The 2025 Lasallian Association of Secondary School Chief Administrators (LASSCA) conference brought together presidents, principals and board chairs in Orange, California, Feb. 23-26.
Themed “New Horizons: Prayer, Pedagogy and Practice for Lasallian Leaders,” the conference began with an opening Mass accompanied by the La Salle College Preparatory student jazz ensemble. The Brother Michael Collins Award of Excellence was later awarded to La Salle College Preparatory in Pasadena, California, for their World Away Program. The program offers five pathway Centers of Innovation exploring medicine and health care; intercultural relations; film and media; linguistics; and computer science, robotics and STEAM careers.
Monday’s keynote speaker Dan Fitzpatrick, author of the bestseller, “The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education,” delved into artificial intelligence and how to bring AI into the classroom.
“In a world where artificial intelligence is ubiquitous, our children, our students, need us to be more human than ever,” Fitzpatrick said. He led an afternoon workshop that walked through practical applications for participants to bring to their ministries, saying, “Outsource your doing, not your thinking.”
“Dan did a great job laying out the complex reality in front of us. It’s no longer as simple as perhaps it once was,” said David Holquin, president of De La Salle High School in Concord, California. “Touching the hearts and minds (of our students) requires us to think about how these technologies work, (and) how to keep rooted in that sense of relationship.”
In Tuesday’s keynote address, Dr. Sarah Wannemuehler discussed real legal cases and offered resources on how participants could update their schools’ handbooks. Dr. Wannehmuehler is director of clinical practice and associate professor at the University of Southern Indiana.
In closing her keynote Dr. Wannemuehler referred to the conference’s theme: “Prayer, pedagogy and practice — I hope integrating all of those things together and our greatest legal awareness will help keep us out of court, so that in our work in ministries we can live Jesus in our hearts forever.”
Jack Wallace, principal of Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, noted that her session was informative and comprehensive. He left her talk more mindful of “not necessarily doing the work but thinking about the work in a different sort of way.”
He added that much of what Dr. Wannemuehler covered were “things that a lot of us do, but don’t necessarily always write down.”
The conference also offered various breakout sessions on topics such as enrollment management and net tuition revenue strategies and best practices; leadership and governance in Catholic schools; strategic plans post-COVID; and creating legal handbooks.
In reflecting on the conference as a whole, Kerry Conroy said that AI and legal issues are “two topics that are so relevant right now. I think this is so useful to school leaders.”
Conroy added that in her role as the director of formation for mission in the Midwest District, attending the LASSCA conference has helped to continue to build relationships with presidents and principals and “forge ahead my work with them to support their faculties moving forward.”
During the conference’s business meeting, the new 2025-2026 LASSCA officers were established. Mona Passman, principal at Cretin-Derham Hall in St. Paul, Minnesota, completed her term as LASSCA president and now serves as immediate past president. Joey Scaffidi, AFSC, president of Christian Brothers School in New Orleans, Louisiana, completed his term as LASSCA vice president and now begins as president. Christopher Fulco, president of St. Joseph’s Collegiate Institute, was elected to LASSCA vice president this term. Matthew Keough, president of Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse, New York, was thanked for his year of service as immediate past president.
This year’s conference sponsors and/or exhibitors included: Brother David Darst Center for Justice & Peace, Spirituality & Education; Brothers of the Christian Schools – Vocation Ministry; Carney, Sandoe & Associates; Christian Brothers Services; Christian Brothers Investment Services; FACTS Management; Habeeb & Associates; Lasallian Resource Center; La Salle International Foundation; La Salle University; Partners in Mission; Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota; and SJB Global.
The next LASSCA conference will take place March 1-4, 2026, in Houston, Texas.