Staff reporter
NEW CASTLE – Mark Zitz has moved from the classroom to the principal’s office at St. Peter the Apostle School, where he envisions using his business and teaching experience to increase enrollment and continue the academic excellence at the New Castle school.
Zitz, 55, has been a teacher at St. Peter the Apostle for five years. He said his familiarity with the students and families will serve the school well as they won’t need to spend time getting to know each other, and with a faculty he knows, he can turn his attention to issues like enrollment, which is down a bit from last year.
“All Catholic schools face a hurdle in marketing because there are so many options for parents that don’t cost money,” Zitz said in late July. “We have to make a compelling case why Catholic education is the best option.
“That is my focus.”
Zitz brings experience in education. He has taught middle school and some Spanish at St. Peter’s, and he spent part of a school year teaching math at Pope John Paul II School, which closed in 2011.
He adds 27 years of business experience, having worked in finance and operations for Bell Atlantic.
His time with the phone company also prepared him to be the boss of those he once worked with. He is not worried about any potential roadblocks.
“I encountered this in the corporate world where I became the supervisor of people I worked with, and I became a subordinate to people that worked for me,” he said, adding that he considers himself more of a facilitator and coach than boss.
Over the summer, Zitz worked to bring in new families and on various marketing efforts. He also rewrote the student handbook. The ultimate goal, however, is to continue to produce results academically.
“We’ve got some new players in place here which I think will help us better market the school and help us continue along the academic path that I want us to be on,” he said. “For me, it’s all about that our students leave here and they are college and career ready. Those skills also help them place well in high school.”
St. Peter’s has close ties to the city of New Castle and to its loyal alumni base. Many of its current students, however, come from zip codes other than 19720, as parents drop their children off on their way to work in Wilmington or across the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
One of the things Zitz has identified as a priority is to “fold the new families into the current families, so they feel welcome and part of what we do here.”
Zitz, a native of Fredericksburg, Va., earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Virginia Tech and an MBA from Widener University. He has since secured a master’s in elementary education from Wilmington University.
