Father Paul Kelley said additions to the curriculum and plans for building improvements will “maintain the high quality of Catholic education at St. Joseph’s High School.”

To meet the financial needs of the program, the school will return to the “family tuition plan” next fall; a plan which still places the tuition of St. Joseph’s well below that of other parochial and private schools in the area,” the principal said. Additional funds will be provided by parish assessments. A tuition study fact sheet distributed to the members of the Home and School Association listed costs, estimates and future expenditures.

Salary increases for lay teachers and an increase in the faculty are necessary to meet increased student enrollment, he said. Present enrollment is 431 students but space is available for additional classrooms. “To meet accredited standards, the classes will not exceed 35 students,” Father Kelley said. Drexel students have visited St. Joseph’s and St. Pius X, and “we expect about 70 Drexel students to enroll this coming year,” he said.

Proposed curriculum changes include an intensive 3-day-a-week religious program, art and music courses, and a military program (Civil Air Patrol Course.) “The military program will be obligatory for sophomores, and optional for juniors and seniors”, Father Kelley said. “We consider this a coeducation institution, but we do feel the military program has advantages for the students.”

Building improvements include “five study cents” for students with specialized assignments, who will use the areas for advanced or supplemental study. The five-year investment fund granted by the Board of Education provides additional classrooms, counseling and office space, and renovation of the auditorium.

Parents were requested to supply answers and comments to an unsigned opinion poll to assist in planning future changes and reevaluating present programs. Some questions asked in the survey:

--Do you feel that the education given your child at St. Joseph’s is equal to the other Catholic schools?

--What areas in our curriculum are the strongest? The weakest?

--What areas should be given the greatest emphasis? Humanities, languages, science and math?

--Do you feel that it is educationally advantageous for your child to be in a school that draws from a true cross-section of our population crossing social, economic, and racial lines.

--Do you feel that your child is aided by going to school in the downtown community in which he or she may work as an adult?

St. Joseph’s High School, during the six years of its existence, “has become one of the best schools in the archdiocese, the city and the region,’ said Father Kelley. Father Daniel J. O’Connor, former principal, received a standing ovation from the large audience. In his brief farewell, he thanked the parents for their loyalty and dedication to the school.