St. Vincent de Paul principal chosen to represent district on national board

Intermountain Catholic

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Mark Longe

SALT LAKE CITY — Saint Vincent de Paul School Principal Mark Longe has been selected for a seat on the National Catholic Educational Association’s Executive Committee of the Department of Boards and Councils.

NCEA represents "200,000 Catholic educators serving 7.6 million students in Catholic elementary and secondary schools, in religious education programs, in seminaries and in colleges and universities," according to the organization’s website.

Longe will represent NCEA’s District 8, which is comprised of the states of Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas.

Holy Cross Sister Catherine Kamphaus, superintendent of Utah Catholic Schools, recommended Mark Longe for the position for several reasons, including the St. Vincent de Paul School board having received national recognition by NCEA as being outstanding.

Also, "He understands how our local Catholic schools form a diocesan system of schools and we are part of a national system," Sr. Cathy said. "And he understands the importance of involving lay people in the schools."

As an NCEA board member, Longe will attend three national meetings a year. At the meetings, he will represent the needs and views of Catholic educators in Region 8 while participating in the board’s planning activities.

Longe has been principal at St. Vincent de Paul School for 13 years and is in his second year as chairman of the Diocese of Salt Lake City’s stewardship committee. Previously he spent three years as vice principal at St. Vincent de Paul School; he also taught 8th grade at Blessed Sacrament School for three years. Prior to that he taught in the Diocese of Orange for four years. He holds secondary and elementary teaching credentials as well as a master’s degree from the Institute for Catholic Educational Leadership at the University of San Francisco.

The board at St. Vincent de Paul School uses a lot of NCEA materials, Longe said. "We have always had a really strong board … It is an advisory board, but I put them to work."

The board helps with such things as surveys of parents and health and safety matters, he said.

His experience with his own board will help him with his new position at NCEA, he said, adding that he hopes not only to contribute his experience but also learn from others at the national level.

"I look at it in two ways – I’m going to learn from being able to see a broader picture of what’s happening in the nation so I can bring that back to Salt Lake and our region, and then hopefully I can give suggestions and help in some ways."

The NCEA appointment is for three years and can be renewed once, for a total of six years.