Why this Columbus education leader is leaving and how she made a positive impact

Not her college degrees. Not her hall of fame or teacher of the year awards. Not her certificates for leading schools that received national or state honors.

It’s her high school diploma that stands as the only symbol of success on the walls of her office.

“It will hang anywhere I go,” Ronie Collins, president of St. Anne-Pacelli Catholic School, told the Ledger-Enquirer. “God never left. I was never forsaken. … I learned in life that a lot of times, because of that, what I thought I needed immediately was more treasured years later.”

The story behind that diploma summarizes the essence of this beloved and effective educator, who will conclude 41 years of teaching and leading in Columbus public and private schools when she retires in May.

And her career will end where her schooling began.

‘It was rough’

Collins grew up in Columbus as one of five children with parents who had a tough time paying their bills.

“I was the kid that when the rent was due, we moved,” she said. “… It was rough. … Great people — wonderful people — but did not make good choices.”

One of their best choices was making enough financial sacrifices to send Collins and her siblings to St. Anne-Pacelli. She isn’t certain, but she figures a secret angel donor contributed to her family’s tuition.

“Somebody must have helped,” Collins said. “I don’t even know who to thank. … At one time, my parents, when we were very young, were active in the church and helped a lot, and I think before they made their other decisions, they looked at that and probably looked the other way.”

Fast forward to her senior year at Pacelli. After the graduation ceremony, Collins realized the leather case she received for her diploma didn’t have the document inside. Turns out, the administration withheld her diploma because her tuition wasn’t fully paid.

Collins went on to earn a bachelor’s degree, two master’s degrees and a specialist’s degree, but she still didn’t have a high school diploma.

After she signed her contract to be Pacelli’s principal in 2015, the Rev. Jeremiah McCarthy, who then was St. Anne’s pastor, presented Collins with her diploma — and she paid the $973 tuition debt.

Collins tells students that story as a life lesson in perseverance.

“You might not get into UGA your first go-around,” she said. “But there’s another way to get in. … God shut the door because he had something better.”

‘Never felt smart until then’

After graduating from Pacelli, Collins started attending Columbus College with the goal of becoming a social worker. Then, motivated by a lunch bet with her sister, Collins took an Introduction to Early Childhood Education class and earned an A while her sister got a B.

“I fell absolutely in love with it,” Collins said. “… I wanted to help children.”

The instructor, Steve Halverson, told Collins, “You need to be a teacher.”

Halverson also boosted Collins’ confidence when he told her, “You are so smart.”

Collins recalled, “I never felt smart until then. From that time on, I was going to do everything I can to help kids.”

Her induction to the Columbus State University College of Education and Health Professions Hall of Fame in 2010 shows she excelled at helping kids.

Perhaps no K-12 educator in the Chattahoochee Valley has served students in a more varied career, from public to private, from elementary to high school, from disadvantaged to advantaged communities.

Collins was a teacher (Davis Elementary) and principal (Johnson Elementary) at Title I schools. She was principal at one of Georgia’s highest-ranked elementary schools (Britt David). She was the chief academic officer of the Muscogee County School District. Then she was principal of Pacelli and now president of St. Anne-Pacelli, which was among the state’s eight schools to receive a National Blue Ribbon for exemplary high performance last year.

‘Setting the tone’

From that experience, Collins is adamant about this common denominator to successfully teach students, regardless of the circumstances: Educators must view all of them as God’s children.

No wonder her favorite Bible verse is Matthew 19:14, where Jesus says, “Let the children come to me.”

Here’s what such conviction sounds like when Collins counsels a struggling student:

“I want you to know that God thinks you’re the best thing He ever created,” Collins would say. “You will not feel that way every day of your life. There’s absolutely no way. But I can tell you right now, you are, and you need to believe that because He believes that.”

Collins also has learned this about students: “I’ve never met a bad child in my entire life. I’ve met children who’ve made bad choices. But, typically, the more you peel back the onion on that, the more you cry and find out that it’s from their homes.”

All of which results in an educational leadership philosophy with climate and culture as the main pillars.

“You are ultimately responsible for setting the tone of that school, the expectations,” she said. “Teachers, I love them all — they work so hard — but some of you I can love from afar. Because if you’re not there for all the right reasons that I consider the right reasons as the leader, then you’re just not a good fit for my school.”

In the classroom, that means engagement-centered learning.

“It is not the teacher standing at the front,” she said. “They are responsible for setting their goals and getting 1% better (every school day).”

When a teacher must discipline an unruly student, Collins said, “make sure that little rat tail in the corner doesn’t know I think he’s a rat tail. He’s my challenge, but I’m going to love him through it, and I only have 180 days to make them the best Mark or the best Jenny or the best Susie or Mike that they can possibly be, and I better be on every day.”

To help teachers perform at that level, Collins insists they need unwavering support.

“It is so sad that there are, in this county, some of the most wonderful people I know, and they’re educators, but they don’t have the support they need to provide that engagement-centered classroom because they’re doing discipline so much of the time, and it’s exhausting,” Collins said.

“They challenge them and provide them an environment in which they can cultivate learning. At that point, you’ve got them, man. That’s your hook. … That’s who the doctors learned from. That’s who the star athletes got encouragement from. … Until we realize that profession should be elevated to one of the highest and respected and supported, it’s going to be a challenge.”

Why Ronie Collins is retiring

“When my seniors graduate, I’ll graduate as a different type of senior,” Collins said with a laugh.

“Prayerfully, I have absolutely, positively had the most amazing experience here at Pacelli,” she said. “Coming back home and sharing my faith and giving back to a place that blessed me so much, I could stay forever.

“I think God has shown me, as I looked at my goals and what I hoped when I got here could be achieved and attainable, and as I started on the checklist and they were just coming right around, when the National Blue Ribbon was announced, … I think God just tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘OK, you’ve got the best team in the world running this school, best pastor, best teachers, parents, let it go, girl. Go play with your grandchildren.”

In retirement, she plans to move to Columbia, Tennessee, to live close to her granddaughters. She wants to get involved in their school, in a church, teach a Sunday school class and play more tennis.

“I’ve even thought about supporting foster children in DFACS,” she said.

Until then, Collins is savoring events big and small.

“I find myself to be sentimental but very much emotionally settled in being able to transition from one thing to another,” she said. “But this is going to be emotional.”

When she recently sang the Pacelli alma mater at Mass and linked arms with her fellow Vikings, Collins’ throat tightened up.

What will she miss the most?

“The children — and sharing my faith with them,” she said.

Whether it’s advising them about college or fussing at them about running by themselves around town or praying with them after daddy yelled at them because they got a speeding ticket, Collins cherishes milking meaning out of otherwise throwaway moments when she encounters students on campus.

Her impact

Roger Beck, chairman of the St. Anne-Pacelli board, considers Collins “probably the best hire” in his 23 years associated with the school.

“She’s led an amazing turnaround,” he told the Ledger-Enquirer.

Since she became Pacelli principal in 2015 and St. Anne-Pacelli president in 2016, the school’s progress the past nine years includes:

• Growing enrollment from 639 to 867.

• Raising $7 million in a capital campaign with the church for campus-wide improvements and additions, such as installation of an artificial turf field and expansion of the preschool.

• Initiating the Beck Center for Academic and Athletic Success in the former KIA Autosport building. The center, which opened in July, provides space for academic testing and studying as well as indoor practice for athletics. The Vikings won the school’s first football state championship in 2022 and their first boys and girls basketball state titles this year.

• Securing $20 million in grant funding for curriculum, technology and campus enhancements, such as a science lab constructed in 2019.

• Expanding the dual enrollment program for students to earn college credit while still in high school.

• Providing each student in grades 5-12 with a Chromebook.

• Becoming a certified AP Capstone School in 2018-19.

• Outperforming all national norms in all subject areas at all grade levels in 2021-22, according to the Northwest Evaluation Association.

“I doubt much of this would have happened without Ronie,” Beck said. Then he explained why.

“She lets everyone express their opinion, and she treats everyone with respect,” he said. “… She can truly paint the picture and make you see the importance of the task.”

Pacelli social studies teacher Hollie Queener, who has been at the school for all nine years with Collins, called working with her a blessing.

“She has inspired many educators,” Queener told the L-E. “She embraces our ideas. … She encourages us to try new things in the classroom, to be collaborative, to step outside of our comfort zones. Having worked for many other principals, sometimes that’s not encouraged. It’s something I think she really values. She trusts her staff.”

Pacelli senior Sara Grace Callahan described Collins as one of the most caring people at the school.

“When she started, immediately I just recognized her heart and her love for this school and the students here,” Sara Grace told the L-E. “There are so many times I’m walking in the hallways that I see Ms. Collins, and she’s always dancing or just having the biggest blast. It’s just so sweet to have her around. I truly love having her here.”

Sara Grace, who has attended St. Anne-Pacelli for 15 years, appreciates hearing Collins holler, “It’s a great day to be a Viking!”

“I feel like, when Ronie Collins came, she made this place a community,” Sara Grace said. “She made it a family, and she’s always been that motherly love for this place that makes being a Viking something to be proud of, something that’s just familiar and just so loving.”

‘God’s hand’

Asked whether she has any regrets about her career, Collins said no, but she does recall some tough days, such as trying to help an abused child — or dealing with the controversy surrounding her promotion from Britt David principal to MCSD chief academic officer in 2012.

By a 5-4 vote, the MCSD board approved then-superintendent Susan Andrews’ recommendation to appoint Collins over Karon Greyer, who then was the district’s elementary education director but retired after she didn’t get the job.

Without that faith Andrews placed in her, Collins believes, she wouldn’t have had the experience necessary to be the candidate St. Anne-Pacelli sought three years later.

“As I look back, I see God’s hand,” she said. “I didn’t want to leave Britt David. … I didn’t apply for that job. Susan Andrews came to the school. … I didn’t have any high school experience. … She was like, ‘I want you to have the job.’ … Those kinds of things show me that, ‘Hey, call me in, God. Whatcha got next? I trust Ya.’”

The best moment of her career, Collins said, came when a previously non-Catholic student at St. Anne-Pacelli asked her to sponsor their baptism.

“To see a young child choosing our faith, and then the parent decided to become Catholic, it’s just precious,” she said.

The Very Rev. Scott Winchel, pastor of St. Anne, told the Ledger-Enquirer there are no plans to hire somebody to replace Collins as school president. The upper-school and lower-school principals and assistant principals will combine to fill the void as a team.

“She has given them great tools to lead without her being at the helm,” he said. “… She has set us on a wonderful course.”