PROVIDENCE – Following trends in dioceses throughout the country, Rhode Island's Catholic schools are expecting some substantial changes in the coming year that will alter the face of education in several cities.
The Catholic Schools Office made a series of announcements last week involving four Catholic schools:
• St. Leo the Great parish school in Pawtucket will close at the end of this school year.
• Despite a challenging year, St. Kevin School in Warwick will remain open for the 2008-2009 school year.
• Father Holland School in Pascoag will remain open but will no longer be a part of the Greater Woonsocket Regional Catholic School System. Instead, it will become the parish school at St. Joseph. The school will keep its current name.
• Cranston Johnston Catholic Regional School plans to sell its current property and build a new, state-of-the-art building on property adjacent to Immaculate Conception Church in Cranston. The school will become the Immaculate Conception Catholic Regional School and will be under the direction of that parish.
The announcements appear to reflect the economic and demographic shifts that the entire state is facing. Sheila Durante, superintendent of diocesan schools, said the changes are a response to pressures that the schools and her office have been feeling for several years, as well as a statewide economic downturn that does not seem to be showing any signs of letting up.
"What we're trying to do is plan for the future," Durante said. "We know that certainly the demographic situation is changing in the state and we are very cognizant of the fact that economics are playing a large role in the ability of people to send children to Catholic schools, so we are looking at all sorts of alternative models."
St. Leo the Great School
Last Thursday Lisa Lepore, the principal of St. Leo the Great school, had the sad task of informing faculty, staff, students and parents that the school will close at the end of this school year. It was a "very emotional day, a very sad day," she said. Late in the afternoon, she was still in her office with several staff members wrestling with what message to put on the sign outside the school. The sign usually bears good news and informs passersby about upcoming events, but the burden of the latest news seemed like too much for the sign to hold.
"I want to do something positive," Lepore said. "We have to give these kids a great sendoff, as painful as that is."
Eventually they settled on a simple thank you: "Thank you for being a part of our family."
Durante, as well as St. Leo’s pastor, Father Kevin R. Fisette, and Lepore, cited the city's changing demographics and today's economic challenges as ultimately forcing the school's closure. "We have been working for over a year with them and trying to see what the possibilities could be," Durante said. "Financially, it just didn't work out." Eventually Father Fisette asked the diocese for permission to close the school, which was granted by Bishop Tobin.
The rising cost of education at St. Leo and other Catholic schools has become prohibitive to many parents who would like to send their children to Catholic schools, Father Fisette said. “Even my own parishioners can’t afford it. They have as much of a right to a Catholic education as the kids in the suburbs.”
Lepore said she has watched her students’ parents struggle for years to meet the rising tuition costs at St. Leo. “Some of my parents were in tears. They said to me, ‘I just can’t do it, I?want my child to stay here but I just can’t do it,’” she said.
St. Leo is currently home to 172 students in grades K-8. Lepore spoke to the students in fourth grade and above, but left the news for parents to tell the younger children. A letter was sent home with every student.
The closing is not a complete shock to the St. Leo community. The school held a meeting in December for parents to discuss the uncertain situation. Lepore and Father Fisette both said that may have done more harm than good. "Parents got frightened at the meeting and panicked," she said. "But, I can't blame them because they looked elsewhere." As of the Catholic Schools Office's deadline for enrollment, Lepore reported 92 registered students for the next school year, far short of their goal of 165.
Following the closure of St. Leo, the city will continue to be served by Woodlawn Catholic Regional School, St. Mary School and St. Cecilia School, as well as St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Academy in nearby Central Falls. In the letter sent home to parents, school officials made assurances that “every effort would be made to place their children at other Catholic schools.” The school will host an open house for parents on Tuesday, March 25 at 6:30 p.m. when area Catholic schools will present their programs and offer the St. Leo students placement.
Lepore said many on her staff of 22 have been working and teaching at St. Leo for more than ten years. She started there as a teacher 23 years ago, and has been principal for the past seven. "You kind of know these people better than you know your own family," she said. "This is my home. My whole adult career has been here."
Lepore, like the teachers, is not sure what her future will hold. The Catholic Schools office has promised to give them priority placement in any jobs that open up throughout the diocese for the next school year, but it is still too early to know just where those openings will be, or whether there will be enough for every teacher who wants to continue working in the Catholic system.
Bishop Thomas J. Tobin expressed his gratitude yesterday for the 67 years of Catholic education that St. Leo School has provided the Pawtucket community. “I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all those at St. Leo’s Parish who have worked hard and made tremendous sacrifices to provide Catholic education for so many years,” he said.
Father Holland School
Increasing tuition and falling enrollment are also behind the decision to remove the Father Holland School from the Greater Woonsocket Regional Catholic School System and convert it to a school at St. Joseph parish in Pascoag. It no longer made sense for the struggling school to be part of a system based in Woonsocket; they were too far away and too different from other schools in the city, explained Father Clifford Cabral. The system includes Good Shepard School, Monsignor Gadoury School and Our Lady of Victories School, all in Woonsocket. Their mission statement invites visitors to “think of us as one school with four campuses.” But with three of those campuses in downtown Woonsocket and one in more rural Pascoag, the system may have been stretched too far.
“Logistically, it was a move on their part to consolidate,” said Shawn Capron, the school’s principal.
In her mind, the change reflects fundamental differences. "They really were fantastic to work with and to work for, but they were Woonsocket and we were Burrillville – the identities are a little bit different," she said.
Last January, according to Bridget Gieseke, development director of the four schools, the board of directors had voted to close Father Holland, based solely on enrollment numbers. Following the vote, however, the school and involved parents made an aggressive effort, resulting in a sharp increase in enrollment.
Father Cabral is thrilled that his parish will soon have its own school. “I’ve always wanted to have that school back as a parish school,” he said. “I’m especially happy for the late Father Holland, who built that school. He was very proud of it and I’ve become very proud of it, too.”
Father Cabral said that for next year, at least, tuition will not increase, which will come as a great relief to parents, who have dealt with large tuition increases over the past several years. “In the future, I hope, we’ll only raise it modestly,” he said. Between the last school year and this one tuition was raised by $400 to a total of more than $4,000 per student each year. The tuition increases were made by the Greater Woonsocket Regional Catholic School System as a whole, not the individual school. Father Cabral noted that the financial aspect of running the school will be a challenge, “Catholic schools are not cheap to run.” But, the school will not be a drain on the parish’s finances. “We will not be spending any more money on the school than we are already,” he said.
Currently, Capron estimated hat about 65 percent of the school’s students are parishioners at St. Joseph, a number that she hopes will increase. “As a parish school there may be some more people who feel more comfortable,” she said, noting that 146 students are already registered for the next school year.
Cranston Johnston Catholic Regional School
Students at Cranston Johnston Catholic Regional School will soon have a state-of-the-art school building, and a new name. When the new school opens – it is scheduled to be complete for the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year – "Immaculate Conception parish will assume the responsibility in all areas...the physical responsibility and the spiritual responsibility," Father Brassard, the pastor at Immaculate Conception, said.
The decision to build a completely new facility was a result of a number of expensive repairs and upgrades that the current building needs. Those involved with the school decided that selling the existing property and putting the proceeds toward a more up-to-date school made the most financial sense.
The new school will be able to accommodate 325 students in grades Pre-K-8. Grades 6-8, as well as Pre-K, will have two classrooms each, and the other grades will each have one class. The entire school will have wireless internet access. Many extracurricular programs will get a boost from the new facility, which will include a library/media center, a gymnasium, a 200-seat theater, art galleries and an art studio.
“Our programs are very much going to expand. It will be a place where the arts and sports are treated with equal importance and will be partners in education with the classroom work,” Father Brassard said. He added that the facilities for sports and arts will hopefully allow the school to run summer programs as well.
In deciding to accompany the new school building with a new administrative model as Immaculate Conception’s parish school, school officials hope that the school will be able to continue its strong presence in the area. “It’s being planned as a financially independent entity,” Father Brassard said. He said that his parishioners have been “extraordinarily supportive” of the idea.
St Kevin School
For the community at St. Kevin School in Warwick, the shifting demographics of the city, coupled with the rising costs of running a school, caused a particularly chaotic year. Last fall, the future was left uncertain when a proposed plan to reconfigure three of Warwick's Catholic elementary schools and turn St. Kevin into a middle school run by Bishop Hendricken High School fell through.
As St. Kevin struggled with declining enrollment and rising operational costs, it was clear that keeping the school open would be a feat. But Father David E. Green, pastor at St. Kevin, said the school and parish community rallied around the struggling school and their hard work has enabled it to remain open.
"The rallying of the support was tremendous. The work they've done is tremendous," he said. Five separate committees have formed to address problems of enrollment, debt and funding. "When the proposal was dropped, we were left looking at quite a bit of debt in the parish and a high subsidy," Father Green said. The parish began a capital campaign to raise money and the committees have also worked on a variety of other approaches to keep the school viable. Those include increased fundraising and recruitment as well as corporate sponsorship and business partners to make donations toward the school's operational costs.
Father Green hopes that the official announcement that the school is remaining open will help boost enrollment for next year. The rumor mill in Warwick has been working overtime this school year as other Catholic schools face difficulties, and even public schools in Warwick could be closed because of low enrollment. “The word around town is St. Kevin is in trouble, they’re closing,” Father Green said, but he hopes to spread the word that “we stand a chance.”
Registration will continue through the summer. “We’re hoping now that the definite word is out [that we’re staying open] that people who are undecided will decide,” he said.
He acknowledged, though, that the economy does not seem to be on the side of Catholic education lately. “We’re victims of the economy as well... and parents are victims of the economy. They can’t afford the extra that we need to pay, the extra that is being charged for everything from fuel on down to schoolbooks,” Father Green said.
But, he added, the benefits of Catholic education outweigh the costs. “It’s a good environment for their children to learn. When the kids have a chance to go to a religious class everyday it just reinforces everything... The Catholic school kids seem to know their prayers better, they know what to do when they’re in confession. They have a little more intense training.”
For Durante, the mixed news about the Catholic schools is further proof that Rhode Island is a state that cannot be pigeonholed. What works in one city or town, she has found and these four cases prove, many not work in another. "I don't think you can look at a big plan because the schools are all different and the geographic places where they are all different," she said. "We talk about everything as challenges instead of problems.”
