San Diego Catholic Schools

Honoring the remarkable educators celebrating 10, 20, 30, and 40 years of service, along with those entering retirement this year!

Special thanks to Bishop Pham for joining us on this evening of celebration.

Celebrating excellence in Catholic education! ✨Congratulations to our 2025–2026 Distinguished Award Winners! Your dedication, leadership, compassion, and commitment to forming hearts and minds inspire our entire community each day.

Kristin Klant from Santa Sophia Academy - Principal of The Year Award
Jenae Smith from St. John School, Encinitas - Catholic Elementary School Teacher of the Year Award
Casey Sanker from Cristo Rey San Diego High School - Catholic High School Teacher of the Year Award
Fr. Michael Murphy from Sacred Heart Parish School - Good Shepherd Clergy Member of the Year Award
Catherine Battaglia from St. Vincent de Paul School - St. John Bosco Extra Curricular Personnel of the Year Award [Britni Coito, principal - pictured]
Gilda Pedroza from Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School - St. Elizabeth Seton Staff Member of the Year Award
Susan Conley from St. Therese Academy - Sr. Breege Boyle Preschool Director of The Year Award
Cathedral Catholic High School - Inclusive Education Award
St. James Academy - Catholic School of The Year Award

8th graders across the diocese participated in the Serra International Essay Contest! Thank you to Dianna Pacheco, President of Serra San Diego, and Fr. Marc Gandolfo, Director of Vocations for the Diocese of San Diego, for putting on such a beautiful awards ceremony.
Congratulations to our top 10 winners, and we applaud all 8th graders who participated.

25-26 First year principals completed the Certificate in Catholic School Leadership Program with !

Our Preschool Leadership Team had their final meeting of the school year! 🎉

We had our final Teacher Liaison meeting of the year!
We thank this wonderful team of teachers for all of their hard work this school year. 👩‍🏫

Around 1,000 eighth-graders will graduate from San Diego Catholic elementary schools starting in May. A few shared the lasting lessons from their Catholic education. They were invited to reflect on the most important lessons that they learned in Catholic school, how they think their faith will guide them in high school, and how they plan to continue growing in their faith. These were their responses:

More 8th grade voices can be found in the link in our bio.

*Excerpt & content are pulled from The Southern Cross - The Official Newspaper of The Diocese of San Diego*

San Diego Catholic Schools are representing at tonight’s Padres game!!! Congratulations to our final prize winners!⚾️

1. - Honorary First Pitch
2. - Mission Bell Ringer
3. - Group of the Game (displayed on jumbotron)

We had our final 25-26 INCT meeting today! We congratulate all of the first year teachers, and first year Catholic school teachers for completing their first year of teaching!