YOUNGSTOWN — Cardinal Mooney High School has named Thomas Maj as the school’s new president.

Maj will begin his new role for the 2020-’21 school year and has 30 years of experience as an educator and administrator.

Bishop George Murry of the Diocese of Youngstown said Maj “brings a wealth of experience to Cardinal Mooney High School, including his entrepreneurial approach to leadership that has increased enrollment, built community partnerships and strengthened development needed to continue and build the strong Catholic education tradition of Sanctity, Scholarship and Discipline at Mooney.”

Maj began his career in education as a high school teacher and served as an assistant principal, then principal, at Grand Rapids West Catholic High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

He then was promoted to president of Grand Rapids Secondary School and later continued his service as president of Toledo Central Catholic.

Maj said he is looking forward to returning to Ohio to be closer to family and also will be identifying members of the administrative team, including the principal, to serve in the upcoming school year.

The appointment of a new school president comes after the former president, Mark Oles, and former principal Mark Vollmer, abruptly left their positions in January.

Mooney CEO Richard Osborne took over duties as president after the departure of Oles and Vollmer. Mary Anne Beiting, director of accreditation and government programs for the Diocesan Office of Catholic Schools, became interim principal.

BACKGROUND

The Diocese of Youngstown on Jan. 30 announced that Oles and Vollmer were leaving immediately.

Murry and Superintendent of Schools Mary Fiala, who made the announcement, declined at that time to offer any explanation for the two school leaders’ exit.

Fiala issued this statement to The Vindicator in response to questions about it:

“We are not going to respond to specific rumors or damaging speculation about the recently announced leadership transition at Cardinal Mooney High School. But we will emphasize that no single act or concern precipitated Mark Oles and Mark Vollmer leaving their positions as president and principal, respectively,” she wrote.

“The decision to begin the leadership transition now was difficult and came after a long period of reflection. …”

“Unfortunately, we’re hearing about rumors that reflect negatively on Mr. Oles and Mr. Vollmer. Both are committed Catholic men of high moral character who believe in Cardinal Mooney and provided years of service. They are leaving on good terms and don’t deserve in any way to be the subject of such speculation.”

The family of a former Mooney male basketball player, who transferred to Ursuline High School, which is also under the direction of the Youngstown Catholic Diocese, alleged in a court complaint that the youth “was the victim of ongoing intimidation, harassment and bullying from his classmates at Cardinal Mooney.”

The suit was filed against the Ohio High School Athletic Association, the entity that oversees Ohio high school athletics, seeking an exemption from an OHSAA rule that would ban him from playing basketball for the entire season due to his transfer.