Leadership changes on way at two Jesuit schools in Baltimore

Cristo Rey Jesuit High School announced last month that President Dr. William “Bill” Heiser plans to leave the school in July to accept the position of chief operating officer for Anne Arundel County Public Schools. 

Heiser’s last day at the Southeast Baltimore school is July 7. 

A national search for the next president of Cristo Rey Jesuit is underway. 

“During his eight years leading the Cristo Rey Jesuit Baltimore community, Bill has been an exceptional leader. His tireless work in leading and navigating the nuances of operating a work-study high school in today’s environment was on display every day,” said Robert T. Cawley, chairman of the Cristo Rey Jesuit board of trustees, in a news release from the school. 

Heiser served as president of Cristo Rey Jesuit since 2015. 

During his tenure, Cristo Rey surpassed annual fundraising goals with more than $4 million annually and increased Corporate Internship Program revenue to more than $2 million for the first time in the history of the school, according to the news release. The school also established a dual-enrollment program with Community College of Baltimore County to offer a Certified Nursing Assistant program for graduating seniors, the first school in the 37-strong Cristo Rey Network across the country to deliver this career certification program.

Heiser also developed and delivered the school’s first five-year strategic plan. 

In addition, during the eight years of Heiser’s presidency, all of the students in each senior class were accepted to college.  

Heiser arrived at Cristo Rey Jesuit after serving as principal of Catonsville High School. In his new role, Heiser returns to Anne Arundel County Public Schools, where he served as principal of North County High School and assistant principal at Annapolis High School. While at North County High School, he was named Principal of the Year by the Maryland Association of Secondary School Principals. 

The Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ Board of Education approved Heiser’s appointment at a meeting on May 24. He begins his new role on July 10.

“It has been an honor to serve the Cristo Rey Jesuit community for the past eight years,” Heiser said in a news release. “Our students are an inspiration, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to work alongside our amazing leadership team, faculty, staff and trustees. Cristo Rey Jesuit is a transformational school.”

In another move involving a Baltimore Jesuit school, Jesuit Father William J. Watters, 89, said last month that he plans to step aside as president of The Loyola School, the third of three scholarship-supported schools he founded for underprivileged Baltimore City children.

Loyola’s chair of the board, Joseph Lombard, said in an online message to the school community: “Father Watters believes that – with our sixth academic year nearly complete, five of what soon will be eight grade levels established, and work on our new building underway – now is the time for him to cede his role as president of the school. He recently asked the board of trustees to begin the search for his successor. We will do so, with deepest gratitude for what Father Watters has accomplished. He not only brought The Loyola School to life, but also established previously our flourishing sister schools, St. Ignatius Loyola Academy and Cristo Rey Jesuit High School.”

Father Watters opened The Loyola School in 2017 as a preschool, at first called the Loyola Early Learning Center. The school, which does not charge tuition and is supported by private donors, added a kindergarten in 2021 and is continuing to expand by one grade level each year. In 2025, it will reach full enrollment of about 200 boys and girls from needy Baltimore families. It will then comprise three preschool levels, a kindergarten and first through fourth grades.

A $10 million project is underway to create a state-of-the-art elementary school facility from five East Madison Street townhouses across from St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Mount Vernon.

Father Watters was also the founder, in 1993, of St. Ignatius Loyola Academy, originally located in St. Ignatius Church facilities and now in Federal Hill. The tuition-free school serves 120 boys from ethnically and religiously diverse low-income families in grades five through eight. 

Father Watters’ other school, Cristo Rey, opened in 2007. It enrolls 350 girls and boys in grades nine through 12 who could not otherwise afford a private high school. Cristo Rey combines a rigorous college preparatory academic program with corporate internships for each student. 

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