New leader, same direction

Ambria Hammel/CATHOLIC SUN

The sisters of Charity ran Our Lady of Perpetual Help School since 1956. It's now in the hands of Donna Lauro.

First layperson takes over as principal at Scottsdale school

Donna Lauro, an aide turned teacher — and mother of the school's second set of quadruplets — has been selected as the first lay principal of the longstanding school.

That's a fact that may take some getting used to for the students.
One of them asked her very seriously, before school let out for the summer, "So what do we call you next year — Sr. Marian Donna?'" Lauro recalled, still amused by his childhood innocence.

She may not be a professed Sister of Charity of Seton Hill like all of the school's principals before her, but Lauro's latest career move is in many ways attributed to the religious order that founded Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in 1956.

Sisters from the same order also founded and taught at Lauro's alma mater, a girls' Catholic high school in New York. Then it was four simple words from a Sister of Charitiy that would forever change her unfulfilling path in accounting: it's not too late.

That's what Sr. Marian Grace Brandt, SC — her predecessor who retired June 30 — said years ago when Lauro mentioned her childhood dream of being a teacher.

With the help of Sr. Marian Grace, Lauro had a substitute-teaching certificate within a month, a teaching certificate within two years and began working as a classroom aide in second grade at OLPH as soon as her children entered kindergarten. Lauro began teaching there full time two years later.

She finished the requirements to become a principal in December, shortly before her children finished eighth grade.

"She'll be a good successor. She's worked very closely with Sr. [Marian Grace] over the last several years," said Msgr. Tom Hever, pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

He described Lauro as well-organized and tech-savvy. She's also a calm person who will be able to communicate well with parents, Msgr. Hever said.
Dan Minton worked with Lauro as a youth minister and his oldest son recently had Lauro as a teacher. Minton noted Lauro's passion for the school and students.

"She will pour herself into this new role," said Minton, a member of the school's parent advisory board who still has three children at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. "Having been a teacher and parent, she also brings a full understanding of the wants and needs of the school community."

"It's a close-knit spiritual community that thrives on knowledge, love and service," Lauro said.

She quickly noted its spiritual side as its strength. Lauro constantly sees her children's hearts in the right place. Her quads — two boys and two girls — recognize and respond to the simplest needs in the neighborhood like a woman who dropped her groceries.

Lauro's quads, now freshmen at Notre Dame Preparatory, also volunteer as altar servers.

Lauro said the sisters' charisms of charity and a focus on the whole child will remain prevalent under her leadership.
"She's going to be able to continue what she sees as strengths," Sr. Marian Grace said of her replacement.

At the same time, she knows Lauro will seize the chance to make positive campus changes as she sees fit. Lauro has long proven herself in at least one area.

"[Lauro] has been very much responsible for improvements in the math program and keeping it in line with what the high schools expect," Sr. Marian Grace said.

Lauro recently helped bring a pilot math program to the fourth grade at a reasonable price. It's now used in three grade levels. Lauro plans to keep the students as her number one focus and pursue enrichment opportunities for high achievers.