Holy Family's headmaster put his 'hope in the good Lord' and took the leadership role

Dan Leonardi moved 1,600 miles across the country to Wichita Falls because he wholeheartedly believes in the mission of Holy Family Classical Academy.

The 30-year-old headmaster for the Catholic school wasn't looking for just any job. He wanted a mission that would make him excited to get started every day when he woke up.

“I could have worked in corporate America, but I don't think I would have been as fulfilled, and this is exactly what I was looking for where I eat, sleep, breathe and think everything for the school and for the mission," Leornardi said.

All it took was a look at Holy Family Classical Academy

From in Long Island, New York, he looked at jobs nationwide. But Leonardi was impressed with what he saw while visiting Wichita Falls.

“When I came here in the summer to tour the facility and meet the members of the board, I was just taken aback by the holy art, the images, the people that started this from the literal ashes of Notre Dame,” Leonardi said.

He felt the presence of God at Holy Family, he said.

Notre Dame Catholic School, long a staple of Christian education in Wichita Falls, closed at the end of the school year in 2021 to the dismay of many. Notre Dame High School was subsequently demolished.

Holy Family Classical Academy was founded about three years ago in the wake of Notre Dame's closure. The school serves 40 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Chesterton Academy of Wichita Falls, located in Burkburnett, opened in fall 2023 to offer high school students a classical Catholic education.

Founded in the Catholic tradition

Most of Holy Family's staff is from Notre Dame, as well as many of the school's students, he said.

"We're building from there, making something just so beautiful," he said.

Holy Family was founded in the tradition of 2,000 years of rich Catholicism, Leonardi said. The focus is on a classical model.

“We're not really preaching and teaching for grades necessarily, but we're preaching and teaching to have a better understanding of the faith, the virtues and everything that is true, good and beautiful, which is the foundations of Western civilization and classical education," Leonardi said.

His game plan is to make the school into the premier institution for Catholic and Christian education for a hundred miles in every direction, he said.

Enrollment, tuition at Holy Family Classical Academy

Holy Family is enrolling students for the 2023-2024 academic year. Tuition for kindergarten through eighth grade is $5,600 annually and $6,200 annually for pre-kindergarten.

Payment plans are available and so are a limited amount of scholarships.

Canine accompaniment: This dog is allowed at school

While Leonardi chatted in a classroom during a chilly fall day, his dog Samson reclined contentedly nearby.

He accompanies Leonardi to school some days. That day, Samson was a little tired from running around with the kids.

Leonardi named his pet after a little dog in a Christian cartoon. Watching it is one of his most vivid memories from childhood. It was about Saint Michael, dogs and protection.

For years, Leonardi wanted to have a dog named Samson, a big dog he could wrestle and play with. He finally found the dog of his dreams in Amish country.

Samson was 12 weeks and 15 pounds back then. The golden retriever and mastiff mix is around 4 years old.

Saying Samson has grown would be a vast understatement — as would saying he is well-behaved.

“He's absolutely the greatest, and he's great with the kids," Leonardi said. "He’s been my travel companion in Pennsylvania, a little bit in Ohio, Alabama, New York, and now here.”

A Catholic headmaster's background

A graduate of Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, Leonardi earned a bachelor's degree in psychology with a minor in sports management. He played soccer for F.C. Birmingham, becoming captain his senior year.

Leonardi has experience in teaching, coaching and security, as well as development and fundraising through his prior job working for Lynch Development Associates, a Catholic development firm, in New York.

For his last job, he commuted 40 miles, which took 90 minutes each way, fighting through traffic.

Digging into school duties and getting used to . . . Wichita Falls weather

In Wichita Falls, he lives just a few minutes from the school and enjoys life in a much less populated area. That the city is not too far from the Dallas-Fort Worth area is another perk.

Leonardi spends half the school day teaching physical education — a favorite activity, as well as fifth-grade religion. The rest of his job involves everything from administrative duties to getting the word out about the school.

"Aug. 1 was my first day, and as I drove down the temperature kept going up," Leonardi said.

It climbed from 95 degrees in Long Island to 115 degrees by the time he arrived in Wichita Falls just in time for the last blast of a scorching summer.

'Hope in the good Lord'

In spite of his intense introduction to local weather, Leonardi made it clear he was happy to be here and had no regrets about loading up his "90-pound lap dog" and moving to a place where he knew no one.

“I just said yes, put my hope in the good Lord, and here we are," he said. "God moves in mysterious ways, and he brought me out here."

Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News, covers education, courts, breaking news and more. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Read her recent work here. Her X handle is @Trishapedia.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Holy Family Classical Academy leader: God brought him to Wichita Falls