Dr. Donna Hargens, superintendent of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, announced Sept. 12 she will retire at the end of the school year, kicking off a national search for her replacement.
Hargens spent 45 years in education, leading the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Department of Catholic Schools since July 2018. Catholic schools in the archdiocese enroll nearly 25,000 students at 40 elementary and middle schools and 18 high schools in Baltimore City and Allegany, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Frederick, Harford, Howard and Washington counties.
During her tenure, Hargens guided schools through the COVID-19 global pandemic and ensured the Cognia re-accreditation of local Catholic schools through 2027. She was involved in the opening of Mother Mary Lange Catholic School in 2021, a $25 million investment and the first new Catholic school in Baltimore City in six decades.
“How grateful I am for the leadership Dr. Hargens has provided to our Catholic schools,” Archbishop William E. Lori said. “She brings her faith, love for the Lord and ministry to her work. She is a consummate educator who has developed and made accessible tools for success for our students.”
Archbishop Lori said Hargens’ impact and work “has helped transform Catholic education in the archdiocese.”
Hargens’ announcement also comes as five archdiocesan schools are advancing this year in the national Blue Ribbon process out of a possible 50 non-public schools in the nation that can be nominated for the prestigious awards. The 2024 National Blue Ribbon Schools will be announced this month.
“Dr. Hargens has faithfully fulfilled our mission of providing a high-quality, faith-based education that nurtures the whole child ̶ academically, spiritually, morally and physically,” Gregory A. Farno, chancellor of education for the archdiocese, said in a news release. “Her track record of transformative impact is underscored by exemplary leadership, passion and dedication to the development and success of students.”
Farno informed school presidents, principals and others of the retirement during a Sept. 12 Zoom session. Hargens thanked them for their support during her tenure, saying, “I am blessed with time and I am in good health and I want to spend more of that time with my family. I want to give thanks with a grateful heart to the archdiocese and we still have much to accomplish this year.”
Several school leaders expressed their personal gratitude to Hargens during the Zoom session, including Mindi Imes, president of Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Essex, who said she appreciated that even though Dr. Hargens helped oversee a large organization, she always took time to answer her calls.
In the news release, Dr. Hargens said it has been a “joy and honor” to serve six school years in archdiocesan leadership of Catholic schools, “guiding the children who attend them and supporting the educators who bring our classrooms to life and accompanying the parents who invest in our Christ-centered mission.”
“My focus going forward is making this school year the best it possibly can be,” she said. “They deserve our very best effort.”
In an interview for Catholic Review Radio a few weeks before the announcement of her retirement, Hargens said Catholic schools adapt as the world changes, helping students learn to use technology and other developments, without losing the Christ-centered core.
Catholic education serves not only the individual student, “because that’s going to make you better every day of the life, but everybody else you serve and you touch and you work with is better because you have this foundation of Christ-centered, academically excellent education, and also realizing your full potential and what your gifts can do for the world,” she said.
Hargens previously served as superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Ky.; chief academic officer for Wake County Public Schools in North Carolina; and worked as a principal, assistant principal, and a high school Spanish and English teacher. She earned a doctorate in educational leadership, management and policy from Seton Hall University.
The archdiocese’s search for the next superintendent begins immediately, according to the news release.
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