A couple of years ago, things weren’t looking so good for the Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School in Wilmington.
Like many Catholic schools across the state and nation, the K-8 school’s enrollment had plummeted in a decade, from 280 to 160, according to the California Department of Education. Battered by the recession, parents in the blue-collar harbor town found themselves unable to afford food and rent, let alone private school tuition.
Ominously, the economic pressures proved too much for another Catholic elementary school in Wilmington – Holy Family – which closed about a year ago.
But a campaign funded by a foundation has breathed new life into Sts. Peter and Paul, as well as eight other at-risk schools in the Los Angeles Archdiocese.
The idea was founded on the premise that Catholic schools, like any category of business, need to do a better job of marketing themselves. To carry this out, each of the nine schools in the so-named Catholic School Consortium hired a marketing professional, with a foundation established by a successful scientist-entrepreneur picking up the tab.
So far, it seems to be working. Enrollment at Sts. Peter and Paul has climbed from 173 in June to the current 207. The school at 706 Bay View Ave. boasts brand-new Smartboards – or interactive whiteboards – in every fourth-through-eighth-grade classroom. It has raised $50,000 toward a goal of $380,000 for the purpose of renovating classrooms and building new sports fields.
Called the Believe It campaign, the effort has coincided with a 14 percent enrollment boost at the nine elementary schools in two years. It comes at a time when Catholic-school enrollment across the state and nation has been on the decline.
From 2003 to 2009, the number of students attending K-12 Catholic schools in California dropped by 4,000 students, to around 222,000, according to the California Department of Education. Nationwide, enrollment has slipped by 533,000 students in a decade, according to the National Catholic Education Association.
In the Los Angeles Archdiocese, which also includes parishes and schools in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, five elementary schools have closed since 2002.
The aim of the Believe It campaign is to tout statistics that organizers say underscore the superiority of a Catholic education, particularly in low-income areas.
Citing a study conducted by the University of Notre Dame five years ago, Cynthia Lundie – the marketer hired to work at Sts. Peter and Paul – said the drop-out rate at inner-city Catholic schools is next to zero.
“These schools are the life preservers for kids in urban areas,” she said.
In an effort to boost enrollment, Lundie made a point to have a booth at annual community events, such as the Wilmington’s annual community picnic and holiday parade. She hung a banner on the fence in front of the school to advertise several open houses. When parents came, Lundie and the school’s principal, Nancy Kuria, were quick to tell them that although tuition runs about $3,200, families pay on a sliding scale.
Lundie raised money by organizing an annual dinner, beginning in the fall of 2009. Each of the two events has netted $20,000. She has secured grants from the Riordan Foundation – created by former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan – and other foundations for the Smartboards and capital improvements.
The nine marketers hired by the Believe It grant began their tenure in January 2009. The grant expires in June 2012. The other schools are Ascension, Nativity and St. Odilia in South Central; Holy Name of Jesus near USC; Immaculate Conception and St. Turibius near downtown L.A.; St. Anne in Santa Monica and St. Eugene in South Los Angeles.
The money came from the Specialty Family Foundation, created by the late James Peter, a medical doctor and Ph.D. in biochemistry who made a fortune by creating the company Specialty Laboratories Inc.
Meanwhile, Catholic schools in the Los Angeles area have experienced some encouraging signs outside of the Believe It campaign.
Kevin Baxter, superintendent of elementary schools for the Los Angeles Archdiocese, says two previously closed schools will reopen next year: St. Joan of Arc in West Los Angeles and All Souls School in Alhambra. Both will be dual-immersion schools, which is a form of bilingual education. (While the former will instruct students in English and Spanish, the latter will instruct them in English and Mandarin.)
“This is the first time we have tried this (dual-immersion) model,” Baxter told the Daily Breeze. “We’re really excited to see how it turns out.”
At Sts. Peter and Paul in Wilmington, Kuria, the principal, said the economy has taken a ravaging toll on her families, about 87 percent of whom are Latino.
“Many of the parents from the school are longshoremen,” she said. “The priority (during the recession) was not on (private) education, it was `food on the table.’ I remember sending home a couple baskets for meals.”
Lundie is currently attempting to establish a South Bay-wide advisory committee for Sts. Peter and Paul. The charge of the committee will be to find ways to raise money for the school so it can keep tuition costs down for needy families. To learn more, contact Lundie at 310-770-2992.
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After complaints from parents, archdiocese officials say they are leaving the decision on extending elementary school schedules by 20 days to individual campuses.
At an event Tuesday to launch a campaign to boost enrollment at schools run by the archdiocese, Chancellor Mary Elizabeth Galt said the additional days of instruction were “a recommendation.”
Cardinal Roger Mahony and other officials announced last week that the extension of the school calendar would be adopted by most of the archdiocese’s 210 elementary schools. That plan drew swift opposition from some parents who complained that the extension would interfere with family schedules and summer activities.
Officials had said the move would help boost student performance and attract new families at a time when public schools are being forced to reduce the school year because of budget cuts. Fifteen schools are already operating on an extended calendar and 70% of schools have said they would adopt the longer year.
At Tuesday’s event, officials said the archdiocese schools have 30,000 open seats and that nine schools are in jeopardy of closing. Their marketing campaign is aimed at adding 1,000 students in the fall and increasing donations and other outside financial support for the endangered campuses.
The enrollment drive includes Spanish- and English-language radio ads, billboards, television and print promotions and neighborhood events.
Officials said the effort is imperative because Catholic schools here and nationally are being beset by declining resources and demographic shifts.
“Traditionally, Catholic schools were served by their individual parish and had no need to market themselves,” said Steve Bumbaugh, executive director of the nonprofit Specialty Family Foundation, one of the partners in the campaign. “That whole model has changed with the diminution of priests and nuns running schools and the migration of middle-class Catholic families to the suburbs. The Catholic school system is trying to catch up with reality.”
To view the original article, click here: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/02/local/la-me-adv-catholic-schools-20110202
Han perdido mucha matrícula; inician campaña para atraer más estudiantes
Yolanda Arenales | 2011-02-02 | La Opinión
El declive en el número de alumnos y la situación económica actual amenaza a las escuelas católicas de Los Ángeles. Sin embargo, este sector de planteles privados en el que estudian más de 80 mil niños –en los condados de Los Ángeles, Santa Bárbara y Ventura-, se mantiene dispuesto a luchar por mantener su papel en la educación, particularmente atrayendo la atención de las familias de moderados recursos.
“Al contrario de lo que ocurre en muchos países de Latinoamérica, aquí las escuelas católicas no son para los ricos”, dice Theresa Fragoso, directora del programas de la Fundación para la Educación Católica (CEF).
CEF otorgó este año 8,250 becas, frente a las siete mil del curso pasado, ya que según Fragoso, la fundación sigue contando con recursos aún en la economía actual.
La abundancia de oportunidades para familias de bajos recursos es una de las razones en las que las escuelas católicas se apoyaron para lanzar ayer su campaña bajo el lema ¡Créelo! desde el plantel de la Inmaculada Concepción, en el centro de Los Ángeles.
El evento, en el que para gozo de los pequeños presentes se simuló una nevada, contó con las palabras de agradecimiento de Danny Farmer, una estrella de fútbol americano en la secundaria Loyola, UCLA y la NFL y quien atribuyó su éxito a la educación católica que recibió.
Pero bajo el tono festivo de su campaña, las escuelas católicas de la región buscan revertir una tendencia que les ha hecho perder protagonismo en los últimos años.
Mientras que en 1995-96 contaban con más de cien mil alumnos, en los años subsiguientes perdieron unos 20 mil, lo que podría determinar el cierre de algunos planteles.
“La llegada de nuevas opciones como las escuelas chárter y más recientemente la crisis económica está afectando negativamente a nuestras escuelas”, comenta Steve Bumbaugh al frente del Consorcio de Escuelas Católicas y director ejecutivo de la Fundación Specialty Family.
Bumbaugh explica que aunque las escuelas católicas son generalmente asequibles –con un costo promedio de unos 300 dólares mensuales para los niveles K-8 y el doble en el ciclo secundario- y existen numerosos tipos de ayudas y becas para afrontar su costo, muchos padres no pueden permitírselo en estos tiempos.
“Mi hijo iba antes a una escuela católica, pero ahora encuentro muchas de las mismas ventajas en esta chárter, que además no me cuesta nada”, señala Damon Johnson, padre de un estudiante en la chárter que la cadena ICEF tiene en Inglewood.
Pero para otros, como Claudia Jiménez, madre de un estudiante de la escuela católica Nativity, los 205 dólares mensuales que paga por la educación de su hijo, son una de las mejores inversiones.
“Le ha ido muy bien académicamente, y además ha conseguido una base moral y ética que es difícil de cimentar en las escuelas públicas”, dice Jiménez.
Sin embargo, el declive de los centros católicos se siente en todo el país. Según la Asociación de Educación Católica Nacional (NCEA), mientras que en los 60 había unos 5.2 millones de estudiantes en más de 13 mil escuelas católicas en Estados Unidos, la cifra se redujo a 2.5 millones de alumnos –y menos de nueve mil escuelas- en los 90. Con la excepción de una ligera recuperación en matrículas –un aumento del 1.3% hasta el 2000- la tendencia a la baja se confirmó con un bajón de más del 20% de alumnos -533 mil- en la década siguiente, en la que más de 1,600 escuelas católicas se cerraron o consolidaron.
En esa línea, a mediados de enero de este año, el arzobispo de Nueva York anunció que 27 escuelas de su área están amenazadas con el cierre para el próximo curso, debido a su baja matrícula.
En Los Ángeles, hay actualmente unas 30 mil plazas vacantes.
“El objetivo inmediato es conseguir mil solicitudes hasta fines de marzo”, explica Bumbaugh, animando a los padres a que consideren esta opción para la educación de sus hijos, sobre todo tomando en cuenta los buenos resultados académicos de los planteles.
Un estudio realizado por la Escuela de Educación de la Universidad Loyola Marymount entre más de 200 estudiantes de secundaria en escuelas católicas, determinó que un 98% se graduó, lo que representa una tasa 35% mayor que las escuelas públicas de los tres condados en los que opera la Archidiócesis de Los Ángeles.
Bumbaugh enfatiza también, que las escuelas católicas no sólo acogen a estudiantes de cualquier nivel económico, sino de diferentes religiones –él mismo no es católico-,
“Esa es otra razón para que nadie las descarte sin antes informarse o visitarlas”, añade Bumbaugh.
Más información:
1 (888) 507 17 17
213 637 7300
www.archdiocese.la/learning/schools/
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The switch to a 200-day calendar will give campuses run by the archdiocese in L.A., Ventura and Santa Barbara counties one of the longest school years in the nation.
In announcing the expansion to a 200-day calendar, Cardinal Roger Mahony insisted Thursday that the archdiocese was not trying to gain a competitive advantage over the Los Angeles Unified School District, which has cut its school year to 175 days this year. He said the Catholic schools which serve 52,000 elementary and middle school children in three counties, were simply trying to step up their performance to ensure that students would become globally competitive.
“We’re not in competition with LAUSD, nor is this aimed at LAUSD,” the cardinal said during a news conference at Nativity School in South Los Angeles. “What we’re trying to do is focus on the group that we’re entrusted with, and we believe that more time in the classroom is beneficial to the students.”
National studies have long pointed to the benefits of a longer school year, and education reformers have noted that U.S. schools have a shorter school year than their counterparts in other developed countries. Despite that, few schools have attempted to significantly lengthen their instructional year, largely because of the increased cost.
Los Angeles Unified Supt. Ramon C. Cortines said he would lengthen the public school year “in a minute” if he had enough money. “I think it’s wonderful for the students,” he added.
“This is a pretty bold action,” said Chris Gabrieli, chairman of the National Center on Time and Learning, a Boston-based organization that advocates a longer school year and day. He said he could think of no school system as large as the one run by the Los Angeles Archdiocese that had attempted to significantly lengthen its academic year.
“It’ll be an important experiment to watch,” he said.
Probably the largest school system to operate on an extended calendar is that run by the KIPP charter school group, which operates 99 schools across the country, including five in Los Angeles. The KIPP year varies by school, with many staying open for more than 200 days. They also have a significantly longer school day than most schools, and have been praised for their academic achievement.
Find the original article here: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/28/local/la-me-catholic-schools-20110128