2023 De La Salle Award: Mr. Jeff Pratt
Vice Principal and Dean of Students named 2023 De La Salle Award Winner!
The De La Salle Award is presented each year to a member of the Bishop Kelley faculty or staff who particularly exemplifies the qualities and characteristics of Saint John Baptist De La Salle, founder of the Christian Brothers and patron of all Christian teachers.
Candidates considered for this award are known to have
- witnessed to Gospel values and principles and
- exhibited the spirit of faith and zeal characterized in the life of Saint John Baptist De La Salle.
Mr. Pratt has been a member of the Bishop Kelley Community for over 20 years. After spending 11 years teaching middle school science and having completed his Master’s degree in Educational Administration, he was encouraged by his friend at church, who was a BK employee at the time, to apply for an open position at Bishop Kelley when the friend saw his patient and effective way of negotiating a sale with a street vendor.
Certainly, that relational knack is still in the wheelhouse of this year’s winner as he balances care for students with simultaneously providing them clear direction in times of personal difficulty. He encourages but is not afraid to direct.
When our President, Sister Mary Hanah Doak, RSM, recently asked Mr. Pratt what has kept him at Bishop Kelley for so long, he replied, with a gentle note of affection in his voice and visible on his face, that it is the students. As his peers on the faculty have noted, there are some students who simply can only make it through a Bishop Kelley education with his help.
Mr. Pratt is a hallmark of stability for the school as he welcomes students in the hallways, calls them in for dress code checks, manages drug testing, navigates disciplinary situations, assists teachers, cares year-round for the plants in the STC, and wizzes past all of us on his golf cart.
Mr. Pratt converted to the Catholic Faith after teaching at BK for seven years and takes Saint John Baptist De La Salle as his personal model of Christian holiness.
Anyone who is in meetings with Mr. Pratt knows that he carries his purple book of De La Salle’s Meditations ready to lead a prayer at any moment. He recently shared that he looks to Saint John Baptist De La Salle as the perfect example of a Dean of Students. Principal Jim Franz summarized Mr. Pratt's giftedness by saying, “In my thirty-five years as a Catholic school administrator, I have never worked with a Dean of Students who can balance realistic discipline, nurturing direction, and student encouragement better than Jeff Pratt.”
Congratulations, Mr. Pratt!
