[StBernard] Educating the masses

[Westley Annis]

Educating the masses
by Stephen Maloney 



Posted: Monday, September 24, 2007 

St. Stephen's Catholic School Principal Peggy Leblanc now greets twice as
many students every school day as she did two years ago at the Napoleon
Avenue campus.

Many students are children of first responders who bonded with Leblanc in
the days after Hurricane Katrina when police officers and firefighters took
up temporary residence on a cruise ship docked on the Mississippi River.

Those emergency-born friendships are being strengthened as Leblanc brings
together the St. Stephen's community through an array of after-school
activities, establishing the school as an example of recovery among the 84
schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, said Father William Maestri.

Originally the principal of St. Francis Cabrini Elementary School on Paris
Avenue, Leblanc was chosen to lead St. Louis Cathedral Academy after 14 feet
of floodwater destroyed the school.

"When we came back in October, Father Maestri had me join up with Cathedral
and open the first school in the city of New Orleans after Katrina," Leblanc
said. "I'd say at least one-third of my parents from Cabrini were firemen or
policemen and they were housed on the boats. This is why we opened
Cathedral, because it was close to the boats."

Leblanc worked closely with displaced emergency workers and their families,
providing a sense of familiarity in the face of the largest natural disaster
in U.S. history. 

Many students transferred to St. Stephen's with Leblanc, helping school
enrollment double from 150 in 2005 to more than 300 this year.

Maestri said St. Stephen's growth is anomalous among Archdiocesan schools,
which are spread throughout eight parishes and support more than 40,000
students this year, down from about 50,000 in 2005.

And an effort to offset shrinking enrollment at West Bank schools has paid
off, Maestri said.

Archbishop Blenk and Immaculata High Schools were merged into Academy of Our
Lady High School for the 2007-08 school year in response to dwindling
enrollment numbers at each school.

More than 700 students attend the new academy, and more are added to the
school's waiting list every week, Maestri said, indicating the success of
the merger.

"There has really been a tremendous presence for the Archdiocese for both
young men and young ladies on the West Bank, and I think the proof of that
has been the response of students and parents coming to the schools that we
merged and opened," he said.

Student populations have also shifted to St. Tammany, St. Charles and St.
John parishes after the storm as families fled the devastation in Orleans
and St. Bernard parishes.

Archbishop Hannah High School left its ruined campus in Meraux and moved to
Covington's St. Joseph's Abbey while its future home is built in Goodbee.

"We tried to find out where the St. Bernard families were moving and we
found that a significant number were moving to that western part of St.
Tammany Parish, so we believed that it was essential that we went forward
and provided an educational environment for them in St. Tammany," Maestri
said.

Enrollment increased dramatically at Our Lady of Prompt Succor, the only
elementary Archdiocese school remaining in St. Bernard.

"We started out last year with 24 children," he said. "Right now we're up to
about 300 children. We are committed very definitely to St. Bernard and we
believe this increased enrollment is a tremendous commitment by parents to
Catholic education in St. Bernard Parish."

Maestri said displaced students are steadily returning to New Orleans.

"Every year we accept more than 1,000 children that come into the schools,
the reason being that many parents are either moving back into their homes
or they are also relocating back into their jobs," Maestri said. "Many of
them are living with other people in the community and they have their
children with them. Our desire is to make sure that those children have a
place to go to school."

More than 1,500 students who transferred to Archdiocesan schools from public
schools are unable to pay tuition, forcing system costs higher, Maestri
said.

"But we do not put children in either elementary or secondary schools out of
school because the parents cannot afford the tuition," he said. "We simply
absorb the cost."

How much tuition is absorbed is not available, Maestri said, but the average
elementary school tuition is about $2,500 per year while the average for
high school is about $4,500..