Dr. Barbara Rothweiler will complete 30 years of service to St. Pius X High School on June 30, 2022, after stepping up to see the school, her team, and her students through the recent challenges of pandemic learning. Rothweiler’s 2020 retirement was delayed when Archbishop John C. Wester asked her to keep her expertise and experience in place to navigate the school through the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Rothweiler was inducted into the SPX Hall of Honor in May 2022 for “leading the school into the 21st Century in terms of technology and curriculum while maintaining the well loved St. Pius traditions.”

Rothweiler and her family moved to Albuquerque in the early 1990s when her husband was stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base. With eight years experience as a teacher and school counselor in Maine, Rothweiler joined St. Pius X in 1992 as a counselor. She went on to serve as assistant principal-dean of students starting in 1998 and became assistant principal-curriculum and instruction in 2003. In 2004, after a nationwide search for a new principal, she was selected to serve in the role she has held for the past 18 years. She is the parent of three St. Pius X graduates.

Retirement won’t bring much slowing down for Rothweither. Her family owns a Nothing Bundt Cakes store in Albuquerque, where she’ll spend more time working in the business. She also hopes to place more focus on travel, exercise and spending time on her favorite hobby: trying out new recipes for her family, including twin 3-year-old grandsons. Come fall, she may look for volunteer opportunities as a pediatric cuddler at University of New Mexico Hospital or at local Catholic schools. 

“There’s plenty to do and I’ll be busy every day,” she said.

Rothweiler sat down with Connections for a conversation about her years at St. Pius X High School. Answers have been edited for length and clarity. 

What accomplishments at SPX are you most proud of?

We went to one-to-one Chromebooks before Covid was even a thought. When everything shut down we were on-line the next day. The kids didn’t lose anything in teaching time. And as I looked at ACT scores the following summer, our scores had not dropped. That was a testament to the strength of our teachers. They were using the technology to get the curriculum across. We felt good about that. Many schools lost as much as a year’s worth of learning, our scores did not reflect that.

Something else I’m proud of: we continue to have a strong arts department, fine arts and performing arts. Lots of public schools are discontinuing those programs, but it’s a nice balance for our kids; it gives them a broader world view. We’ve got the humanities, arts, science – they are well-rounded and excel in writing and math skills, along with the spiritual formation they get every day in school. Those are good things. 

Another big accomplishment is dual credit with UNM and CNM, plus the implementation of the AP Capstone program which gives colleges recognition that the students can do college level work, research and presentations.  We’ve also done school safety training for the students and teachers which will be reviewed and renewed next year since we will have all new student body and new teachers since we did the last training. 

And one thing I am most proud of is I always felt I could go to my administrative council and pose the question, whatever it happened to be, and get feedback from them. They were always very supportive and also very open about how they thought the question should be answered. People may have thought it was just me making decisions, but I always needed input from other administrators. They see things differently and have different interactions with students and teachers. That has been very valuable to me.

How has St. Pius X changed and stayed the same since your start?

St. Pius has stayed the same in religious values, educational values and rigor, and in culture and traditions at school. Those are valued by faculty and the students. We have a stronger faculty because we’ve been more selective about who we pick, and our reputation for rigor in the classroom has attracted better instructors.

How has it changed? School Masses used to be once a month, they are every Monday now. 

Technology has come a long way. In my very first year as principal, we brought in EdLine. That created our electronic communications with parents. We had computer labs but needed to add courses in technology areas because kids were coming to us already knowing the basics. We shifted the curriculum to teach beyond that.

We added the engineering lab, the STEM lab and robotics. We’ve really developed our STEM program, keeping pace and getting ahead of other schools. That says something for our kids, when they graduate they find themselves ahead of peers in college, in technology and in areas like writing, which has always been strong at St. Pius. 

We also did a lot of curriculum work; teachers do it every year to keep our curriculum current and rigorous. Our teacher mentorship program for new teachers coming into the school has also been valuable.

We did these things because they are the best thing to do for the school and for our kids.

What do you look forward to seeing in SPX’s future?

The future is going to be good here, no matter what. St. Pius X is an icon within our community, an important facet of our community. Whether they go to school here or not, they know who we are and what we do. We’re going to keep making our mark as we keep working on enrollment and fundraising. 

On the curriculum level, I think we’ll get back to more in-house curriculum development and more coordination with the 8th grade teachers so that we’re on the same page from 8th to 9th grade.

This year has been a transitional year again coming back to normal school year. Now things that were lost during the pandemic and haven’t come back yet, like Career Day and peer meditation, will have the chance to return.

What will you miss?

I’ll miss having the activity of the kids around – that excitement of the kids here and seeing what they do. They are smart kids. They have strong opinions about things, and those have to be heard and respected. Even if they’re not going to get a yes answer, I was always willing to hear what they have to say. 

I’ll miss working with faculty members; they are good people dedicated to what they do and committed to the kids they teach.

I’ll miss my administrative team. They’ve been very supportive and helpful over the years to make this a better place.