Nearly 200 Catholic and private school educators from Santa Barbara County and Ventura County convened at Bishop Garcia Diego High School in Santa Barbara Sept. 20 for a workshop on private school law, and to share innovative teaching strategies with their colleagues.

Sponsored by the six Catholic high schools in the Santa Barbara Region of the archdiocese of Los Angeles, the day found elementary and junior high school administrators and faculty teaming with secondary educators for a briefing on school law presented by nationally acclaimed expert Sister of Charity of Nazareth Mary Angela Shaughnessy, an educator, administrator, special legal counsel and executive director of the Educational Law Institute at Spalding, and author of more than 20 books.

Topics addressed included legal and ethical issues in Catholic schools including teacher-student relations; teacher professional expectations; general liability issues; copyright issues; reporting of child abuse; and responsibilities of record keeping and communications. In the afternoon, sessions were devoted to academic department networking with colleagues and presentations of innovative teaching strategies.

Participating high schools included Bishop Garcia Diego; St. Joseph, Santa Maria; Villanova Prep, Ojai; St. Bonaventure, Ventura; Santa Clara, Oxnard; and La Reina, Thousand Oaks. Santa Barbara area elementary and junior high schools include St. Raphael, Notre Dame, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Marymount. Also attending were representatives from St. Louis de Montfort and St. Mary schools in Santa Maria and La Purisima School in Lompoc.