E.V. Cain administrator moving to parish school

An E.V. Cain School administrator is going to take a leap of faith this summer.Jonathan Molnar, the three-year vice principal at E.V. Cain School, recently learned he would take over as principal at St. Joseph Parish School in Auburn.In July, he'll replace Joan Walthers, 69, St. Joseph's current principal, who is retiring from the Catholic school after 14 years.Molnar said making the adjustment to a faith-based educational system after 16 years as a public school administrator and teacher will be a challenge, but he's looking forward to being able to combine his passion for learning with his deep-rooted faith."To combine my professional life and my faith life and continue to serve my community is very special to me," Molnar, 43, said Monday in his office at E.V. Cain.Molnar's absence at E.V. Cain will be felt deeply, said Vince Anaclerio, Auburn Union Elementary School superintendent.Administrators will meet next week to discuss hiring a new vice principal and the possibility of absorbing the position into a larger role to better suit the district during its budget crisis, Anaclerio said.Even though she's confident Molnar will do a stellar job in her place, the thought of leaving the students and families she's grown to love had Walthers near tears Monday."It's very difficult to talk about leaving," said Walthers, who is retiring to Texas with her husband, Donald, to spend time with their three children and nine grandchildren. "I love the kids. Every single kid here is like my own child."Molnar, who has a been a member of the parish since he moved to Auburn three years ago from Humboldt County with his wife, Aimee, and three children, will oversee the 306-student preschool-through-eighth-grade students at the school and 20 staff members.Molnar said he already knows many at St. Joseph and feels that he will be able to smoothly adjust from E.V. Cain, where he is responsible for numerous duties ranging from scheduling, counseling, curriculum assessment and, most importantly, the school's chief disciplinarian.Rev. Peter Bosque, of Sts. Joseph and Teresa of Avila Church in Auburn, who oversees the school, said a principal search committee unanimously chose Molnar to be Walthers' successor.He said the committee approved Molnar because he has worked at several very different types of schools, ranging from teaching near San Bernardino, to serving as the principal at a very small school on the Lost Coast in Humboldt County before moving to Auburn, Bosque said.It also helped that he and his family lived in Auburn and he cared deeply about the parish, Bosque said.But losing Walthers, who has developed the school's 50-plus student preschool, created a full-day kindergarten program and enhanced students' library and computer access in her tenure, will be difficult, Bosque said.She has a heart to match her work ethic, he said."When she serves, it's never as a job," Bosque said. "It's very much part of her life."The transition period at the school will be a difficult one, Bosque said.Replacing a principal in a Catholic school is much more intense than at a traditional secular education institution, since the principal takes the place of a public school board and is the final authority, answering only to the overseeing priest, Bosque said."The environment of the school is so often tied to personality of the principal," Bosque said.Margarat Scheller, a parent of two St. Joseph students, said she was sad to see Walthers go."She took a lot of joy in watching out for our children's education," Scheller said. "Anybody who would take over for her has big shoes to fill." The Journal's Ryan Sabalow can be reached at ryans@goldcountrymedia.com.