School Study
Steering Committee
Communiqué
On June 13th-14th, on behalf of the School Study Steering Committee, we provided our first Communiqué. You will recall that we indicated that after consultation with their respective Parish Pastoral and Finance Councils, the pastors of Immaculate Conception Parish, Levittown; Queen of the Universe Parish, Levittown; Saint Frances Cabrini Parish, Fairless Hills; and Saint Joseph the Worker Parish, Fallsington; petitioned Cardinal Justin Rigali, to undertake a formal study of their respective schools. Struggling to maintain their own parish schools, and facing low enrollments and rising costs, the pastors expressed to the Cardinal their desire to restructure the way in which they are providing for the Catholic school education of their children beginning in the 2010-2011 school year.
In order to provide a diverse range of ideas during the planning process, each pastor formed a School Study Committee with representation from across their parishes. In addition to themselves and their school principals, they designated three persons from their School Study Committee to represent their parish on the School Study Steering Committee.
On May 27th, the Steering Committee gathered for their first meeting to discuss the strengths, weaknesses, limitations and challenges of each of the four parish schools. The Steering Committee also discussed the vision of a new school utilizing existing facilities. Both the Steering Committee and the School Study Committees agreed to meet monthly beginning in August. These Committees are currently working closely together in order to review and discuss pertinent issues.
Following the May 27th meeting, an independent professional firm was engaged to perform an inspection of each property. The inspection was performed to evaluate the site, roof, structure and building systems of each school. At the completion of the inspections, four individual Reports were rendered to the pastors, who in turn shared the pertinent information with their School Study Committees. Beginning at the end of the school year and continuing well into the summer, the principals met several times in order to develop a vision for an Ideal Catholic School for our area. Upon completion of their Principals’ Report, Budget Forecasts were developed for various scenarios of projected enrollments for the 2010-2011 school year.
Pastors, principals, and their respective School Study Committee members reviewed the building evaluations, the Principals’ Report and the Budget Forecasts. Following these reviews and discussion, the Steering Committee met on August 12th and formal presentations were made on each of the three Reports, namely, the Building Reports, the Principals’ Report and the Budget Forecasts.
Currently, the School Study Committees are continuing their work as they use the information and findings to develop at least three possible options for a regional school giving a rationale for each option based on their criteria. On September 9th, the Steering Committee will meet to examine these possible options. Following the September meeting, there will be consultation with the school parents and other parishioners.
Working very closely with the School Study Committees, and with broad consultation with the parish and school communities, in time, the Steering Committee will formulate a plan to ensure an excellent, accessible, realistic and sustainable Catholic school design for the education of future generations of children living within the respective parishes.
Based on the work of the Steering Committee and the School Study Committees, at the conclusion of the process, the pastors will present a recommendation to the Cardinal in December 2009.