By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
St. Andrew’s Catholic School welcomed John Chovanec as its new principal as of July 1.
Chovanec takes over for Julie Cadrich who left to accept a position in the Chicago area.
“We are very excited and proud to have him,” School Committee member Jess Wright said. “We have a great community of staff members, and he will help make it even better.”
Chovanec spent the past nine years as principal of St. Dominic School in Brookfield. Before that, he was the principal at St. Gabriel School in Hubertus and he taught junior high social studies at St. Frances Cabrini in West Bend for 20 years.
While at St. Dominic, the school was awarded the Archdiocese of Milwaukee Exemplary Award for Innovative Programs for initiatives like the Smart Team. A group of students worked with the Milwaukee School of Engineering and the Medical College of Wisconsin under the direction of St. Dominic teacher Donna La Flamme to research science topics. Chovanec also initiated several new programs and positions at St. Dominic including Faculty Faith Formation, technology coordinator and guidance counselor.
Chovanec, 55, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1980 and received his master’s degree from Marquette University in 2002. During his teaching career, he coached cross country, track and basketball.
Chovanec said he became an administrator because other teachers and administrators recommended it to him. He said he enjoyed teaching but applied and was accepted for a principal training cohort set up at Marquette by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.
As a principal, he and his schools twice went through the accreditation process, which St. Andrew’s is scheduled to go through in two years. Accreditation is a required process in which a school is visited by the Wisconsin Religious and Independent Schools Association once every seven years to receive a recommendation for accreditation. Chovanec went through the process once at St. Gabriel and once at St. Dominic.
Chovanec said he looked for a new opportunity after his wife retired from teaching after 34 years in the Milwaukee Public Schools. MPS has a residency requirement for teachers, so her retirement freed him to look beyond the Milwaukee area. Chovanec said he and his wife Lynn, to whom he has been married for 34 years, are familiar with the Delavan area and thought it would be a good place to live.
“It is a very welcoming community, especially at St. Andrew’s,” Chovanec said. “I look forward to spending the rest of my career in Delavan.”
Chovanec said Delavan seems like a very family-oriented place, and he and Lynn are already in the process of buying a home in the area. The Chovanecs have two grown sons. Kevin, 28, is working on his doctorate at the University of Chapel Hill in North Carolina. Kyle, 23, is working on his associate’s degree in computers at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
Chovanec said tradition, a wonderful small-town environment, a beautiful facility and a high level of parish support attracted him to St. Andrew’s.
“It has a very homey feel,” he said. “I am very excited to be a part of it.”
Chovanec said he only got a quick look at the school while in session but already has the impression the staff is excited to provide a Catholic education, and the students seem excited to learn.
St. Andrew’s is a smaller school than St. Dominic with about 160 students. St. Dominic has about 425.
“We like the fact he comes from a larger school,” Wright said. “He will bring lots of new ideas on how to build St. Andrew’s as a school.”
Wright was also impressed with Chovanec’s overall understanding of academics and instructional leadership and the breadth of his experience.
Fellow School Committee member Jeff Scherer said Chovanec is well aware of the Catholic tradition and received the highest recommendation from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. He also said Chovanec has experience working with the new Common Core standards and will be able to help shepherd them into the St. Andrew’s curriculum.
Chovanec said a private parochial education is a more important option in a community today than ever before because of the all the peer pressure on kids today. The values the kids learn at St. Andrew’s can help prepare them to face those social pressures, he said.
Chovanec said his main short-term goals are to get to know his staff and the students and learn about the school in general. Long-term, he wants to build on the great Catholic education the school has been providing.
The school’s website says Chovanec was the best choice to lead the school into its next chapter. Scherer said that chapter will hopefully lead to continued growth in enrollment for the school. Wright said enrollment has been climbing for the past couple of years. He wants to see that continue along with the addition of new technology and resources. Wright said Chovanec has already led a school through growth and he can guide St. Andrew’s as it grows in the future.
