"I think he's going to have a very positive impact on the future and growth of the school," said Elaine Luksus, director of development and community relations at Holy Spirit School. "He's very dynamic and has great ideas."

Those ideas include a new in-parish tuition rate and a discounted tuition rate for families with multiple children at the school for the 2004­05 school year, a new pre-kindergarten program, the announcement of an endowed scholarship and a focus on computers and technology in the school.

While all other diocese schools in San Jose already offer such tuition discounts, Holy Spirit currently does not. The new annual in-parish tuition for one student is $4,995, while full tuition is $6,500, with reductions of 10 and 15 percent for a second or more siblings, respectively. With the discounted in-parish tuition, though, comes a bigger commitment from the parishioners in the form of higher expectations in volunteering and weekly donations.

As a collaborative effort between the school and the parish, McGuire also established a new pre-kindergarten program for 4-year-olds that will open this fall. Months before he arrived at Holy Spirit, McGuire worked with Luksus and her team of parent volunteers to create marketing materials for the new class and for the discounted tuition rates.

Most recently, on Feb. 15, McGuire announced the establishment of the Rev. Tom Murray Scholarship Endowment Fund. Murray, the founding pastor of Holy Spirit, died in 2002, and his will was executed recently. In it, he left a large sum of money to the school, and McGuire hopes to award at least one scholarship each year in Murray's honor.

"We're going to ask people to contribute to that fund so we can give out more than one scholarship," said McGuire. "My hope is that we'll get that up to 10 every year. Everybody is ecstatic about that."

McGuire, who comes to Holy Spirit with a high-tech background, plans to put computers and technology to use in the classroom.

"I believe in the use of technology in education and integrating that technology into the classroom," McGuire said. "Computers today are about helping children get information... and the computer is just a tool in that learning process."

To that end, McGuire led a panel discussion on Feb. 14 at an in-service seminar for teachers throughout the diocese titled "How do we integrate technology into the classroom curriculum?"

"It'll be interesting to see what our teachers and principals think," said McGuire. "I believe in it wholeheartedly."

At Holy Spirit School, McGuire intends to provide individual laptops for students "in the most appropriate way possible and as fast as possible," he said. This is something he was able to do at St. Lawrence Academy.

Computers are already a common sight within Holy Spirit School, with 90 computers on campus—several in every classroom and more in the computer lab—but McGuire insists that walking children down the hall to a lab is inefficient.

"When you think of children today with computers, or anything electronic, they know it instinctively," he said with a snap of his fingers. "In a sense, they're natives to the digital age, whereas you and I are the ones who are immigrants. We're the ones who have to learn it. They already know it.

"Then we tell them, 'Now we're going to teach you our way.' Well, should we be surprised when they say they get bored?" he asked.

McGuire says that when a school pairs students with computers, it creates a new, dynamic learning environment, because computers offer individualized learning for all students, taking into account their particular needs. For example, a brilliant student and a struggling student can each learn at his own pace using software that adapts to the student's capabilities.

"Remember, the computer is just a tool in the learning experience," McGuire said. "The teacher, instead of being the dispenser of information, can become the facilitator of learning information."

In the next few months, McGuire will assemble a committee of parents and teachers to examine the need for computers at Holy Spirit School.

"And I will push for it," promised McGuire. "We're in Silicon Valley. If we can't do it—and we're a brand new school—then who do we expect to do it?"