Posted on 01/27/2010 7:59:32 AM PST by incredulous joe
CREST HAVEN – Cape May County Freeholders on Tuesday, Jan. 26 were set to pass a resolution asking that the Diocese of Camden reconsider its intention to close Wildwood Catholic High School which is located in the community of North Wildwood.
Director Daniel Beyel said, “It would normally be outside the scope of the Board to express any opinions or voice any statements pertaining to the policy or decision making of the Roman Catholic Church. However, the recent decision of the Diocese of Camden to close Wildwood Catholic High School has such far reaching implications to Cape May County that this Freeholder Board is compelled to express its objections.”
The Board sited a number of reasons for taking action including the outcry of disapproval of closing the school from municipal governments, businesses, community groups, families and residents and the concern that closing Wildwood Catholic High School would have a harmful effect on businesses, parents, employees and teachers.
Beyel added, “Denying the opportunity of a full K through 12 Catholic education will undermine Cape May County’s efforts to maintain and restore a strong base of year round families and will slash a vital part of our history and tradition.”
Additionally, the Board believes the closing of Wildwood Catholic will cause a strain on other public high schools in the county as well as reduce the volunteerism to charitable and non-profit organizations that is a part of every Wildwood Catholic student’s education.
Beyel concluded, “ Just as the Diocese of Camden expects Cape May County and its sixteen municipalities to provide services to its reported over $200 million tax exempt properties, the Freeholder Board similarly believes the Diocese should provide desiring teenagers religious instruction and a spiritual environment during their most impressionable years. Also, in light of the substantial donations the Diocese of Camden and its parishes receive from county residents and summer visitors, it is not unreasonable to request that Wildwood Catholic High School stays open regardless of a financial deficit.”
I'm not sure what to think of this and wonder if any one else experiencing non-public school closures has seen anything like it; municipalities or elected officials speaking out on behalf of a closing school.
The way this fellow has worded this thing, he is walking right into the teeth of the ACLU and the "church and state" lobby, along with numerous other protectors of left wing "sacred cows".
We already know that many communities and municipalities a cannot accommodate an infusion of students from non-public schools.
Wouldn't it be better for elected officials to speak out on behalf of school choice/vochers for all, rather than whittling it down to a resolution of support for one local Catholic institution?
It's like California when a judicial ruling threatened to make homeschooling illegal. It was amazing how quickly Arnold got the California courts to reverse themselves. The last thing the California budget needed was 100,000 or more homeschoolers flooding into the government schools.
But it doesn’t seem like anything could be gained by such a resolution ~ other than the fact that this is a popular thing for a politician to be supporting.
It would be best to advocate for vouchers, which would really do something constructive! Why not just say it!
The Diocese of Newark is closing down St. Theresa’s in Clark, NJ next year, as well. We are expecting an influx of students at St. Michael’s in Cranford. It looks like the Catholic dioceses are trying to cut their losses on education.
I think they are being penny wise and pound foolish, however. A school is an important part of a healthy parish. Every dollar they save on schools they will lose in pledges, down the line.
Of course, if there were vouchers for parental school choice in New Jersey, we would not be having this conversation. Catholic Schools would be turning away students for lack of space.
Of course if there were vouchers in New Jersey, the government would effectively take over the Catholic schools and secularize them. I love how the Padres are all for taking public money to save their schools, but forget that the strings that come attached with public money amount to selling their souls.
I’m hearing of a few similar stories.
I graduated in a class of 90-some. The current enrollment is less than 200, and they have added on to the school since I was there.
The school and it’s athletic field are pretty lucrative in this beach town. While there are plans to turn the high school into an elementary, my sister thinks they are going to try and flip the field?
Generally speaking its not a cutting of losses in education as much as enrollments declining due to apathy and economic situations.
Here in my area, the schools in the core are dying, while new big bright schools are being built in the suburbs, the diocese is following the kids.
Poor families don’t see education largely as a priority, and are not willing to sacrifice to send their kids to a private school. Families with means are moving out of core, and taking kids with them. So the Catholic Schools that are left, just can’t enroll enough to stay open.
The Catholic Church definitely should not abandon education, and can’t see that happening. However it is damn near impossible for most modest income folks to think of paying 3k-4k a year to send their kids to private school when the public school is bleeding that much from them in property taxes every year or more.
Fortunately my childs school still has a strong parish and enrollment.. but even I am not sure that it will last forever. My oldest will be graduating to High School from there next year, but my youngest won’t start there until 2012.
While Vouchers would be a quick fix in terms of enrollment the strings that would come with them, I hope to God that the Catholic church stays away from that trap.
My children attend a small Lutheran elementary school. ii grew up in Catholic schools with the SSJs. To this day, I can’t believe that my kids are not in a Catholic school. But the one that they attend is closest to the model that I grew up in.
Slightly, less expensive than the local Catholic, but I prefer because it gets away from the regional model, which I suppose the Catholic schools have taken on to streamline cost.
We really struggle to keep our kids in the school, but we feel it is a key to our childrens’ future. The local public schools fill the kids with mush; no proper civics or liberal arts philosophy, anti-family, pro-global warming curriculums.
We have a very active and robust home school culture here in Maryland. I think this also competes with the Catholic schools.
Good luck with your children and keeping them in the Catholic schools.
My husband makes about $50K/year and we have 3 children attending Catholic school this year with a fourth on deck to start in a few years. The oldest will transfer to the Catholic junior high in fall of 2011. We are shelling out almost $500/month in tuition (ours is the most expensive of the 3 Catholic elementary schools in the city), not to mention the fundraisers and extracurricular activities our kids participate in such as Scouts and sports. We do without a lot of stuff—our new car is 10 years old and our house was built before my parents were born, but it’s worth every dime.
I see working class families whose parents are both working (sometimes more than one job) dropping their kids off at the school every day. Many of them are Hispanic who will not accept the public schools in the area. Meanwhile, I see the $400-$500/month car payments dropping off their kids at the local public school (which would easily send a couple of kids to Catholic school). Those same people will tell you they can’t afford Catholic or other private school tuition. For many people it’s about priorities.
Our school’s teachers didn’t receive a pay raise this school year—the first time in 3 decades this has happened. Not one of them left over it.That’s one of the many reasons that we love Catholic schools...no blasted teachers’ union!
It really is about priorities. I hear women say all the time that they would love to stay home with their babies or they would love to homeschool their children but they have to work. They have two brand new cars with payments, big houses, fancy wardrobes, manicured nails etc etc etc. We do have two cars but one of them is a ‘96 which has been paid off since ‘99. The other is our “new” van that we bought this summer. It is a 2001 with 80,000 miles on it. We only bought it because our ‘95 Explorer was starting to have more problems than it was worth. It had almost 300,000 miles on it. Our new van seems like such a luxury to me. We saved until we could pay half down. We wanted to save until we had enough to buy a van outright but this one was a great deal and in great shape so we financed half.
Towson Catholic, in Towson Maryland (just north of the Baltimore city line in Baltimore County) closed down just prior to the current school year. Very little notice provided, the usual protests, to no avail.
I read recently that the high school I attending in Philadelphia closed down. ( Cardinal Dougherty) Amazing! When I attended it had up to 3,000 students.
I read recently that the high school I attended in Philadelphia closed down. ( Cardinal Dougherty) Amazing! When I attended it had up to 3,000 students.
Yes it is, for the overwhelming majority of middle class families.
Government schooling is nothing more than an entitlement to middle class parents. The taxpayers merely fund the increased standard of living that government tuition-free schools allow. ( New cars, bigger homes, designer eyeglass frames, studio nails ..etc.)
I read that, too.
Same day as Northeast Catholic, I think?
That was my father’s alma mater.
Same day as Northeast Catholic, I think?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I grew up in Kensington. Did your dad grow up in Frankfurt or Kensington?
I think it was always called Northeast; my clan came from Huntington Park, Percey Street, 9th and Pike.
I was born in Philly and moved to Wildwood in 1969.
My dad worked at the Philadelphia Naval Yard, Shop 51.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.