For Kathy O’Reilly, it seemed being a Catholic school principal was always in her future.
The 1975 Columbus St. Francis DeSales High School graduate not only celebrated her 50th high school reunion this summer, but she is also marking her 35th year as a diocesan principal.
O’Reilly has spent the past 25 years as principal at Dublin St. Brigid of Kildare School. The school, which was founded in 1996, has experienced much growth during her two-plus decades as its principal.
At the heart of her career, O’Reilly simply has a love for Catholic education.
The longtime principal comes from a large Irish family with five younger brothers. She attended Columbus St. James the Less School for seven years until her family moved to Westerville. She then attended Westerville St. Paul the Apostle for her eighth-grade year.
“I like to think I got my start in education, then, by playing school,” she said. “I was the teacher and my brothers were my students.”
“I’m sure they willingly played along with me,” she added with a laugh.
After graduating from St. Francis DeSales High School, O’Reilly made her childhood dreams a reality. She set off to earn a degree in education from Ohio State University. In a matter of time, she was back to the Catholic school setting where she began.
She spent her first years teaching at her alma mater, St. Paul the Apostle. At the encouragement of the school’s then-principal, she moved to the other elementary she attended as a student, St. James the Less, and served as the school’s first lay principal. Along the way, she earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from Ohio State.
After 10 years as principal at St. James the Less, O’Reilly became principal at St. Brigid of Kildare. A strong Irish Catholic, O’Reilly described coming to the school named for the Irish patroness as a “happy coincidence.”
Her grandfather, who immigrated from County Cavan in Ireland, would be proud.
“My grandparents were all very devout Catholics, and so are my parents … so Catholic education has always been an important piece of our family,” O’Reilly said.
Since her arrival, St. Brigid of Kildare – then a few years old – has experienced significant growth.
The school currently has 665 students enrolled in preschool through eighth grade, and 90 individuals serve on staff. Classes at the school consist of as many as 35 students.
The school maintains a 14-1 teacher to student ratio. Classes are broken down into small learning groups for all subject areas because of the number of individuals on staff.
Among the accomplishments during her 25 years at the school, O’Reilly considers starting a Special People in Catholic Education (SPiCE) program as one of her greatest.
The program was first established at Columbus St. Catharine of Siena School by parents Bob and Mary Ginn Ryan. The Ryans supported St. Brigid of Kildare as the school worked to replicate the program.
St. Brigid School started SPiCE when former student Abbie Rumfola, who experienced traumatic brain damage, was in kindergarten. SPiCE enabled her to receive a Catholic education in spite of the learning challenges she faced.
The program raised money for intervention specialists, aides and services that she and other students with learning challenges would need in school. Rumfola, 22, has since returned to St. Brigid of Kildare and serves as an office assistant and in the school’s latchkey program.
With the introduction of the Jon Peterson Special Needs (JPSN) Scholarship in the State of Ohio in 2012 and St. Brigid of Kildare becoming a scholarship provider, more money was brought in for special education services at the school. The JPSN Scholarship program provides scholarships to eligible children in kindergarten through 12th grade based on the primary disability condition.
St. Brigid of Kildare currently serves more than 70 children with special learning needs, including speech, autism and dyslexia.
“The Jon Peterson funds coupled with our SPiCE funds has really allowed us to grow our program, so we now have six intervention specialists and two counselors, a full-time speech person, a part-time occupational therapist,” O’Reilly said.
The school also has six special education aides and an Orton-Gillingham certified intervention specialist, who assists children with dyslexia.
The school’s SPiCE parent committee sponsored disability awareness months during the past school year. The committee compiled PowerPoint presentations for students and families, and information was included in the school’s weekly newsletter.
O’Reilly said the initiative was intended to help students be empathetic, understanding and patient with their peers. The community education focused on mental health needs, rare diseases, Down syndrome, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, simulated hearing loss, vision impairments, autism and dyslexia.
In addition to special needs services, St. Brigid has a large scholarship program for families to receive tuition assistance. Fifteen different scholarships are currently available to families.
Especially meaningful to O’Reilly is the Joyce O’Reilly Family Scholarship, established in honor of Kathy’s mother. Applicants must have three or more children attending Catholic school to apply.
“I came from a large family – and the importance of Catholic education, knowing how hard it is to afford for a large family – that was one of the reasons I wanted to offer the scholarship,” she said.
“It’s always nice to read what families write when they’re given the opportunity to express the importance of Catholic education.”
This year, the Norton family at St. Brigid School was selected as the scholarship recipient.
“Without St. Brigid, our faith would not be where it is today,” the family wrote in their essay application. “The school has been the catalyst for spiritual growth not just in our children but in us as parents.
“Through school liturgies, service opportunities and the faith-based curriculum, we’ve all learned to see the presence of God in our everyday lives. That transformation is a gift that you can’t put a price on, one that continues to shape how we live and love as a family.”
O’Reilly said she believes the school has grown largely because many families, like the Nortons, are seeking a faith-based community. She suspected many want to be surrounded by others with similar values and are seeking a community or sense of belonging.
Even with successes, O’Reilly’s 25 years at the school have not been exempt from challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic that hit in 2020 challenged school leadership in ways she did not imagine.
“But even with that, the team here, every last person – faculty, aides, maintenance, staff, everybody – worked so hard to provide Catholic education in spite of it all, and we did things that you never thought we could do with space and materials,” she said.
“Everybody put in 200 percent. It really brought about innovation and opportunities, even though it was really challenging. We held classes where we never thought we would hold classes.”
During that time, faith largely kept the school community united.
O’Reilly held the school’s daily 8:05 a.m. morning prayer via Google Meet. All of the families joined in prayer from their screens at home.
Now back in the building, the school continues to pray together each morning through the technological tool, which, O’Reilly noted, enables guests to join. She considered the feature a small innovation from the pandemic that the school maintains.
“The aftermath of COVID-19 along with a general lack of time for basic play with peers, and too much screen time, has been challenging,” O’Reilly explained. “Schools are being called to work with children differently today. We need to provide opportunities for children to learn play-based skills, executive-functioning skills and social-emotional skills.”
She said the school is planning to address such areas through its recently approved accreditation plan, a review process that determines if educational programs meet defined standards of quality.
The evolution of technology has been a learning curve during her time at St. Brigid of Kildare.
The school is tasked with making sure educators teach children how to safely use technology, and utilize technology as good disciples, which, O’Reilly said, she considers a huge responsibility.
Technology and digital resources have changed the school significantly during the past 25 years.
“Even from a funding perspective, the amount of money that we now need to spend on digital resources and hardware and the people that are needed to keep all of that running, it’s been a huge financial shift in our schools to plan for that, and so we can have the resources available here for the students and families,” she acknowledged.
In 2021, St. Brigid of Kildare School received the U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon School Award – its third – for academic excellence. The award recognizes a school’s commitment to academic achievement, community service, instructional best practices and professional development.
Even with past achievements, O’Reilly has her sights on the next. Her love for the school community and desire to see continued excellence is largely why she spent 25 years at the school and 35 years as a principal.
“It has grown to be my family,” she said. “I enjoy being with all of the children as well as their parents. I’ve become part of their families.
“Also, I always see the next project that we need to work on to make our school better and provide more opportunities for our children to grow and learn and become disciples.”