Catholic Schools

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Catholic schools continue to attract families looking for education choice

Special to redefinED
Special to redefinED

Editor’s note: National Catholic Schools Week, celebrated this year as Celebrate Catholic Schools Week from Jan. 31 to Feb. 6, is an annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States. In today’s post, Michael Barrett, Associate for Education for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, explains why, in his view, Catholic schools remain an excellent school choice option for families.

For years, the Catholic Church has promoted school choice and has advocated for the right of parents to choose the educational option that best suits the needs of their child. Today, Florida is on the cutting edge when it comes to providing families with real educational options. But among these options, what sets Catholic schools apart?

I would like to highlight two aspects of Catholic education. The first is community.

One of the most striking aspects of an excellent Catholic education is authentic community – not merely a community of students and teachers effectively receiving and imparting knowledge, but a network of families and individuals who know and care for one another deeply.

While this community begins at school, it is not limited to regular school hours or confined to the school building.

Growing up in Brandon, Florida, I remember experiencing this in my own Catholic grade school. I recall a real sense of sharing life with other families from my school. My friends and I not only attended the same school; we sat next to each other at Sunday mass and we carpooled together to school sporting events. Our moms served lunch in the cafeteria and our dads worked the food and drink tents at the annual school fair.

Our families ate dinner together, attended parties together, and supported one another through various triumphs and tragedies. By attending Catholic school, our families became immersed in a particular Catholic school community.  

Both Catholics and non-Catholics alike have encountered and have been enriched by this distinctive experience of Catholic school community. And indeed, this is by design.

As Archbishop J. Michael Miller, secretary for the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education, has stated, Catholic grade schools should “try to create a community school climate that reproduces, as far as possible, the warm and intimate atmosphere of family life … This means that all involved should develop a real willingness to collaborate among themselves. Teachers … together with parents and trustees, should work together as a team for the school’s common good and their right to be involved in its responsibilities.”

Therefore, Catholic schools are called to be communities, not only for students and teachers, but for the entire family.

Throughout Florida, 239 Catholic schools serve 79,623 students. Just under 40% of these students participate in one of Florida’s K-12 scholarship programs.

A second aspect of Catholic education is that Catholic school communities are grounded in a particular understanding of human nature and of human love. This understanding of human nature informs and influences the relationships that make up the Catholic school community.  

The Catholic Church, and therefore Catholic schools, teach that each and every person has great dignity and worth because he or she is made in the image and likeness of God.  Furthermore, Catholic school communities understand love to be a “self-gift,” or charity, best exemplified by Christ’s gift of himself to us on the cross.

This, of course, does not mean that Catholic school communities are perfect. Nor does it mean that every student who walks into a Catholic school must be Catholic. It certainly doesn’t mean that every student must walk out of a Catholic school as a Catholic.

However, it does mean that Catholic schools will be Catholic, and that this particular view of human nature and love will be proposed, taught, and thoughtfully discussed – which, in turn, hopefully will influence and guide the entire school community.

When this is done well, Catholic schools offer distinctive communities and learning environments that exist as a wonderful educational option for Florida’s students and their families. 

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Catholic SchoolsCoronavirus / COVID-19Education ChoiceFamily Empowerment ScholarshipFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipNewsParental ChoicePrivate School ScholarshipsReligious EducationSchool ChoiceTax Credit Scholarships

Scholarships continue to be a lifeline for Catholic school families

Lisa Buie
Lisa Buie

Eight-year-old Grace Peters, her sister, Stella, 5, and her brother, Colton, 6, attend San Jose Catholic School in Jacksonville on state scholarships.

While Catholic school enrollment in Florida declined for the second straight year, newly released figures showing an increase in the number of families using state scholarships to send their children to these schools may be the reason the schools escaped the precipitous declines plaguing Catholic schools nationwide.

Overall, scholarship use among Catholic school families increased by 2.1%. Preliminary figures on Catholic school enrollment released by the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops shows the number of students receiving the Family Empowerment Scholarship soaring from 1,787 in 2019 to 5,040 in 2020.

Florida Catholic school enrollment yearly comparison and growth over time

Florida Catholic school state scholarship figures 2018-2020

“Families are looking for more flexibility and access to diverse schooling options to keep their children safe and well educated during this pandemic,” said Doug Tuthill, president of Step Up For Students, Florida’s largest K-12 scholarship organization and host of this blog. “That’s why we are seeing a surge in demand for scholarships, such as the Family Empowerment Scholarship.”

Tuthill added: “Education choice programs will continue to grow for the foreseeable future. Families like having access to more learning options for their children.”

A significant amount of the growth in scholarships, Tuthill speculated, is due to parents of kindergarteners seeking a safer environment for their children during the pandemic while trying to maintain a high-quality education. The pandemic’s impact on family finances also may have played a role in scholarship growth, he said.

“I suspect there has been a lot of pressure on families who were private pay,” he said.

Count Joe Peters and his wife, Sarah, among those who felt that pressure. Peters, a 36-year-old father of four children ranging in age from 8 years to 18 months, lost his income when the pandemic wiped out the event planning and management business he co-owns. Though the family was able to make ends meet for a few months with income from events held before pandemic-forced cancellations, the threat of having to take their children out of San Jose Catholic School in Jacksonville, which they knew and loved, caused many sleepless nights.

“That was a trying time,” said Peters, who attended San Jose and graduated from Bishop Kenney Catholic High School in Jacksonville. The situation became so dire that the family considered moving to his father-in-law’s Alabama hometown so the kids could attend district schools there and still be near relatives.

“Just the thought of telling our kids they wouldn’t be able to return to a place they loved so much was heartbreaking,” Sarah Peters said. The idea of her young children having to move to a new town, adjust to new teachers and make new friends while everyone’s faces were covered with masks was “frightening to me,” she said.

Then a family member told the family about the Family Empowerment Scholarship program. They applied, and their children were awarded full scholarships for the 2020-21 school year.  

“It brought tears to our eyes,”  Joe Peters recalled. “That was such a relief knowing that our kids would not be put through any kind of drastic change during this global pandemic.”

Catholic school leaders such as Michael Barrett, associate for education for the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, credit state scholarship programs for allowing Catholic schools to remain open, providing a high-quality, faith-based education for families dealing with pandemic-induced anxiety.

“The Family Empowerment Scholarship is a program true to its name,” Barrett said. “Even pre-pandemic, the rising costs of private school tuition coupled with increased costs of living often made it difficult for middle-income families to provide a Catholic education for multiple children.”

Barrett said his organization hopes state lawmakers will expand the Family Empowerment Scholarship to more students by eliminating the requirement that students in first through 12th grades first attend a district school to qualify for the program. (Because the Peters’ youngest child was entering kindergarten, the two older children were also eligible for Family Empowerment Scholarships, according to state rules.)

“Parents are the primary educators of their children and should have the opportunity to educate their children as they see fit,” he said.

Joe and Sarah Peters’ said they are relieved that at their three children to continue attending the school the family has always known and loved.

“We like the values that are being taught here,” Joe Peters said. “We know the community, and the community knows us.”

Peters also found his own lifeline at San Jose as a long-term substitute Spanish teacher and cross country/track coach.  

“I am talking to you from my desk at school,” he said. “I am beyond grateful.”

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Catholic SchoolsCommentary and OpinionCustomizationEducation and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceEducation Savings AccountsEducator VoicesFeaturedParental ChoicePodcastReligious EducationSchool ChoiceTechnology and Innovation

podcastED: SUFS president Doug Tuthill interviews leaders of Miami Catholic Virtual School

redefinED staff
redefinED staff

On this episode, Tuthill talks with Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School principal Rebeca Bautista, left, and coordinator of special programs Marcey Ayers. The online school is the only Catholic virtual school in the country run by an Archdiocese – a Catholic version of the well-known Florida Virtual School, which provides a robust curriculum to public, private, charter and homeschool families and school districts nationwide.

The three discuss why the school was created and how it enhances existing curriculum options for Catholic families nationwide –as far flung as Alaska. While Bautista and Ayers say flexibility has been the key driver of their success, they agree more flexibility is needed, perhaps through an expansion of education scholarship accounts that would allow families greater customization of their children’s education.

“Before (the pandemic) there was a misconception of what virtual education was, that it was easier or not legitimate … Now parents and schools are realizing virtual education can help students and schools grow …. It’s going to bring virtual to the forefront.”

EPISODE DETAILS:

How “partner schools” can augment their existing offerings with Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School’s platform and curriculum

How teaching in a competency-based system has allowed the school to better meet student needs

Catholic schools on the creative forefront of “unbundling” education

Legislation changes necessary to bring more customization and flexibility to families

LINKS MENTIONED:

RedefinED: Catholic Virtual School Offers Options to Families Seeking Online Faith-Based Education

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Catholic SchoolsCoronavirus / COVID-19Education ChoiceFaith-based EducationFeaturedNewsPrivate SchoolsReligious EducationSchool Choice

New Florida Catholic schools superintendent: ‘Our schools will continue to be known as the best schools anywhere’

Lisa Buie
Lisa Buie

Chicagoan Father John Belmonte comes to his new post with years of experience in Catholic education.

The Catholic Diocese of Venice, Fla., has a new superintendent.

Father John Belmonte, SJ, will oversee the diocese’s Department of Education, which consists of 15 schools and 4,777 students. Additionally, he will be responsible for the Office of Religious Education, which supports 61 parishes within the diocese, and the Institute for Catholic Studies and Formation.

redefinED interviewed Belmonte to learn more about his thoughts on the new school year, his own education and role models, and his vision for Catholic schools in Florida and beyond. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Q. Brick-and-mortar schools reopened in your diocese five weeks ago. How did things go? What was the best thing that happened that day? What has proved most challenging?

A.  Our principals and teachers worked very hard to prepare for the reopening of school. Their preparation has really paid off. The reopening was very smooth.  Our students and parents have also cooperated with the safety measures put in place. I visited one of our schools on the first day. The best thing that happened was that one of our first-grade girls very proudly showed me her new unicorn backpack, complete with reversible sequins! Beyond unicorn backpacks, the best thing was seeing all the students and teachers very happy to be back in school. The biggest challenge for the teachers has been providing in-person and online learning simultaneously. They are doing outstanding work keeping students engaged in both formats. 

Q. What was your own education like as a child? Do you think it adequately prepared you for life and a career?

A. I like to tell the elementary students that I completed the 27th grade. That comment is usually met with gasps as they consider going to school for decades! I went to public schools in suburban Chicago through high school, then Catholic universities and seminaries through doctoral studies. My suburban public-school experience was different from the public-school experience today. Public schools today tend to be more politicized with curricular initiatives and programs that indoctrinate rather than educate. The education and formation that I received as a member of  the Society of Jesus has been outstanding. The spiritual and intellectual formation I received from truly brilliant Jesuit priests and professors prepared me not only as a priest but also as a classroom teacher and school administrator.  Also, the opportunity to study overseas changed my view of the world and the church.

Q. Other than biblical figures and saints, who has been the biggest influence on you? What did they teach you?

A. I have been inspired, challenged, supported and loved by some of the best and greatest men I have ever known, Jesuits all, and masters of the spiritual life remarkable for their holiness. Professors and teachers in various fields remarkable for their intellectual honesty and brilliance. Administrators remarkable for their prudence and skill. Men of the church remarkable for their devotion and dedication. Superiors remarkable for their patience, courage and steadfast support. Companions remarkable for their friendship and loyalty. Undoubtedly, I consider myself to be a better Catholic, Jesuit, priest, and man because of so many good Jesuits. My parents, of course, top any list. My father, Joseph, instilled in me an appreciation for family, faith and fun. My twin brother, Joe, younger brother, Matt, and I benefited from his love of sports, family activities, a good sense of humor and lots of friends. The influence of my mother, Suzanne, over my vocation to religious life and the priesthood could not be more significant. She is a model for me of someone who faced a lot of adversity with faith, grace and determination.     

Q. What is your vision for the future of the schools in your diocese? What changes do you plan to make to help further that vision?

A. The Catholic schools in the Diocese of Venice are places where we have fostered faith, created self-confidence, supported good decisions, promoted enduring values, nurtured good habits, revered virtues, honored self-discipline, safeguarded emotional and physical health and prized academic achievement and hard work. There are, of course, many alternatives to Catholic schools, but there is no substitute. We need Catholic schools now more than ever. I am fortunate to now serve as superintendent in a diocese with excellent Catholic schools. We do plan to improve by growing our enrollment, enhancing the Catholic school culture across the diocese, and developing our curriculum with Catholic curricular standards and innovative programs.

Q. In the wake of the pandemic, all schools – public, private secular and private faith-based – are facing challenges, including some that threaten their existence. The New York Times recently published a story that said 150 Catholic schools nationwide have closed and that a growing number are in danger of shutting down forever. How do you perceive the landscape for Catholic schools in Florida?

A. Different from other parts of the country, Florida is fortunate to have a well-established Tax Credit Scholarship Program that provides significant funding that makes Catholic education available to families that would not otherwise be able to afford it. Even more important to the future of Catholic schools in Florida are the strong Episcopal and Catholic school leaders who provide authentic Catholic school culture and maintain the highest educational standards. The performance of Catholic schools during the pandemic in the spring as well as this school year with our successful reopening is evidence of the great leadership we enjoy in our Florida Catholic schools. 

Q. What do you think can be done to make sure Florida Catholic schools are able to survive, both over the short term and long term?

A. When was the last time you heard of the best school in the area having to close due to lack of interest? As long as Catholic schools provide authentic Catholic school culture with a relentless focus on mission, we will have places where children are introduced to the truth, beauty and goodness that is the foundation of our faith and our future. Our schools will not simply survive but thrive. Our schools will continue to be known as the best schools anywhere. 

More about Father John Belmonte, SJ

A native Chicagoan, Belmonte earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Marquette University in Milwaukee in 1985. Upon graduation, he entered the Society of Jesus in St. Paul, Minnesota, and pronounced vows in 1987. Two years of philosophy and humanities studies at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, followed. 

In preparation for ordination to the priesthood, he completed his theological studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, graduating with the baccalaureate in sacred theology in 1995. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1996 in Milwaukee. In 1997, he completed a licentiate in sacred theology with a concentration in sacred scripture at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 2006, Belmonte completed the doctoral program in educational leadership and policy studies at Loyola University Chicago. While working on his doctorate from 1999 to 2003, he served as the director of pastoral ministry at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago. From 2004 to 2010, he served as principal of the Jesuit college prep high school in Milwaukee, Marquette University High School. 

He served as superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Joliet from 2010 to 2020 and in 2013 was elected to the board of the National Catholic Educational Association, where he served until June 2020. From 2011 to 2018, he served as a chaplain at Wrigley Field. If pressed, he does take some credit for the 2016 World Series Championship.

You can follow him on Twitter @Father_Belmonte. You can download, Created in Your Image, the Catholic photo sharing app he created with a marketing team in Chicago to (re)engage young Catholic parents.

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Catholic SchoolsCoronavirus / COVID-19Course ChoiceEducation ChoiceFaith-based EducationFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipNewsParental ChoicePrivate SchoolsSchool ChoiceTechnology and Innovation

Catholic virtual school offers options to families seeking online faith-based education

Lisa Buie
Lisa Buie

Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School curriculum includes core subjects including reading language arts and math, religion and theology, Advanced Placement and dual enrollment courses as well as electives.

When Susana Moro was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia nearly four years ago, a faith-based virtual school in South Florida allowed her daughter to stay home with her mom while keeping up with her schoolwork.

“She felt very comfortable and loved the classes,” said Moro, who underwent a successful bone marrow transplant and is now healthy. Her daughter, who had been a sophomore at Immaculata-LaSalle High School, did so well at Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School that she opted to stay and graduate, Moro said.

Since then, Moro’s younger daughter enrolled in the Catholic virtual school as an eighth grader to take a high-school level Spanish class.

And now, during the coronavirus pandemic, the school is helping families in Florida and beyond who want an online Catholic education for their children, although school leaders stress their goal is to complement in-person Catholic schools rather than compete with them.

“We expect most of these students to return to their brick and mortar schools,” principal Rebeca Bautista said. 

Founded in 2013 when it served only a handful of students, the Catholic virtual school was created to support traditional Catholic schools by allowing high school students to take courses that were not available on campus, get remedial instruction and bank extra credits, as well as serve those whose participation in sports or other activities required frequent travel.

Earlier this year, the school added kindergarten through fifth grade, bringing its enrollment this year to about 800. Most students attend part time.

“Our mission is to ensure that Catholic education is not only on the cutting edge but setting the pace and establishing new educational models to inspire students to maximize their God-given gifts resulting in transformation,” Thomas Wenski, Archbishop of Miami, wrote in an announcement letter to families when the school opened. The letter stressed it was important that “all Catholic schools keep pace with the demands of the 21sth century.”

The Catholic virtual school is fully accredited by the global non-profit accreditation organization Cognia and uses only teachers who are certified to work in Catholic schools. Powered by Florida Virtual School, the state’s 23-year-old online public school, it has infused Florida Virtual School content with Catholic faith and values perspectives, such as prayers before classes and references to God and church teachings. The virtual platform also includes theology courses that school leaders developed from scratch.

“We have ability to edit the content and enrich it,” said Marcey Ayers, director of special programs in the Office of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Miami. “They know that it’s a Catholic course they are taking.”

Like other virtual schools across the country, Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School has received more attention as families flocked to online education after COVID-19 forced campus shutdowns. Over the summer, the school got 10 to 12 calls a day from families seeking options. As the pandemic continued into August, the Catholic virtual school stepped up for traditional Catholic schools.

It offered them the use of their courses, taught by fully certified Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School teachers, as an online option for students not ready to return in person. It also offered its online curriculum to traditional schools’ faculty so they could deliver customized online lessons.

“Being able to offer this virtual school was really a blessing to us,” said Todd Orlando, principal of Bishop Kenny Catholic High School in Jacksonville. The school pivoted to distance learning in the spring, but when it became apparent the pandemic would continue into the new school year, leaders decided it would be more efficient to let a virtual school handle the virtual option than to require its faculty to teach both formats simultaneously.

“We are a brick-and-mortar school. We are not a virtual school,” Orlando said. “These people know what they’re doing.”

He added that school leaders also were attracted to the fact that Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Virtual School courses reflect the church’s teachings.

“We wanted a Catholic option for our families,” he said. “We realized their curriculum mirrored ours in each and every way. It’s been a positive and smooth transition for us.”

Of the 1,264 students enrolled this year at Bishop Kenny, 44 chose the virtual option.

Families with students who receive state scholarships including the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship can take classes through the Catholic virtual school during the pandemic as long as they are enrolled in a brick-and-mortar Catholic school, thanks to the waiving of a state rule that had required scholarship recipients to be taught primarily in person.

(Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog, is the state’s largest administrator of the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for lower-income students.)

“It’s been an odd year,” Bautista said, explaining that most of the inquires she received over the summer came from families who had children with underlying health conditions or who lived with elderly relatives. Other calls came from international families planning to move to the United States but whose visas got delayed due to the pandemic. Other families wanted the chance to watch how campus re-openings went before committing to sending their children back.

“Some families made it very clear their intention was to only enroll for the first semester,” Bautista said. “They are hoping by January or the end of the first quarter they can go back to campus. Some said they might do a whole year and have a virtual year.”

That’s fine with her. The virtual school operates on a semester system, has a pool of part-time certified teachers, and is used to being nimble. They also see their primary purpose as supporting traditional Catholic schools.

“If a school calls and says, ‘This is an issue that we have, can you help us,’ 99.9 percent of the time, we say, ‘Yes, we can,’” Bautista said. “We don’t have a minimum enrollment. If one student from one school needs Algebra I, we can offer it.”

 Virtual school leaders want to ensure continued growth by raising awareness and offering new programs, such as recently launched theology classes for adults. COVID-19 has provided an opportunity for Catholic schools to extend their reach, especially as people become more comfortable learning online, Bautista said.

“We’re expanding our marketing for the school to reach everyone,” said Ayers, the special program director for the archdiocese. “We are going to meet the needs of all students – not just gifted or special needs students, but all students.”

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Blog GuestCatholic SchoolsCoronavirus / COVID-19Education and Public PolicyEducation ChoiceFeaturedJonathan ButcherNewsPrivate SchoolsSchool Choice

Private schools and the back-to-school calculation

Jonathan Butcher
Jonathan Butcher

Catholic high school enrollment in Columbus, Ohio, has increased 4% this summer as schools plan to open either fully or with in-person operations.

If summer 2020 was the season parents, students, and educators considered the cost of the pandemic, fall will be the time families seek value.

Even in April, just weeks after most school buildings in the U.S. closed and instruction moved online — with uneven results — more than two-thirds of parents in a Pew Research survey were “very” or “somewhat” concerned that their child was falling behind. This was a sign parents already were counting the cost of the interrupted school year. More recent surveys confirm parents remain concerned.

So, with some of the nation’s largest school districts, including Houston, Atlanta, Broward County, and Baltimore County to name a few offering online only instruction this fall, parents dissatisfied with their child’s experience are looking for alternatives. As with any learning option, choosing a virtual school is different from being forced to attend one.

The latest education response to the pandemic involves parents forming “learning pods” with their neighbors and hiring educators to instruct students in small numbers, but private schools may still find a place.

“We want to make sure we are providing value and what our parents are coming to us for,” says Michelle Brown, Chief Development Officer for Independence Mission Schools, a group of 15 Catholic schools in Philadelphia.

As explained on redefinED and by the Cato Institute, the pandemic threatened private schools in Florida and around the country. Approximately 100 independent schools already have closed nationwide according to Cato. Yet as the first day of the new school year approaches, and students across the U.S. are assigned to districts with only a virtual option, private schools may still survive.

In Columbus, Ohio, Catholic high school enrollment increased 4% this summer as the private schools plan to open either fully in-person or with hybrid in-person operations. Some Catholic schools in the area have waiting lists, while local news says there are 20% more incoming kindergarteners for Catholic schools in the coming school year “than there were eighth-grade graduates from middle schools last year.”

North Carolina school officials say there has been “an uptick in applications, calls, and emails” about the state’s Opportunity Scholarship program, a K-12 private school scholarship option, while waiting lists are growing for some private schools, especially in the younger grades.

Earlier this week, the Washington Post said parents are leaving public schools in Washington, D.C., for private schools because they expect that “private schools will eventually be able to switch to in-person learning quicker than public schools.” The commitment to in-person classes has “fueled an uptick in enrollment inquiries from families who can afford to make the switch.”

The governors of South Carolina, Oklahoma and New Hampshire have created new K-12 private school scholarship options using federal spending that Washington allocated to their offices.

In Philadelphia, Brown and Independence staff have reviewed guidance from a wide range of health institutions and says Independence plans to open with a hybrid model. Her schools are surveying families now, though, to determine if parents are ready for more in-person instruction, especially for preschool and kindergarten students. She explains that some Independence students take public transportation or district buses to school, and with Philadelphia schools also using a hybrid model, student transportation will be limited.

“That will be a part of the survey,” Brown says, “how do they get their kids to school and what is the alternative.” It would not make sense to open fully in-person if not all students could attend right away, she explains.

Thus, serving families and students is the priority, which should not go unnoticed by parents during the COVID summer. Brown recognizes that “many of our students have siblings and that our families have the option to leave our school and go to a district school,” driving Independence to “provide consistency for families.”

Whether these stories are just isolated examples from Philadelphia, Ohio, Washington, D.C., and beyond, or indications of a private school resurgence remain to be seen. Should private school waiting lists grow, however, it will be difficult to argue that independent schools have a message that works: Add value.

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Catholic SchoolsCoronavirus / COVID-19Education ChoiceEducation EquityFeaturedNewsParent EmpowermentParental ChoicePrivate SchoolsSchool Choice

This family lost everything. A Catholic school rescued them. Now it’s gone, too.

Ron Matus
Ron Matus

Samyra Santana, right, her husband, Gerson Reina, and their daughter, Samira, found a home at St. Joseph Catholic Church and St. Joseph Academy in Lakeland.

Editor’s note: Special thanks is extended to Fernanda Murgueytio, a member of Step Up For Students’ Advocacy and Civic Engagement team, for invaluable assistance in reporting this story. Fernanda helped with interviews and translated them from Spanish to English.

LAKELAND, Fla. – Two years after government thugs forced her family to flee their home, Samyra Santana googled “Catholic church near me.” She and her husband and daughter were 1,700 miles from the madness that upended everything, trying to start over in this city of lakes and live oaks.

The screen read, “St. Joseph Catholic Church.” As fate would have it, the first person Santana met when she drove over was a building manager who spoke Spanish. Before long, her family had a church, a school – and a warm, inclusive community to build a new life in.

Then, bam.

On May 21, the Diocese of Orlando announced that due to complications from COVID-19, St. Joseph Academy was closing. Santana said the news made her physically sick.

“It felt like I was losing my home again,” she said.

St. Joseph Academy was the oldest private school in Lakeland, a city of 110,000 an hour from Orlando. It could have been a role model for diversity, with students of color making up half its enrollment and the children of doctors, lawyers and truck drivers learning side by side. Instead, it’s another poster child for the demise of private schools in the Time of Coronavirus.

In coming months, more than 100 Catholic schools are expected to close. Hundreds if not thousands of other private schools will be hurt too. The recession is taking its toll on enrollment and philanthropy. And Covid-19 is creating unprecedented challenges for private schools trying to maintain, via online platforms, the culture and community that makes them special.

Articles like this, this and this are spotlighting the plight of private schools as Congress considers pleas for relief. But cold facts alone can’t express what’s at stake if these schools are allowed to collapse.

Take it from a family that once lost it all: “St. Joseph’s Academy became a place where we feel we belong from the heart,” Santana said. “Now … our hearts are broken.”

***

In Venezuela, Santana was a public school teacher and owner of a thriving dance academy. Her husband, Gerson Reina, ran his own small business, distributing baked goods for a multi-national company.

In 2014, Santana and an apprentice were leaving a mall when men rushed out of nowhere. They put the women in a car and blindfolded them.

“Don’t go back to my school. Don’t go back to my academy,” Santana said they told her. “They told me so many times, they’re going to kill me, they’re going to kill my husband.”

Santana is a ballet dancer by training. She’s trim and athletic, modest and soft-spoken. It’s hard to imagine her as an enemy of the state, but she ran afoul of the regimes of Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro. Chavez supporters told her, when she directed a government dance studio, that she had to praise the president and pledge support during recitals. Santana refused. The government fired her.

So Santana started her own school. More than 100 families followed her, and she encouraged directors of other government studios to do the same. They did, infuriating Chavez supporters.

One day, some of them followed her home and attacked her. The beating led to a miscarriage.

Fast forward to the kidnapping. After hours of driving, the men dropped Santana off in an unfamiliar place in another city. She was alive. But life in Venezuela was over.

***

In “Lost Classroom, Lost Community,” University of Notre Dame law professors Nicole Stelle Garnett and Margaret F. Brinig underscore the quiet power of Catholic schools.

For generations, Catholic schools in America have ably served immigrants and low-income families. They continue to propel low-income students into the middle class and save taxpayers untold billions. But that’s not all they do.

Analyzing crime data in Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, Garnett and Brinig found when Catholic schools disappear, crime rates rise and social bonds fray. “Catholic school closures lead to elevated levels of disorder and suppressed levels of social cohesion,” they wrote.

That’s not to suggest the fetching bungalows around St. Joseph are in for a rash of burglaries. But it does show Catholic schools bring value not just to families they serve, but to communities they help anchor.

Other high-quality schools draw people of shared interest too. They inspire them to work together for the common good.

Sometimes, in the process, they make people whole again.

***

They travelled light. Just a few suitcases. Santana said selling the house or packing everything would have drawn suspicion, which could have led to darker outcomes.

Santana’s daughter Samira, now 12, wanted to take her stuffed animals, particularly a stuffed bunny. But there was no room and no time. “We left everything,” Samira said.

The family trekked to Miami with $2,000 to start a new life. Santana’s husband found work as a cashier in a gas station, but nothing that fit his skill set.

Santana fell into a funk. “My body was here, but my mind was in Venezuela,” she said. “I was thinking about my family, my students, my friends. I didn’t say goodbye.”

Santana’s husband expanded his job search, and finally got a bite: Frito Lay had an opening in Lakeland.

The family didn’t know anybody in Lakeland. But they liked the tree-covered neighborhoods and the respite from South Florida concrete. The peace and quiet offered a welcome contrast to the clang of pots and pans that characterized protests in Venezuela.

Hope began to grow.

***

Samira Santana, 12, will attend St. Anthony Catholic School in Lakeland in the fall.

The family began attending St. Joseph in 2016. Santana began volunteering at the church and working in the preschool, an aide in the faith formation program. She said she could she feel her mind and heart healing. “I could be myself again,” she said.

Santana wanted the same for her daughter.

Samira said the students in her neighborhood school didn’t understand her and didn’t really talk to her. They made fun of her accent and mocked her roots. “They looked up Venezuela and they said, ‘Oh she comes from a poor country.’ ”

In 2018, Samira enrolled in St. Joseph Academy. Then a sixth grader, she worried she wouldn’t make friends. But on the first day in the lunchroom, “The kids were like, ‘Come sit with us.’ “

“It felt,” she said, “like I belonged there.”

Samira made good grades, sang in the choir, discovered a love for musicals. She stepped up to play the mayor of Whoville in “Seussical” and the caterpillar in “Alice in Wonderland.” Now the once-shy girl who lost her country rocks a NASA T-shirt and loves astronomy.

After everything Samira’s been through, reaching for the stars isn’t so hard.

***

This fall, Samira will be an eighth grader at St. Anthony, another Catholic school in Lakeland. She only knows one other St. Joseph student making the switch. “St. Joseph was like having another family,” Samira said. “I don’t want to lose them.”

Santana knows she is fortunate Samira can attend another Catholic school, even if it’s 40 minutes from their home. But it doesn’t diminish the fact St. Joseph is gone.

“I think when you have lost so much, you cling more to what little or much you have gained,” Santana said. St. Joseph “was a gain for us as human beings.”

What better way to sum up what’s been lost. And what can still be saved.

 

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Catholic SchoolsCoronavirus / COVID-19Education ChoiceFamily Empowerment ScholarshipFeaturedFlorida Tax Credit ScholarshipGardiner ScholarshipNewsReligious EducationSchool Choice

Catholic school closure an SOS for private schools in pandemic

Ron Matus
Ron Matus

St. Joseph Academy families have launched an effort to save the school, where 78 of 162 K-8 students participated in the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship or Family Empowerment Scholarship programs for lower-income students.

An 82-year-old Catholic school in Florida has abruptly announced its closure, another telling sign that COVID-19 is eroding the financial ground beneath private schools.

At the beginning of the school year, the Catholic Diocese of Orlando had been discussing the possibility of revamping the St. Joseph Academy in Lakeland, Florida, a half-hour east of Tampa. But in a letter to parents Friday, the Very Rev. Timothy LaBo, pastor of St. Joseph Church, said the financial devastation wrought by the pandemic quickly led to a “serious impact on our re-enrollment numbers.”

“What we could not have imagined was the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect upon our world in such a short time,” LaBo wrote in the letter obtained by Lakeland Now.

The closure of the K-8 school shocked St. Joseph parents, who immediately launched an effort to save the school. But it’s not a surprise to those watching private schools across America struggle as parents lose jobs, businesses close and charitable contributions evaporate.

A survey by Step Up For Students, the nonprofit scholarship funding organization that hosts this blog, found 73 percent of Florida private schools said they are experiencing declines in re-enrollment last year, and 58 percent said they’re worried about their viability for the coming school year. The research and advocacy group EdChoice got similar results when it surveyed private schools nationwide last month. More than 20 million Americans lost their jobs in April, including 893,000 in Florida.

The Sunshine State has one of the biggest private school sectors in the country, and some of the nation’s biggest school choice programs. But those programs are primarily for lower-income students and students with special needs. It remains to be seen how much they will help private schools trying to retain working-class and middle-class parents who may be forced, in coming months, to make agonizing decisions about their children’s educations.

Seventy-eight of St. Joseph Academy’s 162 K-8 students used the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship or Family Empowerment Scholarship for lower-income students, while 26 used the Gardiner Scholarship or McKay Scholarship for students with special needs. (The FTC, FES and Gardiner programs are administered by nonprofits like Step Up.)

To date, the most meaningful government relief for private schools has come from the Paycheck Protection Program, which offer a two-month respite for small businesses and nonprofits. Other federal relief streams for education are aimed primarily at public schools, and attempts to steer a more equitable share to private schools has met with relentless pushback.

Other potential remedies, including the possibility of temporary tuition tax credits, have so far generated little debate. Likewise for the potential negative impacts on public schools, which will likely have to absorb former private school students in the face of massive financial and logistical challenges.

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