Loyola Academy Principal Kathryn Baal Out, Assistant Promoted

WILMETTE, IL — The principal of the country's largest Jesuit high school is out after seven years. Loyola Academy in Wilmette announced the promotion of Assistant Principal Christopher Heintz to take over from Principal Kathryn Baal. Her departure is effective at the end of the month.

Since joining in 2011, Baal "ushered Loyola Academy academics, technology and culture into the 21st Century," according to a release from the school. Her immediate successor, Heintz, a Wilmette resident, said he strongly believed in the school's mission and will strive to help it keep improving.

“I am honored to serve as Loyola’s principal. In my 20 years as a faculty member, department chair and administrator, I have witnessed how special the Loyola Academy community is," Heinz said in the release. "In the year ahead, I am confident that we will continue to provide enriching religious development, rigorous academic programs and engaging cocurricular opportunities.”

Heintz serves on the board of the St. Francis Xavier School in Wilmette. He has been an English teacher, a coach of basketball and cross country, a director of guidance and an assistant dean of students before becoming an assistant principal at Loyola.

Loyola Academy President Rev. Pat McGrath announced Heintz's hiring for the 2018-2019 school year in a July 18 letter to the school community. He thanked the outgoing principal for her service to the school.

“We are very grateful to Dr. Baal for her leadership, and we wish her Godspeed in the next chapter of her professional journey,” McGrath noted. “My executive leadership team and I look forward to working with Mr. Heintz to build upon her great work of recent years. We are so blessed at Loyola, and we look to the future with a deep sense of gratitude for all that has been and an excitement for all that God is inviting us to be and to do in the days to come.”

In February, Baal was named among seven finalists for a Golden Apple leadership award given to school administrators.

Baal, a former science teacher, launched a number of initiatives over her time at Loyola, according to the school. They included new service learning classes – Art as Advocacy, Honors Environmental Science, Hidden Voices in American Literature, Honors Sociology in Action, Spanish Immersion and Justice Seminar – aimed at teaching students to apply their knowledge to real-life situations through community service and reflections. Some of her other programs included redesigning student support services to help students most at-risk and implementing a "Physics First" science education model. Loyola said ACT test scores rose under since 2009 under Baal's leadership.

In May, she became aware of allegations of misconduct by the school's longtime girls soccer coach Craig Snower and called in a police investigation after speaking to the school's attorney and immediately firing the coach. According to police reports, Baal told investigators she had limited contact with Snower, and Athletic Director Pat Mahoney said some parents had complained their daughters were uncomfortable around the coach without making specific complaints.

Baal's departure is effective July 31 as she leaves "to pursue new educational opportunities," according to the school, which declined to give further details about the reasons for her departure.

“Loyola Academy does not comment on personnel matters," the school said in a statement. "But there is no connection whatsoever between Dr. Baal’s departure and the recent termination of Loyola Academy’s girls soccer coach.”

Read More:

• Sexually Inappropriate Comments 'Commonplace' From Coach: Reports
• Loyola Girls Soccer Coach Fired Over Comments To Players
• Loyola Principal Named Golden Apple Leadership Award Finalist