Catholic Schools

Catholic school closure an SOS for private schools in pandemic

Ron Matus May 26, 2020

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.

May 26, 2020 0 comment

Catholic Schools Coronavirus / COVID-19 Education Choice Education Equity Featured Gardiner Scholarship News School Choice Special Needs Education Virtual Education

Students with special needs miss traditions but not therapies at Florida Catholic schools

Lisa Buie May 22, 2020

Lisa Buie

Students at Morning Star Catholic School in Jacksonville pose with their therapy dog, Nova, prior to the coronavirus shutdown.

As COVID-19 sent brick-and-mortar education into a tailspin this spring, students at one North Florida school realized what they missed most was a creature with four legs and a wet nose.

That’s why staff at Morning Star Catholic School in Jacksonville featured Nova, a golden retriever who likes to lean into humans’ legs while being petted, in a video created to help families feel connected during distance learning.

Trained by Project Chance to help students on the autism spectrum, Nova and another service dog, Corbin, have coaxed anxious students out of cars, lunched with students who met behavior goals and served as an audience to beginning readers to build their confidence.

Graduating seniors had a chance to hug Nova goodbye when they came to the school one at a time for cap and gown photos.

“They miss her terribly, and she misses them terribly, too,” said principal Jean Barnes.

The school, one of six Morning Star Catholic schools in Florida that specialize in teaching students with special needs, serves 138 children with learning differences, including 20 who receive Gardiner Scholarships for students with unique abilities. (Gardiner Scholarships are administered by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.)

Despite missing out on the usual end-of-year activities, students at other Catholic schools that serve children with learning differences haven’t been deprived of therapies and services traditionally provided.

Fourteen-year-old Hannah Halperin, in her third year at St. Mary Academy in Sarasota, is continuing to receive weekly speech therapy as well as occupational therapy remotely.

“I’m getting to hear her speech therapy, and I can tell it’s very good,” said her father, Gary Halperin.

Occupational therapy has proved a bit more challenging because it relies on hands-on activities. Still, Hannah, who has Down syndrome, was able to take therapy supplies home before the campus shut down in March. Therapists are encouraging her to squeeze a tennis ball and do floor exercises to maintain muscle tone. She also works on fine motor skills by writing and picking up toothpicks, and she attends group therapy sessions via Google Meet.

“They use computers at school, so that made the transition easier,” Halperin said.

St. Mary serves 74 students in grades K-8, nearly a third of whom receive a state scholarship. According to the school website, it’s the only Catholic school providing services for students with special needs in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry and Highlands counties. Its slogan is “Where Dreams Are Free.”

In addition to live Zoom classes, teachers are holding “office hours” for student questions, scheduling small group sessions for interventions and conducting assessments.

“Our school counselor meets with me once a week to discuss students’ needs (and) both my counselor and I attend meetings with teachers once a week to identify students at risk,” principal Rebecca Reynolds said. “A plan is then made for follow-up interventions and care.”

At Morning Star Catholic School in Orlando, specialists have created service plans for each student based on their individual education plans, which are required by law for qualified students. The plans also are based on current assessments, teacher observations and therapists’ recommendations.

“All the teachers have been using these to help individualize instruction for their students and allow any accommodations or flexibility needed to reach their goals and the mastery of the skills being taught,” said principal Alicia Abbey.

Of the school’s 66 students in grades K-12, 20 percent receive Gardiner Scholarships.

Other ways students are being accommodated include allowing extended time to complete assignments, holding small group instruction via Zoom videoconferencing for reading and math, and one-on-one instruction, with parents present for safety protocol.

Additionally, a guidance counselor has reached out to families to let them know they’re available if needed, and the school’s transition program for students moving from high school to life after school has remained in place.

Abbey said the school has continued to provide speech, language and music therapy as well as occupational and physical therapy through a virtual program.

“Some students have even been able to continue to see their behavior therapist at home,” she said. “It depends on both the comfort level of the therapist and family, as well as their availability.”

May 22, 2020 0 comment

Catholic Schools Coronavirus / COVID-19 Education Choice Featured News Private School Scholarships Private Schools School Choice

As pandemic drags on, private school worries grow

Ron Matus May 8, 2020

Ron Matus

Ten families with 15 students enrolled at Crestwell School in Fort Myers have said they cannot afford to return in the fall amid the worsening economic fallout of COVID-19.

Christian Life Academy started six years ago with six students in a single room in a church, and it has been growing ever since. This year, the little school on Florida’s southwest Gulf Coast reached 74 students in grades K-8, with 15 staffers, including seven full-time teachers. The ribbon cutting on the 5,000-square-foot building last August reflected a justified confidence that even more middle-class and working-class families would appreciate what the school had to offer.

Then COVID-19 happened.

Since Florida shuttered brick-and-mortar schools in mid-March, five Christian Life families have un-enrolled their children.

Two experienced layoffs. One saw a parent’s job shrink to part time. One decided to home school to save money.

Another handful of parents made it clear that while they love the school, the economic uncertainty means they can’t commit to re-enrolling.

“They’re waiting to find out exactly how much this is going to impact them,” said Principal Aaron Quaintance, a former public school teacher.

What does that mean for the school?

“I have faith that no matter what happens, God will provide and we will make it work,” he said. But if schools don’t physically re-open in the fall, “there is concern about families being forced to explore other options.”

With every passing week, private schools across Florida and beyond grow more uneasy.

Through Thursday, 73 percent of 634 Florida private schools that have responded to a survey from Step Up For Students (which hosts this blog) said they are experiencing declines in re-enrollment compared to last year. Seventy-three percent also said many parents who are not using state school choice scholarship are saying they may not be able to pay tuition next year. All in all, 58 percent said what they’re hearing from parents has them worried about their viability for the coming school year.

EdChoice got similar results when it surveyed private schools nationwide. Sixty-five percent said they were “extremely” or “very” worried about their families struggling financially. Fifty-one percent said they were “extremely” or “very” worried about losing enrollment next year. The survey was conducted April 1-17, just as waves of unemployment began crashing towards the worst job loss since the Great Depression.

In the past few weeks, 10 families with 15 students enrolled at Crestwell School in Fort Myers said they couldn’t afford to return in the fall, said head of school Tina Parsons. The school serves 158 students in grades K-8, with about 20 who use a state choice scholarship. Most of the Crestwell families are middle-class. Many own their own businesses, Parsons said. And they’re getting hammered.

“I’m putting a smile on my face and rolling up my sleeves and trying to get through it,” she said. “My concern is, if we’re not able to go back to school, how many more kids are going to drop out?”

Parsons said some parents have asked if she can guarantee that students will be physically in the school in the fall.

“I’ve told parents that I have to abide by my governor’s mandates,” she said. “But some are saying if they can’t have a real teacher in a real classroom … why not just go to public school and get essentially the same thing for free?”

To date, federal relief for education has been aimed primarily at public schools. The Paycheck Protection Program is some help to private schools, but it’s a short-term fix. The other relief buckets – GEER, ESSER, the “micro-grants” program – aren’t likely to yield more than marginal support. And yet, public school groups pushed back hard this week against an effort by the U.S. Department of Education to lay out a broader definition of “equitable services” for some of that relief.

The particularly daunting challenge for private schools isn’t much of a blip on the media radar (exceptions here and here). Ditto for the potentially big repercussions for public schools (see here and here).

Schools like Christian Life Academy may be especially vulnerable. It’s small. And most of its parents do not get state help for tuition. Florida has the broadest array of choice scholarships in America, but they are mostly limited to low-income students and students with special needs. About 40 percent of Christian Life students use those scholarships.

The school’s PPP loan will tide it over for two months. But after that?

“My faith is in God,” Quaintance said, “so this is an opportunity to grow my faith.”

Schools that were vulnerable before the pandemic are in an even bigger bind.

Nationally, at least eight Catholic dioceses have announced the closure and/or consolidation of Catholic schools in the past two months, including the Institute of Notre Dame, a 170-year-old college prep school in Maryland. Thursday, the Archdiocese of Newark announced the consolidation and closure of 10 schools, including one that is part of the highly regarded Cristo Rey Network.

“The process to identify affected schools and pursue this plan began before the COVID-19 crisis, and the decision is not directly linked to the pandemic,” the archdiocese said in a press release. “Archdiocesan officials noted, however, that the crisis has further weakened the economic position of the schools and other ministries.”

In Florida, some private schools are on edge, even if they have significant numbers of students on choice scholarships.

Kings Christian School in Miami has about 100 students in K-8, with 60 to 70 percent on scholarship. Principal Katherine de la Fe said no parents have said they can’t pay tuition going forward, but many have said they must wait until summer to determine if they can re-enroll.

“There are moments where I can feel overwhelmed,” de la Fe said. “No one’s gone through this before. I can’t predict the future, so I don’t know what kind of impact this will have. I think all of us feel this way.”

Trying to predict fall enrollment is “like throwing a dart against the wall,” said Rod Jackson, superintendent of St. Luke’s Lutheran School in Central Florida. But as unemployment surges “we know people are hurting,” he said. “And that has us very concerned about what next year is going to look like.”

The school has 575 students in grades K-8, about 30 percent of them on choice scholarships. Jackson said St. Luke’s is big enough and established enough not to have to worry about possible closure. But how big a hit it takes, he said, will hinge on whether it can physically re-open in the fall.

If it can? Maybe a 10 to 15 percent drop in enrollment. That’s a lot, Jackson said, but “we’ll be all right.”

If it can’t? Then enrollment could drop by twice that, he said.

In the Tampa Bay area, Erin Ciulla said her K-12 school with 65 students, Odessa Christian, has already heard from the parents of 10 students who are unsure if they can enroll in the fall.

“These are people where this is their school home, their kids are thriving,” she said. The thought of leaving had them “broken up.”

Ciulla said most of her families will stick with Odessa Christian if their children can physically return to it. But closure that extends late into this calendar year could change the equation. At that point, she said, “they’d probably seek out something they don’t have to pay for.”

“We will continue to carry out our mission no matter what,” Ciulla added. “It could look significantly different than it did in February, but, even if we only have five students, we will continue.”

May 8, 2020 0 comment

Blog Guest Catholic Schools Commentary and Opinion Coronavirus / COVID-19 Education Choice Educator spotlight Featured Private School Scholarships School Choice

A parent and educator shares her ‘new normal’ during COVID-19

Special to redefinED May 5, 2020

Special to redefinED

The Capezza family: Jennie and Louis Capezza, seated; and their children, Kate, Luke and Abbey.

Editor’s note: redefinED guest blogger Jennie Capezza is director of campus ministry at John Carroll High School in Fort Pierce, Fla., and mother to three John Carrol students. She writes here of her efforts to juggle caring for her students as well as for her children during the COVID-19 crisis.

Even pre-COVID-19, our family routine was hectic. Raising three teenagers and juggling our careers required my husband and me to hold family meetings on Sunday evenings in an attempt to get a handle on the week ahead: which children had practice games, which work- and school-related meetings must be attended, and last but not least, which evenings could be set aside for family dinners with everyone at the table.

Even our best intentions to make it all work sometimes resembled a glorified fire drill.

Everything intensified five years ago when I took a giant leap of faith and left my job as a second-grade teacher to become an English teacher at John Carroll High School in Fort Pierce. That move required both a professional and personal adjustment, but it’s a decision I’ve never regretted.

Our school serves roughly 400 students in grades 9-12. We are the only Catholic school within a one-hour radius of Fort Pierce. Since 2012 when we began accepting students who are eligible for a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship, a program that provides the means for families with limited financial resources to attend private schools, our student body has become more representative of our community. We currently serve 77 tax credit scholarship students, as well as three students who qualify for a Gardiner Scholarship for students with unique abilities. Two students attend on the new Family Empowerment Scholarship, which extends support to middle-income families.

(All three scholarship programs are administered by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.)

In my years at John Carroll, I have become fully vested in our school’s mission to inspire students in the pursuit of educational excellence, foster character formation, develop a commitment to serve and affirm the dignity of each student entrusted to our care. Certainly not a small undertaking, but one that our administration, faculty and staff embrace wholeheartedly and without reservation.

In my role as director of campus ministry, I’ve observed students, families and teachers consumed with their daily routines. Now that we’ve been unexpectedly pulled away from the school we love due to COVID-19, things are different for my colleagues and friends, and for my own family as well.

At the outset of this time of isolation, we discussed what our days would look like. We decided that the kids’ weekdays would be filled with Zoom classes, practice tests, essay revisions and vocabular reviews. My husband, who is a financial adviser, would work from home. I would continue to explore creative ways to stay connected to my students. At the weekends, we would enjoy fishing, playing tennis, trying new recipes, working in the yard, and praying together.

We’ve been able to stay true to this intention. But along the way, I’ve begun seeing our three teenagers in a different light as we’ve engaged in conversations we’ve never had before. Conversations about their dreams and the lessons they’ve learned in self-defining moments. Meanwhile, my husband and I have had the chance to share more about our life experiences than we ever have.

We all are realizing there is value in setting aside time to talk, to think, to reflect. To reminisce about the past and to set goals for the future.

This realization in turn has led me to begin thinking about what drives our lives as a family. My husband and I have always wanted the best for our children. Additionally, I’ve maintained a focus on doing whatever I can to create the best environment for my students. But it’s occurred to me that perhaps we’ve been so focused on staying busy that we’ve lost opportunities for spending and enjoying quality time with each other – time for self-expression and honest communication.

None of us know when our lives will return to “normal,” but I do know this: The opportunity to fully engage as a family over the past month has been a priceless gift. It’s one I intend to cherish and carry into whatever comes next.

May 5, 2020 0 comment

Catholic Schools Coronavirus / COVID-19 Education Choice Featured News Private Schools School Choice

For some Florida private schools, pandemic ‘may very well mean closure’

Ron Matus April 29, 2020

Ron Matus

The 43 Catholic schools serving 15,000 students in the Diocese of Orlando began making preparations for the Covid-19 pandemic in February. It knew then, said Superintendent Henry Fortier, that “this virus posed, in some instances, potential extinction for us.”

By mid-April, a handful of families at virtually every school – maybe 150 total – were saying they couldn’t pay tuition for the remainder of the school year, creating uncertainty for re-registration for the fall. Since then, the numbers have risen into the hundreds, as parents throughout Central Florida’s tourist-dependent economy have been laid off and furloughed.

“As the storm comes in, the waves are getting bigger and bigger,” Fortier said.

Private schools throughout Florida are feeling it.

Some 73 percent of the 327 private schools that immediately responded to a survey sent out Monday by Step Up For Students (which hosts this blog) said they were experiencing a decline in re-enrollment rates compared to this time last year, while 75 percent agreed many non-scholarship parents were telling them they couldn’t pay tuition next year. Sixty-two percent said the response from parents was enough to make them worry about the school’s viability for the 2020-21 school year. (The survey was sent to nearly 2,000 schools, so these results should be considered preliminary.)

Fortier’s hurricane metaphor is apt. It’s impossible to tell, this far out, how strong the economic storm unleashed by Covid-19 will be when it makes landfall. At the same time, it’s clear the threat is real, the damage could be extensive, and some structures are more vulnerable than others.

Schools with strong majorities of students using choice scholarships have more of a financial buffer. But those with more non-scholarship parents may be in for an especially rough spell.

“You pull 30 to 40 kids out of a school with 200 to 250 students, that can be dramatic,” Fortier said. “If I can’t reduce my staff … where does the money come from? Pennies from heaven? This may very well mean closure for many non-public schools around the state.”

“This is definitely a very serious issue. And I am confident that some schools will not survive this,” Michael Burroughs, executive director of the Florida League of Christian Schools, said in an email. “Personally, I think REALLY small schools that are accustomed to living on shoestring budgets will eke this out. I think larger schools have the savvy to leverage capital to manage this crisis. I think the greatest risk is the average school with 100 to 300 students. I think those have the potential to be the hardest hit. And you know as well as I do, that is the majority of religious schools in the state.”

Florida has one of the biggest private school sectors in America, with 2,700 schools serving 335,000 students in K-12. About 160,000 of those students use choice scholarships for students disadvantaged by poverty or disability.

Economic slumps are always tough for private schools. During the Great Recession, the number of private schools in Florida fell from 2,304 in 2005 to 2,064 in 2008, a 10 percent reduction. This, even though the number of students using the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship for low-income families grew by 14,322 during that span.

Fortier said about a dozen schools in the Orlando diocese fit that smaller-school profile that may put them at risk if enrollment declines significantly.

All 43 schools in the diocese applied for forgivable loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, the federal relief stream for small businesses and nonprofits that appears to be the biggest source of federal help for private schools. The PPP is, at best, a Band-Aid that can help sustain a school for two months. And many private schools have yet to get that.

Three schools in the Orlando diocese were approved during the first round of the PPP, which got a second infusion of money, $310 billion, late last week. According to the initial results from the Step Up survey, 82 percent of the 327 respondents said they applied to the PPP. Thirty-two percent said their applications had been approved; 64 percent said their applications were pending.

To be sure, all education sectors are facing the strain. The Council of the Great City Schools warned Tuesday that nearly 300,000 teachers could be laid off in the biggest urban districts without more federal relief. At the same time, there’s a strong case to be made that big hits to private school enrollment will have negative repercussions on school districts, which will have to teach more students with less money in unprecedented circumstances (see here, here, here, and here).

Some private schools are doing everything they can to keep that from happening.

Many private school parents whose children were not using choice scholarships may not realize such scholarships are available, Fortier said. Schools in the Orlando diocese are working hard to make sure parents now in a bind understand they may have options like the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship and Family Empowerment Scholarship.

April 29, 2020 0 comment

Catholic Schools Coronavirus / COVID-19 Education Choice Featured Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Gardiner Scholarship News Private Schools School Choice Virtual Education

Art smart teachers help students learn and heal during social distancing

Lisa Buie April 29, 2020

Lisa Buie

Students in Jeanine Newcomb’s art class at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Pinellas Park, Fla., work with materials found in their yard for their online art lessons.

When the threat of COVID-19 forced schools to close their campuses in March and pivot almost overnight to distance learning, many found the challenge of moving English, math and science online daunting enough.

But what about subjects generally perceived as “enrichment” – the ones that don’t always rely on textbooks or set-in-stone lesson plans, like art?

Schoolhouse Preparatory in Miami, which serves students with learning differences and those who are at risk of not completing high school, encouraged students to take their art projects home with them when they collected their books and other materials. For the past few weeks, they’ve been working on those projects with virtual assistance from art teacher Elizabeth Baez.

Principal Jillian Tamayo De Villiers decided this was the best plan because she was unsure if the school’s 70 students would have access to art supplies in isolation. Nearly half attend the school on Florida Tax Credit Scholarships for lower-income families or Gardiner Scholarships for students with unique abilities.

Both programs are administered by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.

Jeanine Newcomb, who teaches art at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Pinellas Park, took a different route: She challenged her students to search their back yards for materials they could use to create mandalas and other one-of-a-kind masterpieces.

“I thought a ‘found objects’ assignment would be perfect, given I am not sure as to the limits of student art supplies,” said Newcomb, who drew inspiration from Andy Goldsworthy, a British artist known for using materials found in nature such as sticks, stones and flower petals in his landscape art. “The virtual method was new for all of us, so I wanted to keep it as simple and direct as possible on this first go-round.”

Newcomb encourages her students to upload images of their works in progress as well as their finished pieces and to write and share a short reflection on their experience.

“Some of the submissions brought me to tears – they were thoughtful, visually fascinating, and the written commentaries showed insight and new respect for the term ‘art’, said Newcomb, a veteran art educator who teaches all of the school’s 262 students, 172 of whom receive a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship.

Like Newcomb, art teachers throughout the state are exploring creative ways to touch their students’ lives beyond the defined walls of a brick-and-mortar classroom. Sarah Miller, who teaches art at Classical Preparatory, a charter school about 30 miles north of Tampa, has begun posting videos of herself making art and is encouraging her students to post their work as well.

“We can create the traditional way with paper, canvas, paint, pencils, or we can create on a digital platform,” Miller said. “We can virtually tour museums on the other side of the world without leaving our home.”

Rather than feeling restricted, Miller sees this time of social distancing as an opportunity.

“I want our virtual classroom to be an oasis where the students can talk freely with one another and myself and feel comfortable to post their work,” she said.

Students at Dixon School of Arts and Sciences in Pensacola create art as a way to de-stress during social distancing.

Miller isn’t alone in her belief that art can be a unifying force in uncertain times. Donna Curry, executive director of Dixon School of Arts and Sciences in Pensacola, launched a special therapy program to help students deal with the added stress that can come with isolation.

The school, whose mission is to provide creative experiences to students focusing on the arts and sciences, sent home kits with art supplies and links to online lesson plans. Curry regularly puts extra art supplies on the buses that distribute food to her families, most of whom take advantage of state scholarships.

She plans to begin holding twice-weekly online meetings for students to share their artwork and relate successes and challenges.

“Doing so releases some of the burden to make room for healing,” Curry said.

April 29, 2020 0 comment

Analysis Catholic Schools Featured Homeschooling School Choice Testing and Accountability

NAEP History, Geography, Civics scores paint dismal picture

Matthew Ladner April 27, 2020

Matthew Ladner

Diffusion, then, rather than discovery, is the duty of our government. With us, the qualifications of voters are as important as the qualifications of governors, and even comes first in the natural order. -Horace Mann

Preparing students to responsibly exercise citizenship represented a foundational aspiration in the founding of the American public-school system. Then as now, we did not simply aspire to have schools equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary for economic flourishing; we also wanted students to develop a grounding in history and civics.

Our education system is failing to accomplish this goal.

Last week, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) released nationwide eighth-grade data on the 2018 exams taken in United States History, Geography and Civics. Fewer than one-third of American public-school students scored proficient on any of the three exams. In fact, on each exam, the percentage of public-school students scoring “Below Basic” exceeded the percentage scoring “Proficient.”

For every eighth-grade public-school student who scored “Proficient,” there were more than 2.5 who scored “Below Basic,” the lowest achievement level. We can’t be sure what the ratio of “Proficient” to “Below Basic” would be among American eighth-graders if we abolished their history classes, gave them a library card and offered to pay them a dollar for every history book they read, but it might surpass 2.5 to 1.

While scores aren’t available for private schools in general, scores for Catholic school students are – and they tell a different story.

Scores of Catholic school students show an advantage, in several ways: when comparing them to free and reduced-price lunch-eligible public-school students; non-eligible free and reduced-price lunch populations; and racial and ethnic groups. If you compare Catholic school students of parents without college degrees to public-school students of parents without college degrees, Catholic school students get the better of it. The same holds true when you compare Catholic school students of college-educated parents to public-school students of college-educated parents.

Ironically, we heard last week a faint echo of the Know-Nothing Party’s anti-Catholic school rhetoric directed at home schooling. Harvard Magazine quoted Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Barthole:

“From the beginning of compulsory education in this country, we have thought of the government as having some right to educate children so that they become active, productive participants in the larger society,” she says. This involves in part giving children the knowledge to eventually get jobs and support themselves.

“But it’s also important that children grow up exposed to community values, social values, democratic values, ideas about nondiscrimination and tolerance of other people’s viewpoints,” she says, noting that European countries such as Germany ban homeschooling entirely and that countries such as France require home visits and annual tests.

People can have honest disagreements about home-school policy, but I invite the reader to ponder the first chart in this post and attempt to square it with the quote above. Should we be worried about the civic values and knowledge of the 3 percent of students who home-schooled before the pandemic? Or might the appalling lack of history, geography and civics displayed by the 87 percent or so students attending public schools constitute a more pressing concern?

April 27, 2020 1 comment

Catholic Schools Coronavirus / COVID-19 Education and Public Policy Education Choice Featured News Private Schools School Choice

Private school leaders react to news of continued public school closure

Lisa Buie April 20, 2020

Lisa Buie

Schools in 31 states, including Florida, have announced that schools will remain closed for the remainder of the school year. Chart: Council of Chief State School Officers

Leaders at several Florida private schools greeted with relief Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to keep public school campuses closed and continue distance learning for the rest of the academic year due to possible effects of COVID-19.

The governor’s announcement came over the weekend amid pressure from advocates on both sides of the issue.

“We think it was the best decision under the circumstances,” said Chris Pastura, superintendent of schools for the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg, which includes 47 schools and centers that serve 43,000 students in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties. Many students receive state scholarships administered by Step Up For Students, which hosts this blog.

Pastura said reopening campuses would have been “an administrative nightmare” if even one student, parent or staff member had become infected with the virus.

“We would then have to look at closing more than one school,” he said, based on whether the infected person had siblings at another school or whether another one of the diocese’s schools was located close to the school where the case occurred.

DeSantis said in his announcement that his decision came after consulting with educators and parents.

“The last thing that we’re going to do is force everyone in school and have half the kids not show up with their parents,” he said. “And then teachers will not want to do it.”

Florida now joins 30 other states that have closed brick-and-mortar schools until August or September.

The governor’s decision came two days after President Donald Trump released federal guidelines that included a three-phase plan but no timelines, leaving specifics to each state’s governor. However, those guidelines recommended that school buildings remain closed during the first phase.

DeSantis had said on April 9 that he saw value in reopening school campuses in May, even if only for two weeks. That statement prompted public school educators across the state to begin making reopening plans, although some private school leaders said they would make their own decisions. Among options they considered were staggered schedules to allow for social distancing, a combination of distance learning and physical attendance, requiring masks and instituting enhanced disinfection procedures.

Now, private school leaders say, they will focus on making the best of the distance learning programs they launched in mid-March and have worked to improve.

“Teaching remotely has its challenges and requires accommodations, applied sometimes daily for some students to make it work,” said Kim Kuruzovich, executive director for LiFT Academy. “But we are keeping our students and staff safe while meeting virtually face to face.”

The school, about 25 miles west of Tampa, serves 140 students in K-12, 96 percent of whom attend on private school scholarships. Of those, 48 participate in the Gardiner Scholarship Program for students with unique abilities. Two receive a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship.

Kuruzovich said feedback from parents has been positive, and that school leaders have begun considering options for summer and the start of the 2020-21 school year.

“There is a desire by staff and parents to err on the side of caution and not rush to go back to what we had before without first seeing where we are with the coronavirus,” Kuruzovich said. “Most importantly, as with every school is to do what keeps all of us safe and moving forward academically.”

Stacy Angier, principal at Abundant Life Christian Academy, said she understands the reasons behind the decision but is disappointed for families. The school, which serves students in grades K-11 in hard-hit Broward County, was among the first in the state to pivot to virtual education and has worked hard to keep students engaged while online.

On Thursday, Abundant Life will host a virtual school pep rally for its 462 students, 234 of whom attend on a Florida Tax Credit Scholarship.

Meanwhile, plans for a virtual kindergarten graduation are underway, Angier said. The ceremony will take place via video, complete with individual photos of each child in cap and gown.

April 20, 2020 0 comment