Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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Catholic schools chart bold new vision
Scott Elliott
Staff Writer
DAYTON — Catholic education leaders today said Catholic schools would work together more cohesively than ever before in hopes of securing their future.
With the formation of the Catholic Education Collaborative, the 21 Catholic schools and 27 parishes of the Dayton Deanery Monday hope to increase their collective buying power, fund-raising prowess and academic achievement while setting a joint vision for the Catholic schools in the region.
“The Catholic Church cannot solve its issues on education at individual parishes and schools,” said Bro. Raymond Fitz, the former president of the University of Dayton. “They have to work together to solve problems.”
Primary goals will be securing Catholic education in the center city and guiding when and how schools will partner and potentially consolidate or close, depending on demographic trends.
Under the plan, the collaborative will be a stronger, more interdependent partnership of Catholic schools, which have operated in Dayton for most of the past century as a loose network of self-governing, church-based operations.
The Deanery includes all of Montgomery County and parts of Greene and Miami counties. Ann Battes, superintendent of Catholic schools in Dayton, will also be president of the collaborative.
“Catholic education has always excelled, but the benchmarks that were used historically no longer works — local benchmarks,” said Franz Hoge, retired Dayton area managing partner for the Coopers and Lybrand accounting firm. “We need to be comparing to other countries. We’re great now but we’re looking at a different level of excellence.”
The collaborative will be led by a board that includes Fitz, Hoge and Fr. Dave Brinkmoeller. They envision some Catholic parishes turning over management of their schools to the Collaborative within two years.
“We realize there will be some reconfigurations that are going to be needed in the future,” Brinkmoeller said. “We’re not at the point yet where we have the information to know what the next moves will be.”
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Private Schools
Comments
By Mary
October 2, 2007 6:41 AM | Link to this
I thought it interesting, in one of today’s articles, the Catholic schools express a desire to improve academics,want to compare themselves to international schools, and offer foreign languages in the lower grades. Seems to me they have some academic priroities. Good for them. I do not hear too much of this attitude from the public schools. Some of my friends in engineering school (back in the dark ages) were from Catholic schools. They seemed to be well prepared and disciplined for academic studies. I think that was when they mostly had nuns for teachers.By Scott Elliott
October 1, 2007 8:03 PM | Link to this
Yes, the plan includes all three Catholic high schools. And yes they have taken the old limits off where each school can recruit.By Oldprof
October 1, 2007 7:00 PM | Link to this
Ditto—at a time when public schools are being splintered even further into tiny little bailiwicks, the private schools see that a single, coordinated system produces more bang for the buck. Any chance the general public will get that message?By bob null
October 1, 2007 5:17 PM | Link to this
coolBy Paul
October 1, 2007 4:34 PM | Link to this
Absolutely - Consolidation/Collaboration may be painful for some, but absolutely necessary for the long term viability of the Catholic School system. Most parishes simply cannot afford to run them as in the past. This is a step in the right direction to ensure this institution continues.By Baralatar
October 1, 2007 3:38 PM | Link to this
Good news for Catholic education. Perhaps the DDN education reporter can enroll for some remedial work. “Former Fitz”? And it is Franz Hoge, not Frank.By Peter J
October 1, 2007 3:10 PM | Link to this
Scott, will this include the high schools? Or just the grade schools? I was under the impression that the high schools are now in diret competition for every student in the region, whereas before they stuck to going after the students from their traditional feeder schools. P.S. You never did follow up on your blog about C-J’s plummeting enrollment as compared to Dayton’s other Catholic High School.By Skeptic
October 1, 2007 1:38 PM | Link to this
Good for them. This is further proof that regionalism is the way to go. Apparently, even God thinks so! Ha, ha.