06-2016-Thomas-Casey-FSCExecutive Director Emeritus
The De La Salle School – Freeport, NY

After 14 years as the founding Executive Director of The De La Salle School, Brother Thomas P. Casey, FSC, has announced that he is entering a sabbatical year as of 1 July 2016, and that Associate Executive Director William L. Gault has been appointed as his successor. Brother Thomas will take the opportunity to study and travel, and plans to keep in close touch with The De La Salle School.

Under the direction of Brother Thomas, The De La Salle School has grown from the first class of eleven 5th grade students in 2002, to sixty-four young men in grades 5 through 8 this year, with 133 alumni, including, this past year, the school’s first college graduates.

Always the educator, Brother Thomas announced his intention to the students through his weekly “Word of the Week” presentation during the school’s morning assembly on May 4, 2016; the word was “sabbatical”. Brother Thomas brought the students through the English and Spanish names of the week, and their Latin and Teutonic origins. He focused on “sábado,” (Saturday), and noted its origins in the Hebrew word “sabbath”, and its designation as a day of rest and prayer. “According to the creation account in the Book of Genesis, what did God do on the last day of the week?” Brother Thomas asked the students. Hands shot up through the rows. “He rested.” For the next year, Brother Thomas told the students, he, too, will spend some time resting.

A Christian Brother for more than 40 years, fellow Brothers conveyed fond memories of Thomas during his milestone Jubilee celebration in 2013, summarized in a presentation by Br. Dennis Lee, FSC

“When he applied for Final Vows, our community then wrote, in part, ‘Thomas witnesses what he believes,'” recounted Br. Dennis. “He thinks for himself, lets his thoughts be known, and can stand alone when he must. A Brother who stands with the powerless, the dispossessed, the broken and the alien­ated. By his very being, he is a witness to the Good News of the gospel of Jesus.”

Brother Thomas was honored at the school’s 14th Annual Spring Gala on Friday, June 3,  2016. Students, current and former, had plenty of their own fond memories to share as well, in a touching “Thank You” video for their Brother.