More and more, leaders of Catholic schools are wearing ties instead of collars.
As the number of qualified priests, nuns and religious officials is decreasing across the nation, lay people are stepping in.
At Monte Cassino School, a prekindergarten through eighth grade school operated by the Benedictine Sisters, and at Cascia Hall, a middle and high school operated by the Order of St. Augustine, leadership roles changed this school year.
Both schools had religious leaders as either school director or headmaster and now have divided the duties with a lay person handling administration duties and a nun or priest leading the school's mission or religious direction.
The Rev. John Sotak, who worked at Cascia Hall for six years until 2000, came back to the school this August to serve as director of Augustinian missions and school chaplain alongside new headmaster Roger Carter.
"We have been looking at this model for a number of years because of the lower number of Augustinians," Sotak said. "Setting a standard of what is going to happen to our schools more and more."
Matt Vereeke took over as school director at Monte Cassino after Sister Mary Clare Buthod held the position for three decades.
"I'm not a Benedictine sister. As much as I love that philosophy, I still need someone to stand by my side," Vereeke said.
Sister Julia Roy is now director of mission integration at Monte Cassino and works with administrators and faculty to bring Benedictine values into classrooms, said Benedictine Prioress Sister Christine Ereiser.
Diane Murphy, chairwoman of Monte Cassino's school board, said finding a religious leader for a school is becoming more difficult.
"They are few and far between, and there are a lot of schools looking," Murphy said. "We were grateful that most of the people who came to us had the experience, but were lay people."
At Bishop Kelley, a Catholic high school owned by the Diocese of Tulsa, the opposite happened a few years ago when a priest was appointed as president. He was the first priest to hold that position in the school's history.
For more than 40 years a priest led the school until the first lay president/principal in 2002. The Rev. Brian O'Brien, who had taught at Bishop Kelley for four years before entering the priesthood, is now president at Bishop Kelley, with three people taking on some of the principal's administrative duties.
O'Brien said Bishop Kelley's case is special because he had the educational background as well as the religious training to serve as the school's leader. That's not the case at many Catholic schools across the country.
"It comes down to numbers," he said. "Back in the '60s, the number of priests, sisters and brothers was huge. There were enough to go around. It's not that way anymore."
At Monte Cassino, Murphy said it's been refreshing having someone outside of the sisterhood taking a leadership role at the school.
"We can use that to improve our product. It's the same, but it's different," she said, and there's been an unexpected benefit to having Vereeke as the new school director.
"The sisters now have become more involved to support the Benedictine sisterhood. Now we have a lay person, we think we can't lose this," said Murphy, who added that the sisters have now become active in classes and after-school activities.
Those filling these positions also said there are advantages to sharing the administrative and religious aspects of school leadership.
"I don't have to worry about the day-to-day nitty gritty," Sotak said. "It seems a better use of our resources. One of the benefits is you have different perspectives on things."
Carter, who has taught or been an administrator at Cascia since 1990, said it's important to him that the core values of the school stay intact even though he is a lay person.
"This is an Augustinian school. That's what attracted me to the job. They are the ones I see myself working for," he said. "That's our real purpose, it's a mission."