Catholic Schools

So many parents and alumni of St. Denis Catholic School in Havertown supported merging with friendly CYO rival Annunciation B.V.M., the marriage should have gone off without a hitch. Instead, parishioners hoping to embrace the past and future in a name were told the regional school would honor the late Cardinal John Foley. The decision was, in their pastor's words, "nonnegotiable. " Children voted on a mascot, only to have their choices (Cardinals, Falcons, or Phoenixes)

RE TED Farrell's Feb. 14 letter: The number of high schools nationally that graduate less than 50 percent of their students has increased by 70 percent. We have more than our share in Philadelphia, and they contribute disproportionately to rising crime in our city. Catholic schools are a part of the solution. With more than 85,000 students in the Delaware Valley, impressive graduation rates and academic results, Catholic schools provide an alternative to our public schools.

CHILDREN with access to Catholic schools have an opportunity to receive an education that develops confidence to succeed in school, on the job and in life. Dan Geringer's Aug. 19 article discussed the possibility of consolidating some of the Catholic high schools in the city, which has proven a successful alternative to leaving a community without a parochial school. Merging schools helps sustain quality education and supports a system that produces qualified high-school graduates, the vast majority of whom go on to higher education.

I'D like to thank Dan Geringer and the Daily News for the moving piece about 7-year-old David Atkins and St. Martin de Porres Interparochial School. In light of the tragic murder of David's father, the school has gone above and beyond in helping his family rebuild their lives. The support provided by the school and its member parishes illustrates the critical role that Catholic schools play in our neighborhoods. While the primary focus is on education, we can't discount the importance of the lessons in human compassion that are ever-present in these schools.

This could be the year that parish schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia end an era of declining enrollment caused by a drop in the birthrates, population shifts and rising tuition. When schools open Wednesday throughout the five-county archdiocese, officials expect about the same number of students to enter the 235 parish elementary schools as left in June. This modest improvement after years of decline is cause for hope. Total enrollment in local Catholic schools dropped from 138,595 in 1985 to 125,135 in the school year that ended in June - a 9.7 percent decline.

Some 25,000 Philadelphia children could arrive at private and parochial schools with vouchers in hand by September 1996 under Gov. Ridge's school- choice plan. Will the Archdiocese of Philadelphia be ready? For the last 25 years, Catholic schools have been on a steady decline - the result of increased costs and declining enrollments. Schools have closed. Buildings have been sold. Teachers have remained among the lowest paid. An influx of new students would mean having to find space, hire more teachers - and pay for both.

There's a myth circulating in Philadelphia these days that families and neighborhoods don't want more public-school choices. A handful of activists with specific agendas use demonstrations, community forums, and City Council and School Reform Commission meetings to spread this myth. But there are a whole lot of people in Philadelphia who are too busy trying to take advantage of their educational options to stage rallies, attend meetings, or get on the phone with a reporter. Last week, I attended freshman orientation night at Central High School, a selective public school that U.S. News & World Report recently named the 10th best high school in the state.

The month the disco ball cried With the recent passing of Donna Summer and Bee Gees singer Robin Gibb, the soundtrack of the baby boomers' lives is dwindling down to a few precious cuts of pulsing musical memories. When rock-and-rollers Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper perished in a 1959 plane crash, the tragedy was immortalized in the classic anthem "American Pie," which is famous for the refrain "The day the music died. " May 2012 may be remembered as "The month that the disco ball cried.

So many parents and alumni of St. Denis Catholic School in Havertown supported merging with friendly CYO rival Annunciation B.V.M., the marriage should have gone off without a hitch. Instead, parishioners hoping to embrace the past and future in a name were told the regional school would honor the late Cardinal John Foley. The decision was, in their pastor's words, "nonnegotiable. " Children voted on a mascot, only to have their choices (Cardinals, Falcons, or Phoenixes)

The type of leader who will be hired to become Philadelphia's next superintendent of schools became clearer Tuesday with the district's announcement of a five-year plan to erase a massive budget deficit. The city's two previous superintendents — Arlene Ackerman and, before her, Paul Vallas — were visionaries who brought with them their own master plans to restructure the system and make it more successful academically, if not economically. But by implementing a new road map to the future before replacing Ackerman, who stepped down eight months ago, the School Reform Commission appears to be saying the next superintendent will be expected to follow a path already set for him, or her. That is unless the SRC expects to give the superintendent's job to either the district's interim chief recovery officer, Thomas Knudsen, or chief academic officer Penny Nixon, who together devised the five-year plan.

THE ARCHDIOCESE of Philadelphia agreed Monday to work more closely with the School District of Philadelphia and the city's charter-school community to ensure that the city's children have access to quality schools - a decision that could increase the city's chances of winning millions of dollars from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In a ceremony at St. Peter the Apostle School, in Northern Liberties, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput signed an agreement that would make the city's Catholic schools a member of the Philadelphia Great Schools Compact, a collaborative education effort backed by Mayor Nutter, state Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis, the district and charter organizations that aims to add 50,000 seats in high-performing schools within five years across the city.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia agreed Monday to work more closely with the School District of Philadelphia and the city's charter-school community to ensure that the city's children have access to quality schools — a decision that could increase the city's chances of winning millions of dollars from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In a ceremony at St. Peter the Apostle School in Northern Liberties, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput signed an agreement that would make the city's Catholic schools a member of the Philadelphia Great Schools Compact, a collaborative education effort backed by Mayor Nutter, state Secretary of Education Ronald Tomalis, the district, and charter organizations that aims to add 50,000 seats in high-performing schools within five years across the city.

LOUIS SPADACCINI, the Catholic high school baseball coach and city court employee arrested in September for allegedly drugging and sexually molesting boys on his team, has decided not to plead guilty. "Coach Lou," as he was known at Ss. John Neumann and Maria Goretti Catholic High School, was expected to plead guilty Monday morning, but instead his attorney told a judge that Spadaccini, 37, wants a jury trial. While Spadaccini was kept out of sight in a holding cell, his alleged victims - in school uniforms - and their parents were in court waiting for a confession that did not come.

The sun was shining, and that seemed fitting for a parade - 280 children marching down Howard Street and over Lehigh Avenue in West Kensington, waving signs and shouting with joy because their school had been saved. "We did a lot of work, and we are a good school," 8-year-old Frangel Rodriguez said. "We all said, 'Leave Sheppard open!' " The School Reform Commission listened, keeping high-achieving Isaac A. Sheppard and E.M. Stanton but shutting eight other schools. SRC members said that although they can't afford to keep all the buildings they have, they realize they must find ways to support, keep, and replicate strong schools.

MARY E. ROCHFORD, the first woman to serve as superintendent of schools in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, will step down June 30. Rochford, 59, who has held the post for nearly four years, said she is resigning to care for family members, including a disabled niece and her 89-year-old mother, who is in declining health. The Archdiocese said it had accepted Rochford's resignation "with great reluctance. " In an Inquirer interview Monday, Rochford said that she had privately decided in February to resign.