Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Anger and sadness over school closings (end of an era)
Philadelphia Daily News ^ | 10/10/2009 | JOHN BARNED-SMITH & VALERIA RUSS

Posted on 10/10/2009 11:39:10 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen

THE DAY after the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced plans to close two of the city's storied Catholic high schools - Northeast Catholic and Cardinal Dougherty - livid parents and crestfallen students protested the decision. Hundreds of students from Northeast Catholic, commonly called North Catholic, blew air horns and yelled outside the school last night in exuberant defiance of the archdiocesan decree to close the schools at the end of the school year.

(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: catholicschools; philadelphia; theend
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

1 posted on 10/10/2009 11:39:10 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen; Tribune7; TAdams8591; WhyisaTexasgirlinPA; wireman; Mr. Binnacle; brityank; ...


**** Philly Metro/Delaware Valley Ping ****




2 posted on 10/10/2009 11:45:59 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen (Keep your socialized health care off my body !!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

Don’t worry. They will build a new school in the image of comrade Barack.


3 posted on 10/10/2009 11:46:33 AM PDT by Soothesayer (The United States of America Rest in Peace November 4 2008)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Soothesayer

Not this type of school. These schools cost a lot of money to keep operating. In the past, I would bet they had a waiting line to get in there and kids, most likely, had to take an entrance exam to get in. The inner city kids can’t afford these schools any longer and the church can’t afford to keep them open. Education isn’t free. You’ll likely see more of them closing down.


4 posted on 10/10/2009 11:55:59 AM PDT by RC2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

A mosque soon to follow. Welkome to the new America “May allah BARAKA be praised”!


5 posted on 10/10/2009 12:10:31 PM PDT by crazydad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: crazydad

Hey, in NYC TAXPAYERS are FUNDING an Islamic school!

No kidding!

This is awful ... - closing of this school.


6 posted on 10/10/2009 12:18:11 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

From the Web site of the new $65,000,000 high school in Royersford: http://www.pjphs.org/node/118

“The tuition for an individual student attending Pope John Paul II High School in 2010-2011 will be one thousand dollars above the basic diocesan high school tuition.”


7 posted on 10/10/2009 12:18:30 PM PDT by LibFreeOrDie (Obama promised a gold mine, but will give us the shaft.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

The catholic church didn’t and has never provided anything past the eighth grade elementary school in Middle Bucks County outside the city. They cared even less about the ‘burbs than the city for decades before today.

Kids abandoned the catholic system and enrolled in public school when the oldest hit ninth grade and would’ve had to go to a not so good HS in lower Bucks. Then the rest of their siblings followed about one every two weeks. Takes awhile for big families.

The school in lower Bucks was Archbishop Wood, separate buildings for boys and girls and not in a great area.

The two famous graduates from that HS are Terry and Michael Schiavo.


8 posted on 10/10/2009 12:23:27 PM PDT by Eagles2003
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

Excerpt:

...

“The Archdiocese said declining enrollments with students in “half-empty” buildings were the reasons Dougherty and North Catholic would be closed.”

...

North Catholic, ...

capacity ~ 1,700 students, has 551 enrolled

Dougherty ... c

apacity ~ 2,000 students, has 642 enrolled

The people have spoken. Enrollment is DOWN.

So sad.


9 posted on 10/10/2009 12:23:57 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Owl_Eagle; brityank; Physicist; WhyisaTexasgirlinPA; GOPJ; abner; baseballmom; Mo1; Ciexyz; ...

ping


10 posted on 10/10/2009 12:28:38 PM PDT by Tribune7 (I am Joe Wilson!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: RC2

The main reason that was reported for these schools closing is the success of the city’s charter schools, in which parents don’t have to pay — beyond their taxes — to have their children educated, and the kids are not subjected to the horrors of the district-run schools which is why a lot of non-Catholics enrolled at North Catholic and Dougherty.

The lesson to be taken is to eliminate the Philadelphia Public School System and make every school a charter school.


11 posted on 10/10/2009 12:32:41 PM PDT by Tribune7 (I am Joe Wilson!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen

Sad, sad, sad.

The country was so much better when all Catholic kids could go to Catholic schools which their parents could afford.

Alas, those days are gone forever.


12 posted on 10/10/2009 12:35:09 PM PDT by Palladin (ACORN is a criminal enterprise.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kid Shelleen
A sign of the times unfortunately. Several years ago my alma mater, Bishop Neumann, was merged with Goretti. Like most inner city Catholic schools the enrollment is declining too fast to keep the schools open. North Catholic and Dougherty each had enrollments in the thousands 20 years ago, now they are lucky to get 600 - 1,000 combined.
13 posted on 10/10/2009 12:37:01 PM PDT by JrsyJack (There's a little Jim Thompson in all of us)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibFreeOrDie

Nice new school. Too bad only the very rich can afford it.


14 posted on 10/10/2009 12:37:18 PM PDT by Palladin (ACORN is a criminal enterprise.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Tribune7
They used to be two of the best schools for football/basketball recruiting.
Ohhhh sorry, that's right, they never recruited.
15 posted on 10/10/2009 1:00:19 PM PDT by AGreatPer (Impeach Obama)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Eagles2003
All our children worked to pay for their own tuition at Catholic High School except for our youngest.When she got old enough we had the money to cover it..We had 6 children.The last one went to a private Catholic Academy in Lower Bucks.Shame to see the schools close down.Many memories for us.
16 posted on 10/10/2009 1:05:28 PM PDT by fatima (Free Hugs Today :))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: fatima

Catholic school tuition was free when the kids I’m talking about eagerly left.

Transportation was a $$ problem, they finally got some state aid to help out with that.


17 posted on 10/10/2009 1:18:36 PM PDT by Eagles2003
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Eagles2003

Catholic school tuition in lower Bucks was free?Even when I went to Catholic High School in the city we had tuition.When my last kids were going it was up to over 2,000.00 a year.Yes the buses are expensive also.


18 posted on 10/10/2009 1:51:49 PM PDT by fatima (Free Hugs Today :))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: fatima

I didn’t go to any catholic school, my mother did and kept me out of the catholic system.

I don’t think they started asking for tuition until the early ‘70s. They did expect parents to fill the “envelopes” on Sunday. Not sure it was a requirement. That would be backdoor tuition though.

He77, they couldn’t even provide Sunday School for about 3 years when I was a kid. I was in Central Bucks, we rarely ventured to Lower Bucks and didn’t even play football against even the public schools from down there when I was a kid.

The church did not GARA about the county. I can’t even tell you if there was a church between Doylestown and Bethlehem, and I sure don’t remember and football teams.

I know the people from Sell-Perk were assigned to Lansdale Catholic.


19 posted on 10/10/2009 2:35:03 PM PDT by Eagles2003
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Eagles2003
The church did not GARA about the county. I can’t even tell you if there was a church between Doylestown and Bethlehem, and I sure don’t remember and football teams.

Sounds like they didn't care about the church, either.

And how is blowing air horns outside the school supposed to do to pay for half-empty schools?

20 posted on 10/10/2009 3:36:46 PM PDT by Gondring (Paul Revere would have been flamed as a naysayer troll and told to go back to Boston.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-26 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson