School in the marketplace
Baumann, Paul
REPORT FROM CHICAGO SCHOOL IN THE MARKETPLACE THE FUTURE OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION? Be careful how you use the "Y" word around Sister Mary Ellen Caron. "If you visit us, you'll know we're not,"...
...Patrick's is modeled on other urban private schools, many of which ironically sprang up in abandoned Catholic school buildings...
...We don't want just the rich and the poor...
...At More, where she was principal for five years, she also supervised the renovation of a school building as well as the reinvigoration of the school's mission...
...Initially called in as a consultant, Sister Caron eventually was asked to take over this experiment in the "midst" of the market place...
...Patrick's School, located just west of Chicago's downtown "Loop," opened in the fall of 1989...
...Old St...
...I really think this is the way to go," Sister Caron said...
...A strong ethical focus will distinguish Old St...
...It is the first new Catholic school to open in Chicago in twenty years...
...We don't want to get that high...
...Tuition will be relatively high but class size small, and the board will see to it that the budget is balanced...
...If you visit us, you'll know we're not," Sister Caron said when asked if Old St...
...We're ecumenical...
...They're with us as long as we don't cost them anything," Sister Caron said laughing about the support received from the archdiocese...
...We say we're built on the Judeo-Christian tradition," Sister Caron said...
...Financially, the archdiocese and local parishes can no longer afford to subsidize the usually low tuition fees Catholic schools charge...
...Thirty-five students are enrolled in the preschool and kindergarten programs...
...Sister Caron is the principal...
...Many want to remain in the city, and are looking for a Catholic alternative to public and private schools...
...One parent and child come all the way from Barrington, which is a one-hour drive...
...Restoration of the four-story school is expected to be completed in August 1992...
...Patrick's currently is housed in Presidential Towers, a commercial and residential building complex...
...We teach Catholic religion, Catholic morality...
...Patrick's School is completed, 130 students will be enrolled...
...We're in the middle of downtown...
...Patrick's School was a haven for yuppies...
...Unlike the traditional financing of parochial schools, Old St...
...Religious diversity, Sister Caron admitted, can bring conflict or a dilution of content...
...That starts at three years old...
...Old St...
...But I'd rather be in that struggle than do it the old way...
...Several Jewish students have enrolled for next fall...
...It gives her an extra two hours a day with her child...
...Next year, when restoration of the first two floors of the Old St...
...Patrick's from the St...
...We're trying to do something different," Sister Caron said...
...Thomas More School on Chicago's West Side...
...To a certain extent, Old St...
...PAUL BAUMANN Paul Baumann is an associate editor of Commonweal.te editor of Commonweal...
...Academically and culturally, Old St...
...It's pretty exciting...
...I really think we're going to be a model for them...
...Eventually the school will run through the eighth grade...
...Day care before and after school also is provided...
...It's value-driven," she said...
...The school is essentially independent from the parish, and local business leaders sit on its board of directors...
...Others, including single mothers, are faced with commuting to the city and are reluctant to leave their children forty or fifty miles and over an hour away during the day...
...Tuition is $3,000, with financial aid available to those who qualify...
...We want to serve the poor...
...It also happened because young professional people finished getting M.B.A.s and started begetting children...
...But the price will continue to have to pay the cost...
...Sister Caron said it was a sad situation, but that Old St...
...For the time being we're the only ones out there," she said of the school's unorthodox mixture of financial independence and Catholic identity...
...They can't afford it...
...I can't keep up with the registration for next year...
...It happened because a group of parents talked to the pastor," she said...
...Keeping costs down will not be easy, however...
...Sister Caron came to Old St...
...As in cities across the country, Catholic schools are closing all over Chicago...
...Instead, they are bringing their children into the city with them...
...All the children who are commuting are returning," Sister Caron said...
...This is the way the world is...
...Patrick's from other schools...
...but we bring in everyone else's beliefs as well...
...Kindergarten, and first- and second-grade classes will be conducted in the renovated school building, while the preschool program will continue to use the room at Presidential Towers...
...Patrick's also eschews the traditional isolation of Catholic parochial schools...
...Currently, 30 percent of the students are on financial aid...
...Patrick's might help to point the way to a new future for Catholic schools...
...We call it the 'School in the midst of the marketplace,'" Sister Caron said...
...Patrick's takes no money from either the parish or the archdiocese...
...But at $3,000 the tuition is still only half the average at most private schools...
...We want to serve the middle class...
Vol. 117 • April 1990 • No. 8
