Read a profile of Sister Patricia McCarron’s years leading Notre Dame Preparatory School
Archbishop William E. Lori announced Feb. 20 the appointment of School Sister of Notre Dame Patricia McCarron as the new archdiocesan superintendent of schools.
She currently serves as head of school for Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson and had announced earlier that she was stepping down from that role at the end of this school year. She will take up her new post as superintendent in August.
Sister Patricia succeeds Dr. Donna Hargens, who has served as superintendent of Catholic schools since 2018.
The archbishop said the choice came after a five-month nationwide search. The Department of Catholic Schools oversees 40 pre-schools, elementary schools and high schools with nearly 17,000 students in the archdiocese, and assists six independent grade schools and 12 independent high schools with an additional nearly 8,000 students.
Archbishop Lori told the Catholic Review, “Sister Patricia is a skilled, experienced and faithful educator. She’s from the Archdiocese of Baltimore and she has served here in multiple schools. Knowing her as I do, I think she is the perfect fit to lead our schools in the years ahead.”
For Catholic schools in the archdiocese, he said, the first priority always is to evangelize and teach the faith. The second is to ensure that each student is formed in his or her totality – spiritual, academic, physical and social.
Another priority is to grow the Catholic schools, which he said are a great value for families to help parents in rearing their children.
“Sister Patricia has a proven track record in all those areas and more than that, I think she will be a great leader and a great coworker not only within the Department of Catholic Schools, but with principals and presidents of archdiocesan schools as well as private Catholic schools,” Archbishop Lori said.
“As our next superintendent, Sister Patricia’s extensive experience, innovative approach to learning and deep faith will allow the students and our Catholic schools to continue to flourish,” he said.
Sister Patricia, a School Sister of Notre Dame for 35 years, is a Baltimore native who grew up in Rodgers Forge across the street from her home parish of St. Pius X, where she was enrolled in the parish elementary school.
She began her career in education teaching at Notre Dame Preparatory School in 1984. She was an administrative intern at Bishop Walsh Catholic School in Cumberland, an archdiocesan school serving pre-K through 12th grade. She also served as assistant principal at the former Seton Keough High School and then becoming associate academic dean at Notre Dame of Maryland University.
As head of school at NDP since 2005, Sister Patricia led two successful capital campaigns, as well as last year’s 150th anniversary initiative, raising $3.7 million to support faculty and staff and middle-income scholarships. She also oversaw the expansion of the campus to include the addition and renovation of academic, fine arts and athletics facilities.
With 843 students, NDP is the largest Catholic girls’ school in the Baltimore metro region.
Sister Patricia said she is grateful for her parents providing a Catholic education for herself and three siblings from kindergarten through college, noting the tremendous impact it has had on her life. Catholic schools – along with her parents and their faith – helped inspire her vocation as a School Sister of Notre Dame, she said.
“I’ve spent my entire ministry in Catholic schools, and really, education is my ‘life’s work,’ if you want to call it that,” she told the Catholic Review.
Sister Patricia holds a master’s degree from Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore and a doctorate in educational administration and policy from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
In December 2024, she was awarded The Daily Record’s Icon Award, which celebrates Baltimore leaders over the age of 60 for their professional and civic contributions.
Sister Patricia said the most important part of the Catholic schools are the people, including faculty, students and their families. “Getting to know them, getting to know our school system and building relationships is primary to me,” she said, “and keeping the mission in front of all of us as we collaborate and strive to work together to fulfill the awesome mission that’s been entrusted to our care.”
She said her work at various institutions over the years in different positions has exposed her to academic programs, facilities, finances, advancement, communications and technology.
“All of the different areas really have given me an opportunity to see a broad picture and vision of education, and I think those skills are transferable to this new role because of all the varied and wonderful experiences that I’ve had, both in breadth and in depth,” she said.
The changes in education over the decades – from chalk boards to smart boards and computers, for example – don’t change the need to help students grow intellectually, spiritually, physically, socially and emotionally.
The more educators can understand students and how they learn, the better they can anticipate the skills and experiences students need. “The wonderful educators throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore and all our schools are key in that process” and will help provide opportunities for our students to grow, learn and adapt.
She said Catholic schools are well poised to help those in their care understand the Gospel and apply that to what the world needs today. “We live in a challenging time. I also think we live in a great time of opportunity,” she said.
Sister Patricia added that in addition to the basics of education, students need to “learn how to work together and collaborate, because, as we know, it’s together that we make the biggest difference.”
At the heart of education in Catholic schools is “helping our students and our teachers and our families and us as a community to deepen our faith and recognize that we’re loved by God unconditionally. And we are called to be of service to one another, to our communities and to the world,” Sister Patricia said.
Gregory Farno, chancellor for education for the Department of Catholic Schools, said it was not necessarily a surprise that after a national search, the right candidate was already in the archdiocese. He said it was important to conduct a national search – looking at candidates from public and non-Catholic private schools as well as Catholic schools – and not just around the Baltimore beltway.
“We looked everywhere because we wanted to make sure that whoever the candidate was is the best, not just somebody who was local. I think it was as much as anything a coincidence that it ended up being somebody who’s a lifelong Marylander, and one who has been a critical part of the Archdiocese of Baltimore since she was born,” Farno said.
He said Archbishop Lori and the search committee all “seem to be lined up here. Everybody came to the same conclusion that she was the right person at the right time for this position. So, I feel really good about that. A lot of smart people weighed in here.”
Sister Patricia has three main things going for her, Farno said: She has dedicated her whole adult life to Catholic education, she is deeply grounded in Catholic identity as the foundation of the Catholic school system, and she has a track record of academic excellence.
Farno said the archdiocese is deeply indebted to Hargens for the leadership she provided. “I’m really happy for Dr. Hargens, but selfishly wish she would stay another 10 years. But having said all of that, I’m so excited about Sister Pat and everything she brings. I think it’s an exciting day for the AOB schools.”
Sister Patricia said, “The Archdiocese of Baltimore has a long line of dedicated superintendents including Dr. Hargens. I’m excited to build on the great legacy and the achievements of all of those who have gone before me and certainly under the valued leadership of Archbishop Lori and his brother bishops who are so committed to Catholic education and the archdiocese.”
The search for Hargens’ replacement was conducted by Catholic Recruiter Associates with a search committee chaired by long-time educator and community leader Dr. Nancy Grasmick.
Hargens completes her tenure at the end of the school year. In her years as superintendent, she guided schools through the COVID-19 global pandemic, ensured the distinguished Cognia re-accreditation of local Catholic schools through 2027 and opened the Mother Mary Lange Catholic School in 2021, a $25 million investment and the first new Catholic school in Baltimore City in six decades.
Archbishop Lori said he was “tremendously grateful” for Hargens’ time and commitment. “She worked tirelessly to ensure that the thousands of children entrusted by their parents to our schools would flourish,” he said.
Five archdiocesan schools recently received the National Blue Ribbon School designation from the U.S. Department of Education, representing 12 percent of all nonpublic schools in the country that received the honor in 2024.
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