By Anne Marie Amacher
When the opportunity arose to return to her home parish and serve as principal of the school she taught at for 17 years, Julie Delaney had a tough choice before her.
The first-year principal at Lourdes Catholic School in Bettendorf loved her experience and “new family” at that school. But the opening for principal at St. Paul the Apostle School in Davenport came along and she had the opportunity to “go back home.”
Effective July 1, Delaney will become principal at St. Paul’s.
“I loved my position at Lourdes,” she said. “It’s a wonderful school. But I had the opportunity to go back to my home parish. The decision was all about going home.”
Delaney taught at St. Paul’s for 17 years serving primarily as a junior high science and religion teacher. For five years she also was the teacher-in-charge when the principal was not on site. During the 2007-08 school year, she was associate principal and teacher.
Then the principal position opened at Lourdes; she applied and was hired.
“I enjoyed it. There was a new challenge every day. Not all challenges are bad,” she noted. In her first year as a principal, Delaney said she really enjoyed the contact with students of all age levels. “When I worked at the junior high level I was only with the big kids. As principal I got to work with all the kids.”
Returning to St. Paul’s gives Delaney the advantage of knowing everyone there. She even knows the first-year teachers from the 2008-09 school year because she helped interview them prior to leaving for Lourdes.
As principal at St. Paul’s she looks to continue the high level of academics the school has established over the years. She plans to incorporate academics, faith and stewardship components to make St. Paul’s on the “cutting edge of education.”
Delaney is married to John, a professor at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. They have a son, Brian, who will be a junior at Assumption High School in Davenport.
