DAPHNE, Ala. — Christ the King Catholic School has seen the end of an era, as its principal of 22 years, Sister Maureen Nolan, left town Friday for a one-year sabbatical to visit family in Ireland; she will later undertake missions to help the poor.

Nolan — a member of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary — oversaw 500 students and 50 staffers, along with projects like the building of a library, kindergarten classrooms and a teacher’s lounge.

But during Christ the King’s humble beginnings, classrooms were small and students were few.

Since Nolan’s tenure began in 1986, with little money and mostly volunteer labor, she had worked to expand the school, adding enrichment programs such as technology, resource, music and French.

Her job meant boosting the school’s aesthetic appeal as well as its curriculum. And as the years wore on, she required that older buildings be maintained, Barbara Hutson, a music teacher who’s been with the school for 23 years, said.

“Everything gets fixed here, but then not being extravagant …” she said. “She was very careful not to be wasteful.”

After decades of growing pains, the school — established in 1949 — looked better than ever. Along the way, an expanding campus — both in size and student population — had presented the challenge of knowing everyone’s name, but Nolan rose to the occasion so that no one felt like a number, friends said.

A ‘dynamic leader’

“She was a spiritual mentor,” Jan Quint, a school counseler since 1993, said. “It was never about her glory; it was always about ‘I know somebody I can get to help you.’

“She facilitated the use of resources for people less fortunate,” she added, referring to an outreach program Nolan began to help a different group each month.

Administrators, staff, students and their families had donated clothes and text books to Hurricane Katrina survivors; raised money to feed homeless people in New Orleans; and gave money and time to repair trailers here in Daphne, Quint said.

“As counselor, if I was working with a child and was worried about them — academically, socially or emotionally — she would check on that student no matter how busy she was; she would make time to see any student that I was concerned about,” Quint added.

“She was very humble; she brought a sense of family, community and compassion for everybody that worked there and went to school there,” Hutson said. “What would Jesus do? — that’s the way she lived; that’s the way she expected everybody else to live.”

Of course, a good principal must guide a school and its students to academic success — a feat that Christ the King staffers said Nolan had accomplished.

“We’ve had this dynamic leader for 22 years,” Ruth Rutkowski, the school’s public relations coordinator, said. “We’ve been accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools — which is the gold standard — for at least 10 years.”

“In MathCounts — an annual math competition sponsored by a local society of engineers — we won this year in the southwest Alabama division and ranked eighth in state,” she said.

Nolan also networked with Daphne’s public school principals and the nonprofit, Supporting Educational Enrichment in Daphne’s Schools. She discussed curriculum and the challenges of growth and construction with other administrators, and applied for several of SEEDS’ education enrichment grants. The school has purchased 18 Promethean boards from their awards.

Looking forward

Though leaving the Jubilee City is hard, Nolan said she looks forward to the future.

“It’s about the opportunities everywhere else,” she said. “It’s all about how you look at life.”

Now, she wants to grow spiritually through new struggles and sacrificing missions.

“I hope to live among people that are poor and help to make a difference in their lives,” she said, adding she’d also like to “ … learn to depend more on God and others when in a place of need.”

After 22 years at Christ the King, the timing is right, Nolan said.

“I often hear that it’s time to go when things are going good,” she said.

Christ the King’s church now has parishoners who are strong in their beliefs, she said.

“There’s a religious, faith-based grounding there; the faith is really alive,” she said.

Also, the school’s new principal, Maxwell Crain, “will be a good Catholic leader,” she said. Nolan spent last week with Crain — the former assistant principal of St Matthews Catholic School in Champagne, Ill. — and said she’s confident that he can pick up where she left off.

“(Crain will) help them grow and flourish,” she said.

“There’s a time and a season for everything — and it’s time for me to go,” she said.