close

St. Thomas More principal receives statewide honor

By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 3 min read
article image -

Having the spotlight shine on him isn’t exactly up Joseph Rosi’s alley.

And so with regard to his Primary Administrator Award from the Pennsylvania Council on American Private Education, he made sure to shine it elsewhere.

“This award has a very small amount to do with me and a whole bunch to do with everybody else: teachers, parents, kids, secretaries, the priests, the community, our donors, businesses,” Rosi said. “Because if it weren’t for all of those groups together, I wouldn’t be able to come up with some of the ideas that we’re trying to implement.”

Harry Funk / The Almanac

St. Thomas More second-grader Faith Simon sits in Principal Joseph Rosi’s office chair as “principal for a day,” a designation given to students throughout the school year.

He is wrapping up his first year as principal of St. Thomas More School in Bethel Park, and since he started, he has been working toward providing students with necessary skills for the 21st century. For example, all fourth- through eighth-graders have been provided with laptop computers, and their younger schoolmates with tablets.

“And, it’s not so much handing it to them,” Rosi explained, “but training the teaching staff and providing opportunities to show them how to use it in an effective and creative way.”

The emphasis on technology culminates with Immersion Day on June 1, during which students from Seton-La Salle High School in Mt. Lebanon will visit St. Thomas More bringing drones, three-dimensional printers and other equipment to demonstrate.

Rosi will admit that, with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh facing consolidations of parishes and reallocations of resources, operating an affiliated school isn’t the easiest prospect. And so St. Thomas More seeks ways to innovate while saving money, such as applying for grants and establishing partnerships within the community and corporate world.

“We can do all these things that may not cost us money,” Rosi said, “but we can really give kids a rich experience while being smart about our resources.”

Meanwhile, the school is experiencing enrollment growth while drawing from a diverse population – about 10 percent of the students are non-Catholic – and geographic area of several districts outside of Bethel Park, from Ringgold in Washington County to Pittsburgh Public Schools.

St. Thomas More also serves as a location for St. Anthony School Programs, a Catholic-based inclusive educational environment for children with intellectual disabilities.

Rosi, a former Bethel Park School District teacher and administrator, compares the academics of private schools favorably to public institutions.

“We have highly qualified teachers who have passed the same kind of board standards, who have the same degrees,” he said. “The difference is that we have a faith-based and morality aspect that we bring to the table. So every time we have a conversation, whether it’s academic in nature or not, it has to do with: Where does God fit into this?”

Parents and siblings of St. Thomas More students fit in well with the school community.

“Almost everything we do, including Immersion Day, we want as many families to be a part of that as possible,” Rosi said. “Not that public schools don’t necessarily do that, but it’s at the forefront of everything here.”

He is among three principals and three teachers, one per category of age group, to be honored through the Pennsylvania affiliate of the Council on American Private Education’s 2018 Teacher and Administrator Recognition Program.

The organization supports and advocates quality nonpublic education for its affiliated schools. For more information, visit www.pacape.org.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $/week.

Subscribe Today