trades classes in particular, you know, to let them know that they've graduated from that program.

So I think it's more of a collective reward that I feel that the kids are feeling.

And that they love it.

I know they're really anxious to go to their class.

They love to go to each of their six classes, and I think.

Definitely, it's just that intimacy of the class and the fact that they are feeling so special and so noticed and that everybody's paying
attention to what they're doing and they're able to do great things by themselves or with their little group of people that they work with.

Thomas Boles: Oh, that's great.

I can just imagine the smiles.

I know that when I was a teacher we'd do a lot of music and when you have that kind of passion and you're bringing that into the classroom.

You're bringing out a different element of yourself, but you're also bringing out this other piece with the kids and like, it's just nothing but happiness, right?

When everybody's on fire for what you're doing, it's nothing but good can come out of it.

Mary McKeever: Well, I just, I don't know that I would be the one that would be left alone in, in the, you know, the trades class to take care of plumbing or building a tray or anything that involves any sort of danger work like that.

But I would be probably Okay.

In the sewing class might be.

Thomas Boles: And we know that any sort of musical endeavor you would be, you know, well suited for.

Mary McKeever: Yeah.

You know, maybe there was, I used to think there was a career in Broadway, but instead I'm just gonna take the kids to see a Broadway show next year.

So that's

Thomas Boles: to be, that'll have to be, you'll be on Broadway in one way or another.

Mary McKeever: Yeah.

Right.

All good.

Thomas Boles: So, just a couple more questions here.

Where do you see this growing, or how do you see it morphing?

What's that dream that you have for this as it keeps growing?

Mary McKeever: I honestly would love to see this develop into something that we could maybe start the kids a little bit younger, maybe even in fifth grade, we could expand to there.

Where they would maybe choose a class, one of the six classes or whichever classes we decide we would do.

Get them started a little bit younger.

I would love to see this expand into after school so that if kids really want to do this and want to do more of it.

Currently we're only able to offer one day a week because we have so many other subjects and other activities for them to do and instructional minutes that we have to be faithful to.

But I really would love to see this become.

A thing at the end of, for example, sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade, much like, you know, we have Sports Day every year.

You know?

Then one day you're, we're gonna have our smarts presentations, and we're gonna make this a thing that you are.

Almost like a concert, you know, there's gonna be some school-wide performance or presentation of everything that they've done so that it becomes a real goal for them to work towards and.

Definitely the idea of them, especially in eighth grade, creating something that is either left behind at the school.

I know this year they designed tiles.

'Cause we had a parent who is a new parent to the school, but she's an interior designer, so she helped them with tile design.

Which was phenomenal.

But something that they can literally put their mark on and they can leave it as the class of 20, whatever.

Leave it for our school or for our community.

So that's what we're really building this up towards, and that's totally mission aligned and in an alignment with our school-wide learning expectations as well.

Thomas Boles: Yeah.

That's amazing.

That sounds really exciting and I'm glad that we're along for the ride with you.

Mary McKeever: Well, I'm glad you are as well.

I mean, maybe the next time we do a musical, they'll make some of their costumes, you know, and they'll make some of the props in the classes and design the programs on in their computer systems class and.

You know, help with makeup in the art class.

I mean, they the options, the possibilities are endless.

Thomas Boles: Yeah.

We could get them to start running sound too.

So there's the whole crew.

Mary McKeever: Oh, that's something I definitely won't be doing.

I'll just I'll just yeah.

Delegate that one.

Thomas Boles: Well, great.

The last question I have for you is if let's say there's a principal out there who's hearing this and really feeling inspired by the story of what's happening at St.

Philip's.

What would you recommend as like that first step?

Because it, it sounds like, you know, you so easily started this thing, but we know it was a lot of work and a lot of setup time.

Where would you say that first step is that first conversation?

What can they do to kind of go down this path?

Mary McKeever: I think for us when we started this, I don't know whether it's just there's some sort of creative gene in me that's always looking for.

Things to do differently, and I know you and I had an initial conversation about that and you were encouraging me to keep that train of thought going.

I think I know my kids pretty well.

I know our community pretty well.

I was very conscious of offering something to kids, as they said at the beginning, that.

That set them apart, if you like, 'cause they're a bit older.

And then also very conscious of the kids that needed a little boost and needed to maybe fall in love with learning all over again.

So I would encourage anyone who's thinking about doing something like this to consider your community, consider your students.

Consider your mission and what you really, truly value in your mission.

One nugget that, that one phrase or whatever, that's very important.

And that this.

Would connect with you do need to have the buy-in of your staff.

It demands a lot in terms of scheduling unless you're gonna have volunteers, you need to be able to support it financially if you're bringing in a company to help with some of this.

But I think the starting point is to really consider what your students would love and what they might need.

And what, how that would align with your mission statement or even your skill wide learning expectations.

And just be able to address that need.

It may be that the six classes that we have are not the six classes that other people.

Might have, it could be that their community might benefit more from something different.

Maybe.

Maybe something like a cooking class or baking.

You know, if you have the facilities to be able to provide that and so on.

There, there are so many options that we can offer, but it's all about offering the kids more enrichment, more ways of understanding that they can be smart in many ways, even if they're finding.

Math or spelling or reading or getting homework done, a challenge.

And offering them ways to be able to say, you know what, maybe this is something I think I have a passion for this, or a talent for this.

And I think I'd like to go further with it.

Thomas Boles: Yeah, I think that's, I think that's such a great approach.

It's you focus on the mission, you talk to your staff to make sure that's all good, but you consider what students you have in front of you.

And I think a lot of these special projects will come up out of a conversation with a student.

Or you just kind of sense that there's, there a kid might do well in something and maybe that's where you start that and you kind of try it out and see if it before you commit lots of things.

But it's so important not to just look at what somebody else does and copy it, because we've seen that, unfortunately we've seen that visiting lots of schools.

How many people try to copy somebody else and it just fails because it's not central to what they want to do.

Yeah.

And so it dies pretty easily.

So if you think about your community, your mission, and your kids, your students, and you build something, it can be really successful.

Mary McKeever: I mean, it might always be worth asking kids and even parents, like, if we were to offer extra classes at school, what might you like for your child?

We never truly know all the little interests that the kids have outside of school.

We know a certain amount of it, but I know for me every year when I'm doing an All About Me survey with my eighth graders, 'cause I wanna be able to add stuff to their applications for high school I find that so many things about them.

You know, they didn't think they needed to share.

They're busy with their sports, they're busy with school, but then they do 20 other things outside of school.

So I think it's good maybe to tap into that as well and find out, you know, what kinds of things was, if maybe it started with an afterschool
program, if you were to have an extra afterschool program, what might be something your kids would go to and then see if that builds up.

That could be something then you add during the school day.

Or if you have a school that has beautiful space for a garden.

Would you consider starting a gardening program for your school?

Because she could do it right there.

Thomas Boles: Yeah.

So I love it.

It's so practical.

So, mission centered.

So I, so easy to get started.

Like, I just want to, you know, see it happen, right.

You just wanna jump in, get your hands dirty, and then see where you can take it.

So I really appreciate you sharing the story with us, Mary.

So happy to be a part of the story, even in a such a small way.

But I think what you're doing with the Smarts Program is really gonna impact your students and your whole community.

Mary McKeever: Yeah.

Well, thank you.

You, I mean, I remember us having a conversation way back about what we could do, and you always encourage me to, you know, go for it and make it happen.

And I'm very grateful that I have the faculty that, you know, supports this.

Even my, my science teachers.

Would sit in during the trades classes or during the STEM class, even though it's their free time as such, but just to be there.

So they are showing the kids that they're also interested in what they're learning.

So yeah, that's, yeah, that's needed as well.

Thomas Boles: So.

Great.

Well, thanks again for sharing it and for showing up today.

Hopefully many folks will be inspired by what you've said and will start their own Smarts program.

Okay.

You can't take smarts.

But it's gonna be something else for your school.

No,

Mary McKeever: well, it took me all of last summer to figure out that acronym.

So I'm gonna, I'm gonna copyright that one.

Okay.

All right.

Thank, thanks, Mary.

Thank you Thomas, for everything.

Okay.

Take care.

Bye.

Thank you.

Bye.

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