[StBernard] Educating the masses

[Westley Annis]

I always heard that the Good Lord knows what we are thinking so you might as
well say it.  While I am happy that all of these schools are thriving I
can't help but feel very bitter towards Fr. Maestri when he says how
committed the archdiocese is to St. Bernard.  Where was that commitment when
the decision was made to take Hannan away from our parish?  I remember the
school starting out with portables and keep wondering if he understood the
dedication that families had to the school.  I know in my heart that Hannan
family members would have started from scratch once again to keep there
school alive in St. Bernard.  I wonder if Fr. Maestri fully comprehends that
his decision to relocate Hannan had such a negative impact or our parish's
recovery.  Many families now live on the northshore because they followed
the school.  If the school had returned to its Meraux campus, the families
would have returned as well.
 
I know it's too late now, but my heart hurts when I think of how the
archdiocese abandoned our families and hurt our recovery effort by taking
away our high school, closing our church parishes and transferring our
neighborhood priests when we needed them most.
 
Just had to vent.  Sometimes I forget that God knows best. Good think He
loves me even when I'm cranky!
 
Janet


	-----------------------------------------------------
	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..