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All North County Catholic Schools To Remain Open for 2017-2018
All North County Catholic Schools in the Northeast Deanery will remain open for the 2017-2018 school year. The Archdiocesan School Oversight Committee representatives consulted with pastors and studied enrollment histories and Northeast Deanery grants and scholarships given to schools, while planning the future of Catholic education in North County.
The representatives are using Archbishop Carlson’s vision for A Renaissance for Catholic Education throughout the Archdiocese as a guideline, while assessing the challenges facing the Northeast Deanery Schools. The studies include analysis of enrollment projections and the financial investment that parishes and the Archdiocese make in the deanery’s schools.
The focus is on a new and innovative model for Catholic Education that will ensure the North County community has a variety of Catholic schools that are academically excellent, affordable and accessible to families. The committee’s plan would be phased in over the next few years.
Meetings Set at Each School
Details of the committee’s proposed plan will be shared at a series of meetings in Jan. and parishioners’ input will be welcomed. All meetings start at 7pm and are as follows. Jan. 4 – St. Ferdinand; Jan. 5 – St. Angela Merici; Jan. 11 – Blessed Teresa of Calcutta; Jan. 12 – Christ Light of the Nations; Jan. 17
– Sacred Heart Jan. 18 – St. Rose Philippine Duchesne; Jan. 19 – St. Norbert; and Jan. 24 – Our Lady of Guadalupe.
In an effort to increase enrollment, the North County Catholic Schools will hold open houses on Sunday, Jan. 29. More information on the open houses is available at www.federationofcatholicschools.org/openhouse.
The Archdiocesan committee stressed that it’s important to note that this planning is not unique to North County. The committee stated: “However, with our history of collaboration over the past several years as the Federation of Catholic Schools, we are uniquely prepared to tap into a new and innovative model for Catholic Education that will ensure that our North County community has a variety of Catholic schools that are academically excellent, affordable and accessible to families for years to come.”
K-8 enrollment in archdiocese schools has dropped 31 percent over the past decade, while high school enrollment has dropped 22 percent. The diocese already approved the closure and consolidation of two South City Catholic schools: Our Lady of Sorrows and St. James the Greater, which consolidated with St. Joan of Arc’s school.
