This story was written by Lia Salvatierra, our new Education Reporter. Find more of Lia’s reporting here. Do you have an NKY education story? Email lsalvatierra@linknky.com.
Superintendent Kendra McGuire believes Diocese of Covington schools should serve all students, regardless of additional barriers or needs.
McGuire, starting her seventh year as superintendent and 26th year at the Diocese, has made that her mission heading the Diocese’s academic arm.
“I don’t care who comes through our doors; I want to be able to serve them, provide them a great education, and give them the resources to do so,” she said.
When McGuire first became superintendent in 2020, she focused on carrying out that mission by supporting principals facing limited resources.
She wanted to help them manage the challenges she encountered as assistant principal of St. Pius X and principal of St. Cecilia School.
She said she especially wanted to help leaders of the district’s five Alliance for Catholic Urban Education Schools, or ACUE schools, which aim to keep tuition accessible to low-income students.
While serving as assistant superintendent, she was tapped to fill in as principal at an ACUE school after its principal died suddenly, which opened her eyes to the limitations those schools face because of funding constraints.
“It was frustrating for me as a suburban Catholic school principal to come in and see the lack of what every school should have,” McGuire said. “That’s kind of been on my mind ever since I got here.”
Once becoming superintendent, she was determined to secure better resources for the Diocese’s underserved students, including those with disabilities and other learning needs.
Unlike public school districts, diocesan schools don’t receive state funding to support special education needs.
Historically, that’s meant schools typically have turned families away for lack of resources and training, but that’s changing this year.
With the help of a parent group, McGuire has secured outside funding from a local foundation dedicated to supporting students of varying abilities in Catholic schools.
The foundation’s funding is now supporting six diocesan schools.
“When you look at Scripture, Jesus says, ‘Let the children come to me,’ and we were saying, ‘No,’” McGuire said.
“We’re wanting to get to the point where if you want a faith-based education where you’re learning about Jesus, you should be able to come here, and we just have to figure out how to make that work,” she said.
McGuire said she became an educator in the first place because she never really liked school herself.
A product of diocesan schools, McGuire decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in elementary education once graduating from St. Henry District High School, wanting to bring school to life for students.
During her early years in the classroom at St. Joseph, she recalled teaching her second graders about weather by following an active hurricane.
The students were clustered around the computer, following its shape as it changed in real time.
Though she ended up spending the majority of her career in administration, she’s been able to maintain an understanding of how school feels on the day-to-day, both as a leader and a parent.
She and her husband are high school sweethearts and parents to six children, ranging in age from elementary school to college graduate. All six are either attending or have graduated from the diocesan district.
McGuire said that her role as a parent has been especially helpful for understanding how administrative decisions really impact families — such as during the pandemic, while she was serving as superintendent.
But ultimately, she’s guided by the diocesan schools’ twofold mission.
“We are trying to teach people and help them get to heaven, and we’re also trying to teach them and prepare them for the world that they’re going to be living in on Earth,” McGuire said. “At the end of the day, we want people to be able to walk out of our schools, and we want them to hopefully have what they need to get through the ups and downs of life.”
When McGuire isn’t helping fulfill the diocesan mission through its schools, she’s spending time outside with her family, often at Norris Lake in Tennessee.
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