Let's Take A Closer Look At The Barnabas Academy in Omaha

With the help of several knowledgeable visitors, I've been learning some of the functions dioceses perform over the past several weeks and comparing them to the North American ordinariate, which is described to the public as "like a diocese", except that it functions on a continental, supernational basis. It owns and renovates property, but unlike a diocese, it doesn't have a building or property department. It runs schools (or more accurately, schools function in its name), but it has no school department. Nobody at ordinariate headquarters supervises or enforces policies over either function, even though dioceses typically concern themselves with key matters like building codes and accreditation.

Yesterday in examining this problem, I mentioned the Barnabas Academy attached to the St Barnabas ordinariate parish in Omaha. The visitor who provided the very useful and informative information on diocesan school departments in yesterday's post decided to follow the link there, repeated here, and take a closer look. He then asked the sorts of questions an experienced school administrator might be expected to ask. He sent me this e-mail:

I did some cursory looking into Saint Barnabas Academy. . .

It appears to me that doing a check of the Nebraska DOE listings Saint Barnabas Academy is not accredited through the Nebraska DOE, which for non-public schools is optional in that state.

It also appears that only 1 teacher has a teaching license. The "Headmaster" does not have a building administrators license and his teaching experience is through a charter school network out of Arizona.

It is not a far stretch to assume that 1. with out accreditation and 2 without licensed teachers the high school diplomas from Saint Barnabas Academy are not recognized by the state of Nebraska as an indicator of educational achievement.

I would also assume that the local archdiocese does not really want Saint Barnabas to be under their umbrella. 1 continuously non-accredited school can jeopardize the legitimacy of an entire district and can impact grant funding ie. Title 1, Special Education. . .

I asked the visitor what a building administrator's license implies, and it appears to be basically a principal or headmaster's credential:

Principal licensure ensures that the individual running the school has the education and experience to run a school in a safe secure and legal manner... think special education laws, mandated reporter laws, professional development, how to handle children, adolescent psychology, pedagogy. . .

I was concerned enough to e-mail the contact address on the Barnabas Academy web page:

Several individuals interested in the North American ordinariate have been reviewing the St Barnabas Academy website. One, with an educational administrative background, has checked into your status with the Nebraska Department of Education and determined that Saint Barnabas Academy is not accredited through the Nebraska DOE, which for non-public schools is optional in that state.

It also appears that only 1 teacher has a teaching license. The "Headmaster" does not have a building administrators license and his teaching experience is through a charter school network out of Arizona. It is not a far stretch to assume that 1. with out accreditation and 2 without licensed teachers the high school diplomas from Saint Barnabas Academy are not recognized by the state of Nebraska as an indicator of educational achievement.

Can you clarify the status of the school with the Nebraska DOE? Are prospective parents informed of these circumstances, if true? Also, has the Archdiocese of Omaha given its approval for the use of the term “Catholic school” on your web page? What is the official value of a diploma from the St Barnabas Academy?

I got a very quick reply from Carter Lowman, who is listed as the headmaster on the faculty page of the website:

John,

Thank you for your inquiry. Feel free to give me a call at [redacted] to discuss.

Thanks,
Carter

I hate it when people e-mail me and ask me to call them. I make only very occasional exceptions. I replied,

Carter, I simply hesitate to handle these things in a phone call – things just aren’t clear enough verbally. I’d much, much prefer a written response. If you have to get approvals for the written response, just let me know and I’ll wait. But be advised that a lack of response will be published. Thanks very much for your cooperation! It’s in your interest, naturally, to have your side of things out there.

So far, there's been no further response from Mr Carter, Esq. I looked our unaccredited headmaster up on Google and discovered that his day job is, or was, as an attorney. He apparently passed the Nebraska bar in 2018. His Linkedin profile says he was a summer associate at Koley Jessen, a major Omaha law firm, but is not currently listed as an attorney at that firm. He is listed as an Omaha area attorney on Avvo, but the listing is not active. His thumbnail on the Barnabas Academy page says,

Before passing the bar, Carter taught Humane Letters at Glendale Preparatory Academy in Phoenix, Arizona for two years, focusing on such texts as the Federalist Papers and Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.

His favorite book is Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea. Really? He majored in philosophy and that's his favorite book? So, the school's headmaster has at best two years classroom experience at an Arizona high school.

One question I have is why he seems to have changed his career goal from attorney to startup school headmaster. He spent years in law school, but hasn't done any course work in school administration. If his goal was to work as an associate lawyer, this would, of course, be a massive demand on a young associate's time, and even a part-time school headmaster job would be out of the question. But even if he couldn't find work right away as an attorney, there are many, many jobs available in a place like Omaha for someone with a legal background in the insurance, finance, or rail industries. What's his direction? This is troubling.

But this is just the start of many questions that are coming to mind about the schools in the North American ordinariate.