A Maryland educator with deep roots in Jesuit education and nearly two decades of public school leadership has been chosen to lead one of the state’s largest school systems. The Baltimore County Board of Education voted 8-1, with two members abstaining, on June 24 to appoint Dr. William “Bill” Heiser as the district’s next superintendent. His four-year term begins July 1.

Heiser succeeds Dr. Myriam Rogers, who is retiring after her tenure at the helm of Baltimore County Public Schools. The district has cycled through four superintendents and one interim leader over the past decade, making continuity a priority for the board as it conducted a nationwide search through the firm Ray and Associates. The appointment was subsequently approved by Maryland State Superintendent Dr. Carey Wright.

A Career Rooted in Catholic and Public Education

Heiser’s professional biography is unusual in that it bridges the Catholic and public school worlds. From 2015 to 2023, he served as president of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School, the Baltimore institution that educates students from under-resourced communities through the network’s signature corporate work-study model. Before his time at Cristo Rey, he led two Maryland public high schools — serving as principal of North County High School from 2010 to 2013 and of Catonsville High School from 2013 to 2015, the same year he was named Maryland High School Principal of the Year.

Most recently, Heiser served as chief operating officer for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, a system of more than 85,000 students across 130 schools. In that role he oversaw a capital budget of $195 million — administrative experience that the Baltimore County board likely weighed heavily given the scope of a district that itself ranks among Maryland’s largest.

Heiser’s academic formation has a distinctly Ignatian character. He earned both his bachelor’s degree in sociology and his master’s degree in education from Loyola University Maryland — in 1995 and 1997 respectively — where he also spent four years on the men’s soccer team, serving as captain for three of them. He completed his doctorate in education at Morgan State University. “Loyola was pivotal in shaping who I am today as a leader,” he said publicly following his appointment.

Jesuit Education and the Formation of Leaders

For Catholic observers, Heiser’s trajectory reflects a pattern worth noting: the formation that Jesuit institutions provide does not remain within Catholic schools alone. The cura personalis — care for the whole person — and the emphasis on service that characterize Ignatian pedagogy often follow graduates and educators into secular institutions, carrying an ethos of human dignity and integral development into broader public life.

Cristo Rey schools in particular are designed to serve students who otherwise lack access to quality college-preparatory education, combining rigorous academics with professional formation through their work-study programs. That Heiser led one of those schools for eight years speaks to a commitment to educational equity that aligns with the Church’s social teaching on the universal right to education, articulated in the Second Vatican Council’s declaration Gravissimum Educationis and reaffirmed in the Catechism’s treatment of the family and state as partners in forming young people.

Leaders shaped by that mission increasingly find themselves in positions of public influence — a development consistent with Catholic social teaching’s vision of the laity animating temporal institutions with Gospel values, as described in the documents of Vatican II and in Christifideles Laici.

What Comes Next

Board member Afra Ahmed Hersi expressed enthusiasm about the appointment, saying the district is “honored to continue building our partnership under his leadership” and that the board could not be “more excited about what’s ahead for BCPS students and families.”

Heiser steps into leadership of a district that, like many large American public school systems, faces ongoing challenges around student achievement, facilities, and staffing. His background — spanning Jesuit mission-driven education, public school administration at the building level, and large-scale financial management — positions him as an administrator with cross-sector experience uncommon in urban district leadership.

His term formally begins July 1. For those interested in how Catholic educational institutions shape the leaders who go on to serve the broader common good, Heiser’s appointment offers a notable case study. Catholic educators across the country continue to make their mark on American public life well beyond the boundaries of the Church’s own schools.

Category: Education / Public Life