Fighting to keep our Catholic school open

[SamRoc]

Here in Brooklyn NY a number of Catholic schools have closed in the past few years. My parish has gotten the overflow from the kids whose schools have closed and now has 2-3 classes in each grade. I sent my kids there and was very happy with their education. I feel badly for the other neighborhoods where the Catholic schools are closing. I hate the middle schools here in Brooklyn. I like a school that goes from pre-k up until 8th grade.

 

[MouseWorshipin]

You don't really believe that teachers in parochial schools are receiving competitive wages, do you? Teachers, principals, and support staff in Catholic schools make far less, with fewer benefits, than other education professionals and are expected to do much more with much less. Nevertheless, our students thrive.

Catholic schools don't pay their teachers well. Not even close to public school wages. Those teachers aren't there for the dough.

However, not all private schools are religious. Some are just private. Most of the regular private schools do pay well. And they charge for it!

 

[sodaseller]

Its seems to me that school vouchers ought to help pay for education for our children, whether its at a private or public school. The real reason why some people are against vouchers is not because private schools would teach religion but its becaue the public school teachers who don't want to lose students to private schools would lose their jobs at the public schools since they would not be needed anymore.

And the real reason some people are for vouchers is that they hope to use it to get the camel's nose under the tent to destroy public education and everything it stands for. There's certainly a role for them, but unfortunately they have been promoted by and would be administered by those whose heart is not into egalitarian access. And whatever benefit they provide, it is far from solving any large problem associated with our current system

 

[golfgal]

Catholic schools don't pay their teachers well. Not even close to public school wages. Those teachers aren't there for the dough.

However, not all private schools are religious. Some are just private. Most of the regular private schools do pay well. And they charge for it!

Actually, it depends on the school. The teachers at our kids' school start at $500/year less then what the teachers at the public school make. The top teachers make about $5000 less then the top teachers in the public schools. They have benefits, health, dental, life insurance and a flex spend program. One of the parents is an insurance agent and he got it all set up. They pay less for their insurance then we do. It comes down to the school and how important it is for that school do have great teachers and offer a quality education.

OP, a few of the small schools not far from us closed and they got together and now offer a bus service to a larger town near them that still has a Catholic school. The church pays for the bus and then the families pay for their tuition. Would that be an option for your students?

 

[OhMari]

In the state of Wisconsin, only the inner city of Milwaukee families receive vouchers to send their children to private schools. No where else in WI can you receive vouchers.

3 big officials from the Milwaukee Archdiocese came and had a "Personnel Meeting" with our Priest. He was told that he received e-mails, letters, and phone calls on his behalf concerning his attitude towards the school and also towards his congregation.

He made a statement at our staff meeting that he doesn't have to take that kind of criticism. He is basically right, the Archdiosese will never defrock him, they will just move him to another parish.

Our school will remain open as of now for the 2006/2007 school year, but the numbers have to be there by July 17, 2006. Teachers are combined, so there has to be at least 6 in First/Second, 6 in Third/Fourth, etc. Plus we now have a daycare and it has to have 15 enrolled also by July 17.

The tuition runs $1500, with a $150 book fee-still pretty cheap compared to other Catholic schools in our area. Fond du Lac, WI combined 5 Catholic schools and they now run from 2 campuses. Their tuition is $4,500, same with the Catholic H.S.

 

[golfgal]

In the state of Wisconsin, only the inner city of Milwaukee families receive vouchers to send their children to private schools. No where else in WI can you receive vouchers.

3 big officials from the Milwaukee Archdiocese came and had a "Personnel Meeting" with our Priest. He was told that he received e-mails, letters, and phone calls on his behalf concerning his attitude towards the school and also towards his congregation.

He made a statement at our staff meeting that he doesn't have to take that kind of criticism. He is basically right, the Archdiosese will never defrock him, they will just move him to another parish.

Our school will remain open as of now for the 2006/2007 school year, but the numbers have to be there by July 17, 2006. Teachers are combined, so there has to be at least 6 in First/Second, 6 in Third/Fourth, etc. Plus we now have a daycare and it has to have 15 enrolled also by July 17.

The tuition runs $1500, with a $150 book fee-still pretty cheap compared to other Catholic schools in our area. Fond du Lac, WI combined 5 Catholic schools and they now run from 2 campuses. Their tuition is $4,500, same with the Catholic H.S.

WOW that is a SMALL school. We have 2 sections of every grade at our school. The break even point for our school is 20 kids/grade. Our tuition is the same but we don't have a book fee. We also have a $250 band fee if your child is in band.

Would your parish consider a tuition subsidy to the other schools, paying for the difference in tuition for those that want to attend that school if yours does close? It would probably be less then they are spending on the school now and then the kids can continue with their Catholic Education. I would only make the subsidy open to those currently enrolled though.

Your priest sounds horrible. I know one parish where we belonged got their priest removed from the parish. It is possible. Spring is when all the new appointments take place, it might be worth some time and effort to get him out of there.

 

[sodaseller]

In the state of Wisconsin, only the inner city of Milwaukee families receive vouchers to send their children to private schools. No where else in WI can you receive vouchers.

3 big officials from the Milwaukee Archdiocese came and had a "Personnel Meeting" with our Priest. He was told that he received e-mails, letters, and phone calls on his behalf concerning his attitude towards the school and also towards his congregation.

He made a statement at our staff meeting that he doesn't have to take that kind of criticism. He is basically right, the Archdiosese will never defrock him, they will just move him to another parish.

Our school will remain open as of now for the 2006/2007 school year, but the numbers have to be there by July 17, 2006. Teachers are combined, so there has to be at least 6 in First/Second, 6 in Third/Fourth, etc. Plus we now have a daycare and it has to have 15 enrolled also by July 17.

The tuition runs $1500, with a $150 book fee-still pretty cheap compared to other Catholic schools in our area. Fond du Lac, WI combined 5 Catholic schools and they now run from 2 campuses. Their tuition is $4,500, same with the Catholic H.S.

GodBless and good luck. How is the new ArchBishop (Dolan, I think) that replaced Rembert Weakland (again, I think)?

 

[RUDisney]

When I was going into 8th grade, I hated the PS that I was at. My Mom talked to the head nun at our parish school about having me attend for 8th grade. She told my mother that she wouldn't accept me because I wouldn't be a TRUE graduate of that school if I only went there one year.

My Mom immediately transferred my brother and sister so they wouldn't have to go to the MS I was at. The MS had open classrooms. It was hard for me, an A student to concentrate with all of the extra noise. I could only imagine how hard it would have been for someone who was struggling.

So, fast forward A LOT of years. When our kids arrived, we enrolled them in Pre-K and Kindergarten at that school even though it was in a different town than ours. The quality of the education was still there, plus it was close to my parents' house so they could pick up the kids after school for me. The school closed when DS was entering 3rd grade and DD was entering 2nd.

No amount of fighting helped our cause. The bishop had already decided that our school was going to merge with another one. When the pastor explained to us how the collection plate was divied up, it was sickening. The church is a Basilica with a monestary on site. The monestary gets rent from the church and then is supported by the collection plate. Then the church gets its cut and has to send some to the diocese and vatican. The school got the scraps that were left over.

Know what the monestary did with their money? Put up statues on the grounds and built a new building for the priests. Yep, statues are definitely the way to get the church roster bigger. Definitely, we don't want to try to hook new Catholics by educating them in the ways of the church.

The diocese sent other pastors to run this debacle. They lied to us at every meeting. The whole truth came out after the school was closed. When we were told how much money we had to raise to keep the school open, we rose to the challenge and with 120 students, we raised $90,000 in one year. It was the amount they said that we needed to raise. They closed us anyway.

In the long run, my kids are now in PS. They will be until 6th and 7th grade. I don't want them in a MS that is attached to the HS. I don't have a good feeling about a 7th grader being in the same building with 12th graders. At that point, I will transfer them to our parish's school, assuming that it is still around. The current bishop was brought in to close schools and he's been doing a bang up job about it.

 

[tmt martins]

In the state of Wisconsin, only the inner city of Milwaukee families receive vouchers to send their children to private schools. No where else in WI can you receive vouchers.

3 big officials from the Milwaukee Archdiocese came and had a "Personnel Meeting" with our Priest. He was told that he received e-mails, letters, and phone calls on his behalf concerning his attitude towards the school and also towards his congregation.

He made a statement at our staff meeting that he doesn't have to take that kind of criticism. He is basically right, the Archdiosese will never defrock him, they will just move him to another parish.

Our school will remain open as of now for the 2006/2007 school year, but the numbers have to be there by July 17, 2006. Teachers are combined, so there has to be at least 6 in First/Second, 6 in Third/Fourth, etc. Plus we now have a daycare and it has to have 15 enrolled also by July 17.

The tuition runs $1500, with a $150 book fee-still pretty cheap compared to other Catholic schools in our area. Fond du Lac, WI combined 5 Catholic schools and they now run from 2 campuses. Their tuition is $4,500, same with the Catholic H.S.

Wow I would love that price we pay $3900 plus reg &book fees.

Our HS's are going up to $9,000 a year.but I have 1 more year before that hits us.

We are lucky as we have people in place that know the school and church go hand and hand and work very well together.We also had some mergers in the city and even had a school send some kids down to play on our sports teams .

 

[OhMari]

GodBless and good luck. How is the new ArchBishop (Dolan, I think) that replaced Rembert Weakland (again, I think)?

Yes we have a new Archbishop Timothy Dolan. He really is getting our Archdiocese back on track, but he is also doing so many major cut-backs. Our Seminary for Priest is being shut down in a few years. I can sort of see that-he is combining with a Seminary in Hales Corners.

Last year over $200,000 extra was collected from the Stewardship Appeal, and he put it up for grabs to all schools. We had to write letters how we would use it. Our priest got greedy and asked money for each of the parishes that support the school. This was not what Arch. Dolan had in mind. We didn't receive a penny. (One rant I have is, our old Arch. Weakland was able to retire and live on the Archdiocese grounds rent free in his own place-the guy should have been defrocked-that is my opinion).

Someone also said something about trying to get rid of our priest. We can-but if the priest can prove he did nothing wrong he can stay.

 

[Disneemomee]

Here in brooklyn new york our senator is fighting for tax credits instead of vouchers, it would allow you to deduct up to 1500.00 dollars for any religon instruction including books and materials. Hopefully it wil happen

 

[golfgal]

Here in brooklyn new york our senator is fighting for tax credits instead of vouchers, it would allow you to deduct up to 1500.00 dollars for any religon instruction including books and materials. Hopefully it wil happen

Minnesota has some tax credits/deduction for education expenses. If you make over $35,000/year you can deduct tuition, tutor fees, educational camp fees-not sports camps, musical instruments and lessons and a few other things. If you are making under $35,000 you get a tax credit for all of the above except tuition.

 

[Pigeon]

Here in brooklyn new york our senator is fighting for tax credits instead of vouchers, it would allow you to deduct up to 1500.00 dollars for any religon instruction

As a fellow New Yorker, I sure hope it does not happen. Of all the things I don't want my tax money squandered on, that about tops the list. If you want to send your kids to a private religious school, you should pay for it, period.

 

[teacherforhi]

Private schools DO accept handicapped kids. At least they do around here. A girl down the street who has MS -leg braces, crutches, whole bit - attends a private school. If someone knows of a specific private school that won't take a handicapped kid, I want to know about it. I'll be all over that.

That's an ADA issue more than a special education one. The building has to be accessible for someone with mobility problems.

However, private schools do NOT have to accept students with learning or mental disabilities and they do NOT have to provide services under IDEA is they do accept those students. So why should my tax money (in the case of vouchers) go to a school that won't accept every student? Public schools have to take everyone that walks through the door.

 

[cardaway]

Of all the things I don't want my tax money squandered on, that about tops the list. If you want to send your kids to a private religious school, you should pay for it, period.

I agree, and the same goes for vouchers.

 

[Disneemomee]

First of all you, it is not your tax money being squandered on private religious education (that would the nyc public school system) its a tax break /credit for those who pay for any religious instruction for there children. It would be a deduction on state income taxes.

You know what i think is a full waste of my tax dollars the free breakfast program in the nyc public school. Why should tax payers have to pay to feed these children breakfast isnt that there parents job!!

 

[cardaway]

First of all you, it is not your tax money being squandered on private religious education (that would the nyc public school system) its a tax break /credit for those who pay for any religious instruction for there children. It would be a deduction on state income taxes.

A break in taxes for somebody is an increase for somebody else to pick up the slack. It's basically another way to twist it so others subsidize private school tuition for others. No way.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

We saved my daughters' Catholic school two years ago.

It's not easy, but it can be done. There are solutions, and energizing your school community to save it HAS to be the cornerstone of its appeal.

PM me and I'll give you my e-mail address. I'm interested in hearing what you've done and what's left to do.

BTW, are you the same person who started a thread about this a few months ago?