When the principal’s position at St. Mary Magdalen School opened unexpectedly in June, it didn’t take long to find a replacement.
Kathy Jacono, who has been at the north Wilmington school since 1995, will assume the role on an interim basis for the 2024-25 academic year.
Jacono grew up not far from St. Mary Magdalen and always wanted to be a teacher. She graduated from Brandywine High School and the University of Delaware and taught at St. Peter the Apostle School in New Castle and in Media, Pa., before taking a few years off to start her family. She did some substituting after that.
“A friend of mine reached out and said, ‘I know there’s an opening at St. Mary Magdalen,’” Jacono said recently.
That friend, she said, passed Jacono’s name along to former St. Mary Magdalen principal Barbara Wanner, and that’s how her career at the school began. She taught seventh- and eighth-grade language arts before moving to first grade for 20 years. In 2016, she returned to the older grades.
Once the announcement was made that Jacono was going to be the principal, she was flooded with messages.
“I was receiving messages from families from years ago. I was getting text messages, and they weren’t in my contacts. I’d find out it was a former student, or a family that moved on.”
The well wishes and “a lot of prayer” put her mind at ease about tackling her new responsibilities. She has leaned on her colleagues at St. Mary Magdalen while making the transition. She wants to be able to help them as much as they have been helping her.
“I feel like my job now is to be who I am, be the best I can, lead with what I feel might be areas that are my gifts, and just be there for the people. Be present, listen,” she said.
It is important, she continued, that teachers recognize that the children in front of them “are somebody’s dream.” It is a privilege to be part of their development.
Jacono said she will miss being in the classroom and developing that relationship with her students. She’ll be ready to step in if necessary, if her teachers need the assistance.
“I’m sure there’s going to be challenges along the way. That’s life,” she said. “I’ve been very positive and looking forward to the opportunities. I really can’t get too far ahead of myself at all.”
For the families, she wants them to know she will get back to them on a timely basis and that if she doesn’t know the answer to their questions, she will find out. She wants them to feel confident about putting their children in St. Mary Magdalen.
Outside of school, Jacono and her husband, Joe, who live in Thornton, Pa., like to spend time with their three adult children and seven grandchildren. All live nearby.
“My heart lies with being with my family.”
