Ever since the New York and Brooklyn dioceses announced
multiple school closings, people are reacting as if it were
totally unexpected. But anyone involved in the daily operations
of the parochial schools saw the writing on the wall a long time
ago. The decision to close dozens of elementary schools at the
end of the school year was not made overnight.
When Cardinal O'Connor was head of the New York archdiocese, the
school my children attended on Staten Island was on a list of
schools to be closed. I joined efforts with other parents to
raise funds, and, while we were not very successful, our efforts
alone must have persuaded the cardinal to spare us. The fact that
it is an inner-city parochial school probably was a huge factor,
because the New York archdiocese is committed to keeping those
schools open.
Since this is an election year, we can expect aspiring candidates
for mayor to exploit the closings to generate interest in their
campaigns. Oddly enough, the incumbent mayor, Michael Bloomberg,
seems more interested in acquiring the buildings for use by the
city's public-school system.
That hasn't escaped the notice of one Queens mother, Alice Lemos,
whose son is a student at St. Theresa's, one of the schools that
will close at the end of the school year. She sent me an e-mail
about Mr. Bloomberg's comments: "Instead of saying, I WILL
HELP YOU DEVISE A PLAN TO KEEP SOME OF THE SCHOOLS OPEN, he wants
to grab the buildings for the public schools. I hope that when
people vote, they realize this."
Ms. Lemos, who is Jewish, sends her son to St. Theresa because of
"values and safety." The local public schools are
crowded and unsafe, she says, and many non-Catholics attend her
son's school: "Sikh kids, Buddhists, a few Protestants, a
couple of Jewish kids, my son's friend several years ago was
Moslem - unfortunately, he moved to Indiana!"
The subject of school vouchers and tax credits keeps coming up as
a way to save these schools, but that is unlikely to happen
without a change in the state constitution, which presents legal
challenges to the use of vouchers at religious institutions. The
Blaine Amendment should have been repealed a long time ago, but
there does not seem to be enough political will to do so.
Ms. Lemos, a Republican, says: "I think many of the clergy
still do not realize that their best friends are conservatives
and Republicans, who support vouchers, tuition tax credits and
faith based values and are pro life. The local churches play up
to the politicos who do not support vouchers and are basically
against them! Such as pro abort Eric Gioia in my neighborhood.
Now he is crying crocodile tears over the closed schools. Anthony
Weiner is another one."
There have been scads of editorials espousing vouchers and tax
credits to save these schools. I am more practical and think
other solutions are more viable than waiting for a crippled state
Legislature, mired in scandal and corruption, to act. Parents who
send their children to parochial school in the inner city find
that the sacrifices can sometimes be overwhelming. Help is
available through several organizations that provide scholarships
for children in need. The Children's Scholarship Fund, at
http://www.scholarshipfund.org,is a national organization, based
at Manhattan, that can help. There is also the Inner-City
Scholarship Fund, and several others.
One of the main reasons for closing a school is declining
enrollment, and usually that happens because low-income families
can no longer afford the rising tuition costs. Those scholarships
can help, but it should also be noted that several of the doomed
schools are located in affluent communities where tuition is
affordable and the public-school system works. In those areas,
the closings may be painful but they are reasonable.
Some alumni consider themselves survivors of Catholic schools. I
happen to be an advocate. I will be eternally grateful for the
superb education I received from the nuns, who expected all of us
in the barrio to succeed in spite of our poverty and
dysfunctional environment. No excuses were made for our
circumstances. We were there to learn, and we did. That tradition
still stands, and that is the main reason Catholic schools
perform better, on less than a quarter of the public schools'
budget.
I have an idea. Have a telethon where anyone who went to Catholic
school can donate some money to a special fund. I'd gladly
contribute, and I'll bet there are millions of others who will
too. Then, too, we can always pray.