Blessed are they who go to Catholic schools: finances force schools to close down - Catholic Education - Cover Story

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 29, 1993 by Tim Unsworth

NCR talked to a group of remarkably articulate kids with names like Sasewich, Jan, Naughton, de los Trinos, McGrath, Blaskowski, Vassilopoulos and Kossakowski. They were all Roman Catholic; nearly half had siblings in the school; all stated that they would attend the school again and send their kids there. Only two had ambitions of a public high school and each of these had chosen an elite science and math magnet school. About half came from families of at least four kids.

"Queen's" is a well-maintained, busy school with departmentalized upper grades, special teachers in all grades and a remarkable art program that makes the school walls dance. Tuition is $1,675 ($2,500 for nonparishioners). The school is also planning an endowment fund of $2.5 million. The principal, Genee Lyons, is a former nun - a commonplace in Catholic schools. She is also a former public school principal who, after a year's sabbatical, "felt that her heart was in Catholic schools."

There is no honor roll at Queen's. It didn't bother the students nor seem to affect their high school entrance. The kids come from stable homes. Interestingly, the students faulted the school only on its efforts to get a computer program into the grades: "Hey, we can learn that ourselves in a couple of weeks. We need a better science room. Good teacher. Lousy facility."

Religion is a big factor at Queen's, as it is at all the other schools. But rote catechism is as unknown to these kids as a recipe for German sausage. They praised the school for its efforts at teaching justice and faulted their catechism-raised parents for their prejudice.

There are no black kids at Queen's because there are none in the parish. At least two kids expressed the hope that their high schools would be integrated. "Our parents are afraid that their home values would go down," one student said. "And that means that a black family's home would be toilet-papered on Halloween."

Queen's was already getting inquires from a cluster of seven parish schools that are facing a 1994 merger. Two of the seven are slated for closing and the remaining five will be combined into a regional school system. Students in grades K-5 would attend three schools; those in 6-8 would have a choice of one of two schools.

Enrollment in the seven schools has dropped by 27.5 percent in the last five years, while average tuition cost increased by 63 percent, not atypical in urban areas.

Although the archdiocese has insisted that consultation will be thorough, there is a pervasive feeling that the decision has already been made. Parish schools that are not involved are being urge - perhaps ordered - not to accept any children involved in the seven parishes for at least two years. "Without this," one close observer said, "the merger just won't work."

Office of Education research is thorough and thoughtful but it cannot ease the hurt caused at the parish level when such mergers occur. Parochial anger rises when church officials admit to spending $4 million in subsidies in 1992-93 on a seminary system that now produces only a handful of priests each year and another $2.8 million in 1993 alone on costs associated with clerical misconduct.