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Difficult Times For Catholic Schools
Prompted by declining enrollments in diocesan schools and decreasing infant baptisms over the last ten years, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio appointed a Task Force to study the future of Catholic education in January of 2004. This Task Force was charged with forging a "bold new vision that would ensure the future of Catholic elementary education in Queens and Brooklyn." The results of the Task Force's efforts were revealed earlier this year at a diocesan Educational Summit presided over by Bishop DiMarzio and Monsignor Michael Hardiman, Vicar for Education. The Task Force's plan is based on turning over financial control of schools to lay boards instead of the present system, which has pastors and principals in charge. The lay boards would be composed of clergy, alumni, community, and business leaders. Additionally, the Task Force advocated consolidation and regionalization among the one hundred, twenty-five schools that remain in the diocese. They also recommended that the diocese be divided into approximately thirty regions consisting of five to fifteen parishes, which would support three to five existing schools. The region would create a Not-For-Profit Educational Corporation, which would govern the administration of the schools. According to Monsignor Hardiman this would "take the business part of the school out of the responsibility of the pastor and principal and entrust that business part of the school to a board of lay directors." The model is very similar to one used by Bishop Francis J. Mugavero in the 1970's and 80's in response to the financial crisis affecting the area's Catholic high schools. The plan worked well for those secondary schools and the hope is that its success can be replicated on the elementary school level.
The Summit's visionary plans of a "new paradigm and transformational model that will take us into the rest of the third millennium and ensure the preservation of Catholic elementary schools" was tempered by the decision to close or consolidate seventeen parish schools in Brooklyn and nine in Queens. Our Lady of Mount Carmel School in Astoria did not reopen for 2005-2006 school year while St. Teresa's School in Woodside affiliated with St. Raphael's School in Long Island City. Queen of Angels School and Blessed Mary Help of Christians School in Sunnyside combined with St.
Sebastian's School in Woodside. Two Elmhurst schools joined forces for the new school year - Ascension and St. Adalbert's. The closings and consolidations in Queens affect about four thousand students. Diocesan wide three hundred teachers, administrators, and staff members were involved in layoffs. Reacting to this news, Bishop DiMarzio apologized to pastors and principals stating: "I'm sorry this had to be done. We didn't want to do it, but we had no choice." News from other parts of the country was also discouraging. The Archdiocese of St. Louis announced a consolidation plan that resulted in the closing of twenty-four parishes and ten elementary schools. The Chicago Archdiocese, which operates the nation's largest nonpublic school system, closed twenty-three city and suburban schools at the end of the 2004-2005 academic year. The Chicago closures affected four thousand, one hundred students and five hundred staff members. As in the New York closures, decreasing numbers of Catholics, rising tuition costs, and increased operating expenses were cited as the major factors that prompted the need for reorganization.
The troubling news in the media and this article has no doubt made our alumni anxious about the fate of St. Joan of Arc School. Currently we have not been named in any consolidation plans. Our enrollment remains above the twenty-five per class average benchmark set by the diocese as an indicator of a healthy, viable school. We realize though that we do not live in a vacuum. Fluctuations in our enrollment over the last few years clearly indicate that we are not completely immune from the demographic and economic factors that have adversely affected schools in our neighboring parishes and nation. We are most fortunate to have both a pastor and parish community who are committed to maintaining our school as a parish school. We ask that you join with us in our prayers to our patroness and Our Blessed Mother, under whose protection the diocese reorganization was placed. Your continued support, both spiritual and financial, are crucial to our mission to continue to challenge both this and future generations to "dare the impossible" and to "live the vision."
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