By Sharon Roznik
The Fond Du Lac Reporter
February 3, 2008
http://www.fdlreporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080203/FON0101/802030581/1289/FONnews
Local consolidation of the Catholic education system comes in the wake of an announcement last week that the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is facing a $3 million deficit.
Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy Dolan has approved a recommendation to form one local pre-kindergarten through 12th grade Catholic education system that would include parochial schools in Fond du Lac and North Fond du Lac, along with St. Mary's Springs High School.
"Your insight and wisdom in reaching this conclusion will reap rewards for future generations of children who will benefit from a sound system of Catholic education," Dolan said.
The announcement came Friday during a celebration of Catholic Schools Week held at the new Holy Family Catholic Parish — a church built out on Fourth Street Road after three historic Catholic churches in the city — St. Louis, St. Patrick and St. Joseph — were decommissioned by the parish.
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| Jim Simon, one of the co-chairs of the Catholic Education Task Force, talks during a Catholic Schools Week luncheon held Friday at Holy Family Catholic Church. Simon was there to announce the consolidation of North Fond du Lac and Fond du Lac Catholic schools and St. Mary’s Springs High School into one education system. Photo by Patrick Flood |
The educational merger was the recommendation of an 11-member Fond du Lac and North Fond du Lac Catholic Education Task Force convened by the two schools in the fall of 2006. The group studied academics and the affordability of Catholic education. Dialogue sessions followed that involved more than 200 people from both communities.
The hoped-for outcome of consolidation is better education and utilization of staff and facilities. One administrator would be hired to oversee the system.
Officials said not to expect any changes for students until after the 2008-09 year as the details of the merger are worked out.
Funding challenges
For years, the parishes subsidizing the schools have found it increasingly difficult to maintain funding. Many of the same benefactors have been targeted again and again, Mort Zyadel, associate superintendent of school for the archdiocese, said last fall.
"We've got two Catholic schools competing for the same dollars and the same donors. By combining schools, we hope to run them more efficiently," Zyadel said.
Fond du Lac Area Catholic Education System (FACES) administrator Wayne Graczyk said that although local Catholics are both for and against the merger, he hopes the outcome will make people happy.
About 291 students attend St. Mary's Springs. Another 486 children are enrolled in the Fond du Lac Area Catholic Education System. The local system is commissioned by Presentation Church in North Fond du Lac, along with Holy Family Catholic Parish.
The new model will maintain grouping students in grades pre-kindergarten though eighth grade and Grades 9 through 12. A steering committee, comprised of members of the task force, has started strategizing on how it will begin implementing the new system.
Setting priorities
A single School Board will be formed to begin long-range planning. Priorities will include a comprehensive study of needs, including the possibility of modifying existing facilities or constructing new ones.
Facilities options include building a new $12 million to $15 million school, renovating or adding onto St. Mary's Elementary, at an estimated cost of about $5 million, or adding a middle school to St. Mary's Springs.
According to the Associated Press, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, which includes Fond du Lac and North Fond du Lac, faces a $3 million deficit in its current budget and will need to make substantial cuts in staff and services during the fiscal year starting July 1, in part because a deal to sell some property fell through.
Money from the sale of the 44-acre Cousins Center site in suburban St. Francis was to have been used to pay off a loan the archdiocese incurred to cover about $4.6 million of its $8.25 million portion of a nearly $17 million settlement during 2006 of 10 sexual abuse lawsuits in California.
Jerry Topczewski, chief of staff for Dolan, said that, except for the Cousins Center, the archdiocese has sold most of its property and does not have reserves. Topczewski stressed that the archdiocese's ongoing $105 million Faith in Our Future capital fundraising campaign would not be used to balance the budget.
"At some point, if we have judgments and we are unable to have the assets to cover them, that (bankruptcy) is going to be one option that's looked at," Topczewski said.
Contact: sroznik@fdlreporter.com.
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