Vision for Change Needed in Catholic Schools

Los Angeles (Tidings Online) - In an age of declining enrollment and escalating costs, Catholic schools need visionary leaders unafraid to implement change, such as sharing resources with neighboring parish schools and, perhaps, even consolidating with them, said educators at the 2009 National Catholic Educational Association Convention in Anaheim.

Speaking April 14 on the topic of "Vision Driven Change: New Configurations for Catholic Schools," Father Patrick Walsh, president of Bishop Heelan Catholic Schools in Sioux City, Iowa, said the key to renewing Catholic schools is to create a vision of excellence that parents and community stakeholders can support.

As head of a Catholic schools system which was created from seven declining schools in two neighboring cities and reconfigured into three elementary schools and a high school, Father Walsh emphasized that Catholic schools need to broaden their support base by consulting with community leaders who have a stake in their local schools' success.

"You need new blood [on your advisory team]," stressed Father Walsh, who added it's "very essential" today to have a development program in place. He urged educators seeking to boost enrollment to offer programs which draw parents' attention, like summer school, preschool or tutoring services. And, he noted, "You have to have academic excellence. That's what gets them in the door."

According to Helen Dahlman, president of Risen Christ School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, who spoke April 15 on the topic of practicing social justice through Catholic education, it's important to continually assess a school's mission in the community. When she came to Risen Christ as principal in 2000, it was a seven-year-old, five-parish consolidated two-campus school that suffered from a lack of strategic planning.

The school underwent a reframing process that acknowledged the realities of the school's ethnically diverse, economically disadvantaged student majority where 43 percent of the students are English language learners. As part of the process, one of the sites was expanded so the campuses could merge together at one location.

In choosing to "intentionally" serve the poor children in its surrounding neighborhood, school administrators realized they needed to recruit community board members of "affluence, influence and expertise" to provide legal, marketing and financial help to keep the school afloat.

Since the sliding scale tuition --- ranging from $750-2,000 per student annually --- doesn't cover the actual $6,500 per-pupil cost of educating students, it was imperative to find other funding models and also obtain a commitment from the archdiocese for financial help since the school's feeder parishes were financially struggling.

In addition, to increase the school's fundraising capacity from $600,000 to the desired $800,000 annually, two full-time professional development staff members were hired to tap donors and foundations. "We need to attract money outside of the Catholic community. We need to attract corporate and business [funding], and that's not how little Catholic schools think," said Dahlman.

The Battle for Catholic Education - Prevent the Collapse Now!

"We 'think' like an incredibly important non-profit organization. That's how we have to place ourselves in the community, [conveying] that we are a significant addition and resource to this community and businesses [should want] to invest in us because it's in their best interest....

"We know strategic planning on an archdiocesan-wide basis is crucial for us to survive and thrive. Failure is not an option. We are going to continue to advocate and agitate, and that's so deeply Catholic," said Dahlman.

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This story was made available to Catholic Online by permission of The Tidings (www.the-tidings.com), official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.