Repositioning Catholic Schools for Success

Building projects, consolidations, mergers address future growth and sustainability

CLIFTON  To ensure the ability to provide the best, most sustainable Catholic school education to families in the Diocese of Paterson, several schools will embark on a comprehensive, strategic repositioning plan for the long-term viability and vitality of Catholic education in Passaic, Morris and Sussex Counties.

“Catholic education is a priority for the Diocese of Paterson. It is a privileged way to accomplish the Church’s primary mission of evangelization,” said Bishop Serratelli.

“In our diverse society, the Catholic school is an institutional commitment on our part to contribute to the good of all society by educating students with academic excellence and forming them to bring the power of faith to improve society with the knowledge that they gain. Catholic schools remain one of the best ways to nourish faith in Jesus, a love of the Church and a commitment to serve others, especially the poor. Working together with parents, who have the first responsibility for their children, the Catholic school helps prepare students to take their place in society as well-educated, responsible, moral individuals who serve the common good,” the Bishop said.

“Our vision for Catholic schools in this diocese is simply stated — we want to do everything possible to make a Catholic school education available for as many as possible,” the Bishop said. “To achieve this noble goal, we must be practical. Some of our buildings need expensive capital repairs well beyond the means of a parish to handle them. As enrollments decline in some schools, we must develop models for larger and stronger schools in order that a Catholic school education will continue to be available.”

Sussex County

The Catholic Academy of Sussex County will realign its elementary schools into a single campus in Sparta and open a new middle school serving grades 5-7 beginning in the 2016-2017 school year, as a way to best provide continued and exemplary Catholic education to its students in a fiscally responsible manner.

Using a first-of-its-kind university-style campus model, the existing Rev. George A. Brown Memorial School in Sparta will become the linchpin property for pre-k through fourth-grade students with additional buildings on the present Pope John campus between Rev. Brown and Pope John to provide space for all of the students from the sending districts.

The thriving high school (grades 8-12) will continue to operate at Pope John XXIII Regional High School, although there are also plans to provide additional facilities for the necessary growth. Soon ground will be broken to construct Pope John Middle School, a $4.5 million, 22,000-square foot building on the Pope John campus that will house students in grades 5-7.

“I congratulate the Catholic school community in Sussex County,” said Bishop Serratelli. “They are embarking on an exciting and promising adventure. The leadership of parents, school supporters, pastors, and Msgr. Kieran McHugh, has resulted in an innovative approach for the future of Catholic school education in this area of our diocese.

“In the past, Catholic schools usually relied on a single parish to support a single school. The realignment of our schools in Sussex County is the result of the school communities’ strong commitment to follow our diocesan vision, using our resources wisely and making Catholic school education available for the present and the future,” the Bishop said.

“We are blessed to be a part of a Diocese that truly values the importance of Catholic education and has approved our plan for the new Academy structure,” said Msgr. McHugh, president of the Academy. “This new plan will guarantee that Catholic education will remain a growing and vitally important part of living in and around Sussex County for generations to come.”

This new structure is being made possible though the extraordinary financial support from both the Diocese and the Pope John XXIII Endowment Fund — both of which have made $1 million commitments to this project.

As part of this plan, the elementary schools that have serviced Sussex County students —Immaculate Conception Regional School in Franklin, St. Joseph Regional School in Newton and St. Michael School in Netcong — will all consolidate into the Rev. Brown and Pope John campus for the 2016-2017 school year.

Helping day-to-day administration with the construction and implementation of this plan has been the Catholic Academy’s Board of Trustees — comprised of a diverse and vitally important mix of clergy, parents, community leaders and alumni. It has been involved every step of the way and has endorsed this plan and the structure of the Academy. The board will continue to provide guidance and oversight to the Academy and will look to add new members as sending districts expand.

“The board is excited to see this plan take effect and believes the current Administration of the Academy have laid out a plan that will make sure that our children and their children have access to Catholic education,” said Mark Young, president of the board.

The Academy administration has been working closely with the Diocesan leadership, the Diocesan Schools Office, Academy trustees and the Pope John Endowment trustees to craft this plan for the past several years.

“Without question this will represent a major change for everyone — students, teachers and staff. Change, in any form, is never easy and always tests us,” Msgr. McHugh said. “However, everyone who will be associated with this Academy will be committed to making this as easy a transition as possible. Each individual school has a dedicated group of supporters who have stood by them for generations. We expect the Catholic Academy to deepen these relationships for years to come.”

The Academy has already started its planning for satisfying the infrastructure needs that additional students will require.

“With the additional space and classrooms in this plan, we believe we will be able to maintain reasonable class sizes and make sure that all of our students get the same high level of attention and services that they deserve from our teachers,” said Craig Austin, vice president of Institutional Advancement for the Academy. “We will provide distinct facilities for all of our students. The high school students and the third-grade students, for example, are not going to be bumping into each other in the same hallways every day.”

Academy leadership met with parents about this plan on Jan. 27. Similar meetings will be held in the next few weeks with other groups of constituents to answer questions and share the Academy leadership’s excitement about these plans.

“In working together to assemble this plan, we had to consider many parties — staff, faculty, parents and administration. But our main concern was with our students, from their first day in pre-k to the day they leave us for college,” said Susan Santore, principal of the Rev. Brown elementary school. “It’s our responsibility to provide our students with an education that is academically challenging, steeped in the teachings of the Gospels, and prepares them to be successful members of society. In order to do this we must be able to provide our students with a cutting-edge curriculum infused with state-of-the-art technology. The consolidated campus will allow us to provide these opportunities to all of our students.”

Passaic County

Due to a steep decline in enrollment and financial debt, Blessed Sacrament School in Paterson, with an enrollment of 83 students, will close at the end of this school year.

“The Diocese remains committed to serving the students of Blessed Sacrament School. There isn’t a more important mission than ensuring that our young people have accessibility, affordability and availability to a Catholic education,” said Mary Baier, diocesan superintendent of schools. “This is a challenging time for everyone. We will assist each family who wishes to continue a Catholic education for their child in one of our many nearby Catholic schools including: St. Gerard in Paterson, St. Brendan, St. Philip, and St. Andrew in Clifton, Academy of St. Francis in Totowa and St. Anthony in Hawthorne, or any other school parents want to choose for their child. Our focus is to make this transition less difficult for students, faculty, staff, and parents.

“We will also be working with faculty members, assisting them to continue their teaching vocation with our diocesan system,” she said, “and we affirm the courage, faith and hard work of the faculty, staff and families at Blessed Sacrament.”

Morris County

In Rockaway, Sacred Heart School will merge into neighboring St. Cecilia School for the fall term. With both schools’ enrollments hovering in the 140 to 160 range, the merger will allow all students to be accommodated as a single student body in one building with the shared support of both Sacred Heart Parish and St. Cecilia Parish, both under the leadership of Father Sigmund Peplowski, pastor. Sacred Heart and St. Cecilia are located less than one mile from each other. The name of the merged schools will be announced at a later date.

In East Hanover, St. Rose of Lima Academy will be restructured into the St. Rose of Lima Early Childhood Academy to serve the community from its strengths. The elementary and middle school portion of the academy will close in June. The decision was the result of the growth of the current early childhood program, the dwindling enrollment, which in the last four years numbered 40 percent of the student body —with a projected enrollment of just 68 students for the fall term — and the steady climb in parish’s subsidy to the academy, according to Father Owen Moran, St. Rose’s pastor,

“I love the Academy of St. Rose and am very proud of the children,” said Father Moran. “My hope is that they will be able to continue in the Catholic school system. With this in mind, I have approached the principals of St. Vincent’s, (Madison) St. Patrick’s (Chatham) and Assumption (Morristown). All three schools can take the entire seventh grade plus their siblings. I would hope to be able to keep all the children together and provide a bus going and returning to St. Rose every day.”

“I'm very proud of our Early Childhood Center. The quality of education in a Christ-centered atmosphere really empowers the little ones to be well prepared for kindergarten,” the pastor said. “This program has continued to flourish and the classes are full. I do see it as an important part of evangelization to educate not only the children but also the parents. I'm happy to say we will be able to retain the Early Childhood Center and that all pre-k-4 children will be invited and strongly encouraged to enter kindergarten in one of our local Catholic schools.

In Madison, Bishop Serratelli turned over a ceremonial shovelful of soil Jan. 4 to break ground on a $2 million, two-story 5,964-square-foot building addition to St. Vincent Martyr School in Madison that will open in the fall to provide needed room for a student population that has grown fourfold in recent years since the re-establishment of middle-school grades.

Designed to match the existing school building, the addition will house classrooms on each of its two levels, as well as a state-of-the-art science room, ready for STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering and Math] instruction. St. Vincent’s has already raised $1.85 million of the $2 million needed for the project.

“It’s wonderful that we are expanding,” said Sister of Charity Noreen Holly, principal, who noted that St. Vincent’s students hail not only from Madison but also from other municipalities, including East Hanover, Chatham, Florham Park, Morristown and Summit.

“St. Vincent Martyr School is thriving,” Msgr. George Hundt said. “We have a school population that believes in the value of Catholic education — and that brings forth success.”