St. Vincent de Paul, Petaluma’s Catholic high school, picks new principal

As Petaluma’s sole Catholic high school continues its move toward independence, incoming leadership at St. Vincent de Paul College Prep has announced Mike Casper will be its next principal.

Casper, a decades-long Petaluma resident, has served numerous leadership posts in Marin County public schools, most notably as the assistant principal at San Marin High School for 16 years and principal at San Jose Middle School for two years.

He is currently the extended learning opportunities coordinator for Novato Unified School District.

Casper replaces interim principal Tony Greco.

“Allowing kids the opportunities to explore their faith, working closely with campus ministry – that's all a real new and exciting aspects of this job that I couldn't do at the public school,” Casper told the Argus-Courier in a Thursday interview.

He described the school’s curriculum, instructional practices and quality of teaching as “top notch” and said he looks forward to taking on a leadership role at a school that brings together his personal and professional values.

Casper is an alumnus of Saint Isabella School in San Rafael and Marin Catholic in Kentfield, and a parishioner of St. James Catholic Church, which is in the St. Vincent de Paul Catholic parish.

His new job is set to begin July 1, making him the latest in a string of replacements in the school’s leadership role. After the sudden departure of longtime principal Patrick Daly in August 2023 under accusations of embezzlement, the Rev. Bill Donahue – St. Vincent’s parish priest – briefly stepped in to lead the school, followed by Greco.

Casper was one of four candidates considered for the role, said Lisa Lichty, a member of the school’s interim board and a St. Vincent parent. His hiring was overseen by an 11-member interim school board made up of eight parents and three community members.

“Mr. Casper really stood out because his extensive experience in academic administration and leadership, academic program development, as well as sports leadership just really were superior,” she said.

Time of transition

The move comes as the school continues a sometimes-rocky transition from a parish-administered school to an independent board-run school. St. Vincent de Paul parish, which has overseen the 106-year-old Catholic school since its inception, is ending its role administrating the school at the conclusion of this school year.

In early March the school issued a state-mandated layoff notice ahead of the transition.

An independent board will take over leadership on July 1, and “all teachers have received contracts for next year,” Lichty said.

Finances have been a concern. In February the new board sought to raise $500,000 by March 30 via a GoFundMe page to avert closure. Although the fundraiser site shows it raised over $183,000, the board decided to end that campaign because “the gap for this year has been bridged,“ Lichty said.

Instead, leadership has moved on to other fundraising avenues “that are more appropriate for the strength of the organization for the long run,” she said.

Specifically, the new board aims to raise about $3 million over the next few years “to build endowments and other investments that support the school in perpetuity for the long run, not just to bridge the gap each year,” she said.

The board and parish are still negotiating other aspects of the transition that cannot be disclosed yet, but they “are going very well,” Lichty said.

She added that the board has issued “weekly communications” with staff and parents to facilitate the transition.

“There’s a lot of confidence and support of changing to a model that has a strong business acumen to it,” she said. “Over the first year, there's still going to be some hesitancy in just the change, because it was a really dramatic year of fear. There's going to be a lot of education and communication needed over that next year, to continue to communicate how a board-led school is run and creates financial sustainability.”

The board, in conjunction with parents and staff, will hold a number of events in the coming weeks to support the transition and help fundraising, including a prayer vigil and a mental health event. The largest of them will be held during founder’s week, which include numerous festivities to celebrate St. Vincent de Paul’s birthday the last week of April.

‘Honored and privileged’

Though working in faith-based education will be new to him, Casper said the tenets of his work remain the same.

“We're supporting students in the classroom, teachers with their instructional practices ... helping kids navigate through high school and get to that next important part of their life,” he said.

He said he has already begun meeting with staff, students and parents.

“I am very honored and privileged for this opportunity to serve this community. When the situation presented itself, I couldn't have been happier. It's been a great journey getting to this point and I'm just really excited to be able to serve this community for many more years ahead.”

You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer Sawhney at 707-521-5346 or jennifer.sawhney@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @sawhney_media.