January 21, 2008   •   VOL. 46, NO. 2   •   Oakland, CA

Four urban schools join Catholic Schools Consortium
 

The consortium will help
with marketing, fundraising,
and academic development

By Voice staff

Four Catholic elementary schools — three in Oakland and one in Richmond — are the inaugural members of the newly formed Catholic Schools Consortium in the Oakland Diocese. The schools, which are all struggling financially, will receive marketing and fundraising help from the consortium, a joint effort of the diocesan school department and the diocesan school board.

The four schools are St. Anthony, St. Bernard and St. Jarlath in Oakland and St. Cornelius in Richmond. Four other schools that were also invited to consider membership declined to participate in the voluntary program at this time.

Seventh-grade teacher Jessica Heyman gives her class an assignment at St. Jarlath School in Oakland. The school is one of four that has joined the new Catholic School Consortium. GREG TARCZYNSKI PHOTO

Catalina Garcia-Quick, development director for the consortium, said her initial focus is to secure funding from foundations, corporations, and individuals to help the schools meet their financial obligations. All four schools currently receive some subsidy from the diocese in addition to parish support.

Garcia-Quick said her fundraising efforts “will not interfere in any way with the efforts of FACE (the diocesan Family Aid-Catholic Education), the Bishop’s Appeal, or other diocesan schools” to raise funds.

The consortium plans to host its first fund raiser, “Catch the Wave — Walk 2008, this spring at the four schools. The walk will draw attention to healthy living and tackle childhood obesity in addition to raising monies earmarked for each school’s physical education programs.

Along with fund raising, the consortium schools will receive help from the school board’s marketing committee to find ways to increase enrollment. About 600 students are currently enrolled in the four schools. The immediate goal is to increase enrollment to 1,000 students.

The principals and pastors of the four schools signed a formal three-year agreement in December that included a commitment to complete financial visibility, cooperation with consortium marketing and fundraising plans, participation in an automatic tuition collection program, and compliance with accounting, cash management and admission procedures of the school department.

In turn, the consortium agreed to provide strong fundraising and marketing support, fiscal analysis, the consolidation of suppliers and service contracts for overall efficiency, and assistance with making needed capital improvements to the schools’ facilities.

The agreement emphasizes that school viability is not just about money. The school department will work with the consortium principals and staffs to create academic programs that increase student achievement and to foster Catholic identity and Catholic culture in the schools.

A committee of retired school principals, the diocesan school board chair, and school department staff is meeting with consortium principals about curriculum planning and staff development. Committee members will help each school tackle its most pressing needs, everything from facility repairs to finding specialized teachers for such classes as music, art and P.E.

“Our consortium schools do not have the same resources as our other schools and this puts additional burdens on their faculties,” said School Superintendent Richard Kruska. “We want to increase their finances so they can hire extra teachers and provide enrichment programs that students in our other schools have on a regular basis.”

Garcia-Quick said the specific needs of each school remain foremost in the plan. “The consortium is a collaborative effort that allows the schools to retain their individual identity while also receiving the benefits of the overall group.” Already each school is making a list of its pressing needs and setting three-year goals.

In a letter to parents, Kruska said he has “great confidence” that the schools will become “flourishing academic and Catholic centers.”

Already the consortium’s efforts are bearing fruit. After news of the schools’ needs were made public late last fall, an anonymous donor gave $20,000 to St. Jarlath School for tuition assistance and a Soda Foundation grant allowed the school to purchase a new boiler for its heating system.

“There are a lot of people out there who want to help our schools,” said Kruska.
The consortium is modeled on a similar effort begun in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. 10 years ago to help eight struggling urban schools. Over the years six more schools joined and $60 million was invested in the 14 schools. The schools became a national model for academic achievement.

However, in November the archdiocese announced that it was reconfiguring the consortium because of a fundraising deficit, decreased enrollment and an increase in tuition-free charter schools. Four schools will remain in the consortium, seven will be converted into charter schools and one will become a parish-run school. The other two schools had already been consolidated into neighboring schools..

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