Posted on 01/06/2012 1:01:27 PM PST by SMCC1
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia plans to close four Catholic high schools and 44 elementary schools will be closed or partnered with other schools, officials told school administrators and priests at a close-door meeting at Neumann University this morning.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
This is called Deleveraging. Something the failed banks and certain other industries were not allowed to do at the behest of paid politicians. In the long run this will be a good thing.Can't argue with that, as sad as it is for the folks in these schools.
I am surprised with the loss of priests and nuns that once staffed these schools that they were able to stay open as long as they did
pParents were essentially sending their kids to Private Schools with the tuition cost that goes along with that
Most Catholic families had to make sacrifices to send their kids
When I was in catholic grade and High schools we had zero lay teachers in grade school and about 5 in HS and they were the sports team coaches
Sad news. My cousins went to Bonner and Prendie.
When I was in catholic grade and High schools we had zero lay teachers in grade school and about 5 in HS....
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Your experience sounds similar to mine. We must pray for vocations.
That’s still a lot of schools to close all at once. Here in DC, many Catholic schools closed as their congregations headed to the suburbs. The Church kept some open, at great expense, as missions to the inner city. There has recently been a major retrenchment in this area. But urban Catholic schools that have retained their paid tuition base are going strong, often as consolidations of several ancestral parish schools.
If Philly is closing 44 elementary schools at one time, it sounds like they resisted consolidation far too long.
“In the long run this will be a good thing.”
It is a horrible thing that will cost vocations, force Catholic children into the secular school system, and break parish ties that are generations old. We’re dealing with the death spiral of our own Catholic school system here in NJ, because the hierarchy won’t aggressively pursue public school relief for parents who would opt for Catholic schools. There are many other Catholic institutions that should close before schools; the effects of this down the road are being ignored.
Pastors could always press parishioners for funds to support a parish school; what resonates as strongly as that? I give time, but not money, to my Church; they’re much better off than I am financially.
“I am surprised with the loss of priests and nuns that once staffed these schools that they were able to stay open as long as they did”
Lay teachers often cost less than religious ones; the payments a parish makes to an order for staffing aren’t small.
I went to grade school in NYC some time ago - boys and girls separated. I had lay teachers for the first 5 years, Brothers for the last 2. Tuition was 0. I just checked and today it is $3800 and it is in the same building and operates on a first come, first served basis. In spite of the ‘Gov Cristies’ blasting public education, it is strong competition in many areas.
“If Philly is closing 44 elementary schools at one time, it sounds like they resisted consolidation far too long.”
They might reduce the 44 to 20; this rarely works anyway.
When I was younger my town had 5 Catholic grammar schools and one Catholic high school; 30 years later there is one grammar school left, and it is struggling (while the new immigrants are mostly Catholic Hispanics displacing many white Protestants). They even included 2 neighboring towns in the mix, which saw their combined total of 3 grammar schools all close. I can’t remember the last time my town sent a young man to the priesthood...
Public education in NJ isn’t competitive at all; parents pretend it is because they have to rationalize using the dysfunctional system (private schools aren’t an option for many when your public school tax is over $6K annually). Everyone I meet from the wealthier areas of NJ has the “best public schools in the state”, and none of them use private schools because they can’t afford it; we apparently have 300+ “best public school systems in the state”.
“Public education in NJ isn’t competitive at all”
Children in public school that know a lot less than we did at their age (my own children). Newark doesn’t have public schools; it has pens for children spawned for cash. I’m talking about regular children from average neighborhoods. It is a national disgrace.
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