Longtime Catholic High School Principal Resigns

Merritt Hemenway, principal of Santa Margarita Catholic High School, surprised faculty and parents by announcing his resignation after eight years on the job.

Praised by staff members as a visionary, Hemenway was a strong proponent of computers in the classrooms.

Hemenway, 55, notified parents in a letter in mid-February of his plans to depart at the end of the school year.

“The suddenness of it surprises me,” assistant athletic director Doug Williams said. “I didn’t see it coming. He had done a lot of positive things here. He’s a good man.”

Hemenway was not available for comment Monday. But in his two-page letter to parents, he said he planned to seek employment in “Catholic ministry” and that “additional courses” will prepare him for a greater role in ministry. He will leave the south Orange County school June 30, ending a 22-year career as a high school principal.

Hemenway was Santa Margarita’s second principal. He replaced Msgr. Michael Harris, the charismatic founding principal who left shortly before the Diocese of Orange revealed he had been accused of sexual improprieties.

Before taking the top job at Santa Margarita, Hemenway was principal at Bishop Amat High in La Puente and Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary High in Montebello.

At Santa Margarita, Hemenway was named California principal of the year by the National Assn. of Secondary School Principals in 1998. It was the same year the high school was cited as a National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education and began offering the prestigious International Baccalaureate Program.

“We were probably out in front of a lot of schools in most of the high-tech stuff,” said Greg Giuliano, Santa Margarita’s dean of students. “That’s really been a passion of his. We were probably one of first schools to have a TV, VCR and computer in every classroom. We’ve got parents keeping track of grades and attendance via the Internet.”

Santa Margarita’s athletic programs also thrived under Hemenway. The school won many Southern Section titles in boys’ and girls’ sports. Hemenway strongly opposed the idea of Santa Margarita leaving a public school athletic league for an all-Catholic league because he believed athletes would miss too much class time traveling to schools out of the area. Santa Margarita eventually was placed in a Catholic league in 1999.