Principals from the Diocese of Arlington gathered at St. Bernadette School in Springfield Aug. 8 to prepare for the new school year. They began the day with Mass and heard presentations by several diocesan representatives.

Maureen Ashby, president of the Arlington Principals Association, and principal of Holy Spirit School in Annandale, said the primary mission for principals is to lead students to heaven.

“You hope that you have chosen faculty who are driven by that mission and you can guide your parent community and students toward that goal,” she said. “Everything else comes along with it — the great academics that are in this diocese, but that faith formation piece is huge, and I think we owe that to our children. That starts with the principals that are here and the commitment that they have to the diocese. It shows every day with the amount of work these principals put into the school, the number of hours they put in.”

Ashby said there’s much for the parents to be proud of in the diocese. “Enrollments are strong in our schools, you have amazing parental commitment to our schools, and I think that feeds the energy that our students then feel on a day-to-day basis that the adults in their lives are really engaged with them and care about them and their success.”

Joseph E. Vorbach III, diocesan superintendent of schools, shared the goal of principals.

“What we are trying to get done every day at our schools is bring the young students closer to God and have them know Jesus loves them,” said Vorbach. “That means we need to be mission focused and there should be lots of evidence of that mission focus in what we do. But I think, more than anything, it is about all of us grownups in the building, and the leadership tone that you set will show them that God loves them, and they’ll feel that, and the specialness of what we are doing in Catholic education will be manifest in that way.”