No joke: Cardinal Mooney's Steve Christie will retire

Behind Cardinal Mooney High School Principal Steve Christie’s desk is a stack of cardboard boxes.

When he packs them at the end of the school year as he begins his retirement, he will fill them with decades’ worth of Cardinal Mooney memorabilia.
 

The announcement of his retirement has been met with congratulatory praise from faculty members and students.

“It feels weird to hear them say congratulations,” Christie said. “I’ve just been doing my job. I’m going to miss the daily excitement that a school brings and the friendships that I’ve formed.”

After a 42-year career as an educator, including 19 years as principal at Cardinal Mooney, Christie is ready for a slower pace. Already, he’s scaled back: This was the first year he didn’t coach football or baseball.

“Someone once told me that when it comes time to retire, you might know, and in the back of my mind, it just feels like now is the time to do it,” Christie said.

Said Cardinal Mooney President Sister Lucia Haas, who hired Christie to teach business law in 1982: “He’s so fair and honest. Sometimes, when you hire, you just know, and he was one that you just know.”

After two years at Cardinal Mooney, Christie took a position at St. John Neumann High School in Naples for three years before returning to Sarasota. 

He would later rely on the support from the community at Cardinal Mooney when he and his wife, Peggy, had triplets born prematurely, one of whom — a daughter named Leslie — died.

As for the two surviving triplets, Patrick was diagnosed with cerebral palsy and was unable to see or speak, and Karen is blind.
Christie’s proudest memories as principal include Karen’s first day of school at Cardinal Mooney and, later, presenting Karen with her high school diploma. Sadly, on the first day of Karen’s senior year, Patrick died at age 17. Students and faculty members filled Church of the Incarnation to capacity for the funeral.
 

“It sounds sad, but the support that we had from the students here helped,” Christie said. “We didn’t have it tough; our life was just a little different.”

Another point of pride for Christie is the fact that his faculty includes six alumni, some of whom are his former students.

“I would refer to him as my school dad,” said teacher Sarah Gates, an alumna. “He’s been the one who is there for the challenge and support. He provides a balance of that for myself, the students and my colleagues.”

Gates remembers seeing those traits even when she was a student facing discipline in Christie’s office.

 “He turns those disciplinary situations into life learning situation,” Gates said. 

Christie also has a reputation for pulling pranks.

Gates was setting up for a fundraiser in the lunchroom when she heard a noise coming from the walk-in freezer.

“I swung the door open, and all I see are these feet, and he’s just standing there,” Gates said. “I just screamed.”
 

Whenever Christie makes afternoon announcements over the intercom and reads the list of students who need to report to the office, he names Louise Mandrell. No one has ever seen the student — because Mandrell is a country singer of whom Christie has been a fan of for decades.

“The kids have no clue who she is,” Christie said.

Christie won’t own up to all the pranks he’s pulled. (In fact, he might be leaving some for his final months on campus.)

“There’s got to be some levity with this thing,” Christie said.

The Diocese of Venice is accepting applications and conducting interviews for the position. But Haas says the task of replacing Christie will be difficult.

“Someone asked me what kind of principal would you like to see follow in his footsteps,” Haas said. “I said, ‘I’d like to see another Steve Christie.’”