Parochial Schools

Joanne Florig Cromie, 53, a teacher for Montgomery County parochial schools, died Saturday of cancer at her home in East Norriton Township. Mrs. Cromie, who began her teaching career at age 17, had taught at St. Mary School in Norristown, St. Philip Neri School in Lafayette Hill, and, in recent years, at Epiphany of Our Lord School in Plymouth Township, where she taught kindergarten and fifth grade. A native of Norristown, she graduated from the former Bishop Kenrick High School in Norristown in 1962 and earned her degree in education from Gwynedd Mercy College.

As a result of a Feb. 5 decision by a federal judge, 325 teachers and aides in the Philadelphia school district whose salaries are paid with federal funds were sent back to Catholic schools this week. But educators said the ruling was a mixed blessing: While parish principals were rejoicing over the return of their longtime staff, their public school counterparts who had been relying on the services of the teachers and aides were upset by their departure. "We are elated to have them back," said Sister Helen Ann Sharkey, principal of St. Malachy School in North Philadelphia, which welcomed back three part-time aides and a reading specialist on Monday.

By yesterday morning, there wasn't much left inside St. Michael's Elementary School in Gibbstown, except some clunky steel desks and the paper tulips on the windows in the first grade. It was a forlorn sight to Becky Blazek. Blazek has had the misfortune of presiding over St. Michael's Parent- Teachers Association during its worst year. She was still shaken yesterday as the school's last day of classes wound to a close. "How can I say it?" she said, choking back tears.

Four times a year, the choice to send her two children to Catholic school makes Winnie Branton wince. But for the 361 other days, the Haddonfield mother has no regrets about her decision to bypass the Camden County borough's highly regarded public-education system for close-knit Christ the King, her parish's school for kindergarten through eighth grade. "The days I have to pay my quarterly taxes, it kills me. But I like the town and I love the school, so it's worth it," Branton said.

More extracurricular activities, better teacher training, and increased communication between schools and police were among the recommendations announced yesterday by Pennsylvania Attorney General Mike Fisher during a school-safety hearing at Cardinal O'Hara High School. Fisher, who is running for reelection this year against Democratic challenger Jim Eisenhower, formed his Task Force on School Safety last August. Led by A. Leo Sereni, president judge emeritus of Delaware County, the task force has held school-safety hearings throughout the state.

New Jersey's parochial-school football playoffs could be drastically altered if a proposal currently before the NJSIAA Executive Committee is approved. The proposal, which would affect only football, would do the following: Eliminate the current classifications of Parochial A and Parochial B, and replace them with four groups: Parochial 1, Parochial 2, Parochial 3 and Parochial 4. Eliminate the current Parochial North and Parochial South geographical sections and regroup the state's 42 football-playing parochial schools on a statewide basis.

A year ago, Christa Hill was facing a problem. She wanted her daughter Caitlyn, then 3, to eventually attend a parochial school, but the Gibbstown woman had no parish preschool nearby. "I wanted to send her to a school where she would get the background for the Catholic school she'd be going to later," Hill said. Today, Hill is readying Caitlyn for her first day in the 4-year-old prekindergarten class at Guardian Angels Regional School, which will open Sept. 5 to students in Gibbstown, Paulsboro and Mullica Hill.

THE DAPPER, quiet-spoken man with a slight build and gray hair doesn't look like a typical superhero. But to some area Catholics, Peter Borre, a canon-law consultant based in Boston, has all the makings of one. The Harvard-educated Borre has been on a mission from Cleveland to Boston, fighting for fellow Catholics who seek to save their parishes and parochial schools from closure by their dioceses. He's already made an imprint here in Philadelphia, helping two groups of parochial-school parents appeal directly to the Vatican to overturn the Archdiocese's rulings that the schools close.

Young writers, including Jack Ferguson, read their works for a book contest yesterday at William Jeanes Memorial Library in Lafayette Hill. Jack shows his illustration of his book, "No More Ice Cream. " Students from area public, private and parochial schools in first through sixth grades competed.

St. Mary School in Monroe Township, Gloucester County, will remain closed the rest of the week after a number of students either fainted, became dizzy or complained of feeling ill during a school assembly on Monday. Patricia Mancuso, the school principal, and the Rev. Cadmus D. Mazzarella, pastor of Our Lady of Peace Church, the sponsoring parish for the elementary school, notified parents of the closing. Originally, school officials announced this morning that the elementary school on Carroll Avenue in the township's Williamstown section would be closed for the day. However, diocesan officials announced in the afternoon that the school of 600 students would remain closed.

In high school, he was the guy who shaved his head in solidarity with a buddy who was going through chemo, then let the hair grow back in a mohawk. She was the girl who never wore a dress. So when Tom Burrows and Meghan Connolly showed up at the 2006 Cheltenham High School prom — he in a white tux and spectator shoes, dark hair in glossy spikes; she in a black spaghetti-strap gown with white accents, fingernails tipped in ebony lacquer — they made a striking pair. They also caught the eye of photographer Mary Ellen Mark, who included a photo of Burrows and Connolly in her new book, Prom, published in April.

THE DAPPER, quiet-spoken man with a slight build and gray hair doesn't look like a typical superhero. But to some area Catholics, Peter Borre, a canon-law consultant based in Boston, has all the makings of one. The Harvard-educated Borre has been on a mission from Cleveland to Boston, fighting for fellow Catholics who seek to save their parishes and parochial schools from closure by their dioceses. He's already made an imprint here in Philadelphia, helping two groups of parochial-school parents appeal directly to the Vatican to overturn the Archdiocese's rulings that the schools close.

WHAT A difference $12 million in donations can make to four Catholic high schools slated for closure. And to West Philadelphia, which was facing the closure of the iconic West Catholic. Keeping that school open was especially important because the community is more "economically challenged" than the areas where the other schools were to be closed, said state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams. "I think that people are confronted with an honest reality that if we don't have public, private and parochial schools, the system that educates students in Southeast Pennsylvania will collapse," Williams said yesterday.

Don't be so sure Iran won't attack A letter Monday, "Provoking a war with Iran," asserted that "Iran is not about to attack anyone. " How does the writer know this fact? Does she have a mole in the CIA giving her this information? Are the recent bombings in India and Africa, and the arrest of five Iranians who were in possession of bomb-making material in Thailand, just a rehearsal for further attacks? Neither Israel nor the United States is engaged in saber- rattling. Quite the contrary, it has been the U.S. policy these past three years to attempt negotiations and sanctions rather then any military action.

THE BRUNT of the impact of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia closing 49 of its schools will surely be felt by the teachers, students and parents of those schools closing - and most especially the high-school juniors who will be forced to find another school from which to graduate - and hopefully stay on course for college. But the Archdiocese's closure of 45 elementary schools and four high schools - affecting more than 22,000 students and 1,700 teachers - is a move that will affect the whole city.

Harrisburg is bankrupt in so many ways, and not just officially. When it comes to helping Philadelphia, funding public schools and social services, or banning assault weapons that have zip to do with hunting Bambi, state legislators barely look up from their BlackBerrys. Then, lo and behold, lawmakers started wringing their hands over the plight of our city's neediest, suggestive of a massive conversion experience or, barring that, something hinky in the Capitol's drinking water.

TRENTON - High-performing private and parochial schools in failing districts, including Camden, could become taxpayer-funded charter schools under a bill that won final legislative approval Monday. The Senate voted, 25-13, for the legislation, which Gov. Christie is expected to sign. The proposal would let parochial schools, which have long struggled financially, avoid closure by eliminating all religious symbols and classes, and adopting a secular name. Existing faculty and staff would be given preference for jobs, and current students would avoid the charter-school lottery process.