Turmoil follows school firings - Archmere Academy

National Catholic Reporter, May 11, 2001 by Margot Patterson

Delaware prep school officials reinstated after groundswell of support

Archmere Academy, an elite Catholic preparatory school located on a palatial 38-acre estate in Claymont, Del., was in turmoil at the end of April when a corporate executive committee of three Norbertine priests sacked the school's top four administrators. Two of the officials fired were Norbertines.

The high drama that ensued featured a whiff of palace intrigue with a touch of opera bouffe. Two candlelight vigils protesting the dismissals brought hundreds of students, parents and alumni to the campus, where they paraded through the school grounds reciting the rosary and singing hymns. Sen. Joseph Biden Jr., D-Del., and other alums appealed to Norbertine officials in Rome.

Archmere Academy, a preparatory high school located outside Wilmington, Del., is one of the area's preeminent Catholic schools. Tuition is $12,800 a year.

Frs. Robert Kelly, John Logan and James Bagnato's dismissal of the four administrators appears to have sprung from tensions within the Norbertine community based at Archmere. The outcry that followed prompted the abbot general in Rome, Fr. Hermenegild Noyens, to fly to the states to meet with Norbertines in Delaware and nearby Pennsylvania.

Within 24 hours of the abbot general's arrival, a news release announced the resignation of Kelly as prior of the community in Claymont and the appointment of Fr. Thomas DeWayne, abbot of St. Norbert Abbey in DePere, Wis., as the new administrator of the Delaware Norbertines.

DeWayne promptly reinstated the fired school officials and apologized for the trauma caused to the school community by the firings.

The Norbertines, also called Premonstratensians, are an order of priests and monks that stress community and collegiality and which was founded by St. Norbert in the early 12th century. In 1893, a Norbertine from Holland established an abbey in DePere where the order now operates St. Joseph Priory and St. Norbert College. In 1932, a small group of Norbertines opened Archmere Academy after paying $300,000 for the country estate of John J. Raskob, a successful financier who served as chairman of the board of General Motors and vice president of the DuPont Company. Raskob and his wife, Helena, founded the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities, which since 1945 has given over $100 million to the works of the Roman Catholic church around the world.

Between 1916 and 1918, the Raskobs built an Italian Renaissance mansion for themselves and their 12 children called The Patio and a servants' quarters called Manor Hall. The Patio and Manor Hall served as the original school buildings for the academy, which over the years developed from an all-male institution to a coeducational preparatory school with 480 students enrolled this year.

On April 23, students and faculty at Archmere Academy learned of the ouster of Fr. Timothy Mullen, headmaster of Archmere Academy; Nancy Cooper, dean of studies; Fr. Michael Collins, dean of student life; and Tom Mallon, director of development. Kelly, Logan and Bagnato -- members of an executive committee that administers the corporation that owns the academy -- assumed those positions themselves.

A fourth Norbertine, Fr. Paul DeAntoniis, was later appointed to serve as academic dean.

Three days before, on April 19, Kelly sent one-sentence certified letters to executive officers of the Archmere Alumni Council dissolving the Alumni Association.

Kelly and the other two priests vested with authority over both Archmere Academy and the nearby Norbertine priory complained that the Alumni Association had posted items on the Alumni Association Web site without permission of the Norbertine Fathers.

At a meeting with parents on April 24, Kelly said the dismissals of Archmere's top administrators was intended to strengthen the Norbertines' presence at the academy and occurred in response to a letter sent to the abbot general in Rome. He said the action was taken on the advice of the Norbertines' business consultant, Mike Russo, a former member of the Archmere Academy board of trustees.

Students protested the firings by walking out of classes when they heard the news April 23. The faculty joined them in protesting the dismissals. By that evening different constituencies in the school community had rallied around to form a Committee To Save Archmere and threatened legal action.

Tom Grimm, a spokesman for the parents' group participating in the Committee to Save Archmere, said the goal of the committee was to "restore control of Archmere into the hands of Norbertine priests who put the education of our children above their own personal agendas."

Grimm said the meeting between the new academy administrators and parents on April 24 failed to offer a satisfactory explanation for the firings. Grimm said that Kelly, Logan and Bagnato were virtually unknown to the Archmere community before they declared themselves in charge of the school.

More protests at the school followed. The school's alumni council set up an alternate Web site to coordinate strategy and to inform alumni around the world of developing events. Carmen Franceschino, president of the Alumni Association, estimated a few hundred people came to campus for the first vigil, and between 700 and 800 people attended a second.