New principal Louise Herman

Intermountain Catholic

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RIVERTON — Louise Herman became the new principal this year at Saint Andrew Catholic School in Riverton, replacing Holy Cross Sister Karla McKinnie, who transferred to the Utah Catholic Schools office in the Special Needs Program.

Herman comes to St. Andrew from Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School in Salt Lake City, where she was the principal for four years.

Herman was easy to work for, said Christine Bergquist, who served as vice principal under Herman and replaced her as principal of Our Lady of Lourdes School.

"Louise is very organized and she taught me a lot," said Bergquist. "I learned leadership skills from her and how to handle pressure calmly. She’s a very good teacher, very straight-forward and I learned that things can get done. The whole community is going to miss her."

Herman has been a principal for many years and has a strong background, said Holy Cross Sister Catherine Kamphaus, superintendent of Catholic Schools in Utah. "Her style may be new and different from Sr. Karla’s but we know she will continue what Sr. Karla has started."

Prior to coming to Utah, Herman was a principal on the East Coast.

Herman is from Bergen County, N.J., where she grew up with a Catholic education and received a bachelor’s degree in education in 1967 from William Patterson University in Wayne, N.J. She taught in the public school system before starting a family.

Before returning to teaching full time, Herman and a neighbor operated a day care center for five years. When Herman returned to teaching full time, she taught at two Catholic schools in New Jersey, then moved into administration and earned a master’s degree in educational administration and supervision from Caldwell College in New Jersey.

"I had been teaching the second through eighth grades for a long time and becoming the principal was a different way for me to make an impact on the whole school and the lives of the children," said Herman.

Herman came to Salt Lake City to visit her daughter and while she was in Utah she was hired as principal of Our Lady of Lourdes School. She likes the slower pace and the climate in Utah, she said.

"Utah is a lot more family-oriented than New Jersey," she said. "I also like the community atmosphere of the Catholic schools. I’m glad when we are correcting students, we are able to give Jesus and God as the reason for why we treat each other as we do; it makes it easier for the students to understand. We are allowed to pray in Catholic schools, and there are a lot of times in your life when you need prayer and you can’t do that in public schools."

As a goal, Herman would like to introduce intervention programs for children who are struggling in their studies at St. Andrew School, as well as enrich the studies for those students who are excelling and need to be challenged, she said. The school will also be working on becoming accredited with the Western Catholic Education Association.

"We will use that process to see what we can do to improve our programs," said Herman.

For Herman, being a part of a process that teaches and enriches children’s lives has been very fulfilling, she said. "Being in one school for a number of years and watching the children grow from year to year and seeing them progress has been very rewarding," she said. "The graduates of Catholic schools recognize the value of a Catholic education and then choose it for their children, and if possible, choose the same school they attended because of what they experienced."