By Rita McInerney

There are several frustrated and concerned principals in Catholic schools throughout the Archdiocese of Atlanta as a result of the Supreme Court handed down July 1, 1985 that public school teachers may not provide remedial services in private schools.

Schools in the Archdiocese of Atlanta affected by the court decision that struck down programs in New York City and Grand Rapids, Mich., are Christ the King, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Anthony’s and St. Paul of the Cross in Atlanta; St. Thomas More and Sts. Peter and Paul in Decatur and St. Joseph, Athens, in Clarke County.

In these schools, teachers paid by federal Chapter 1 funds provided remedial math and reading instruction to children in the first through sixth grades who had been tested and found to be below grade level in these subjects. To be eligible, the private school must be in an area where public schools have qualified for such remedial aid.

“The principals are really distressed,” said Sister Joan McCann, C.S.J., assistant superintendent of Catholic schools in the archdiocese. “We would much rather have the teachers stay in the schools. We are very pleased with the corps of teachers and aides. We had finally gotten to where there was trust on both sides. We could see a real improvement in the children’s work.”

Sister McCann said the principals in the affected schools had expressed the hope that the state would postpone implementation of the court decision as has been done elsewhere. To date Georgia has indicated no willingness to delay.

Billy Tidwell, director of compensatory education for the state Department of Education, admitted the court decision “kind of threw us a little.” Tidwell said he had expected the school systems -- there are eight affected by the decision in Georgia -- to go ahead and provide services at a neutral site. “What I’m concerned about now is that it’s getting on to November.”

He said the city and county school systems must get state approval for any plans they agree upon with the Catholic schools. But, he said, “We would not squabble if their plan is ready...they could implement it immediately.”

In Atlanta, principals of the four schools which have lost the remedial instruction inside their schools, and Sister McCann have met with Mrs. Ethel Blayton, Chapter 1 consultant with the Atlanta school system.

Dr. Alonzo Crim, city schools superintendent, in a telephone conversation Thursday, Oct. 10, said options are still being explored and no final decisions made. Each case (school) is being looked at individually and he expects to have a decision in a week or 10 days. “We are trying to determine those kinds of options which would be least upsetting to the children.” He does not expect the state to allow any extension in implementing the new program.

Options discussed include busing the children to nearby public schools, mobile units, or rented spaces.

In a telephone conversation, Monday, Oct. 14, Mrs. Blayton said, “Dr. Crim would you like to see us get mobile units, portable units, that would go from school to school.” The units, one or two, would be needed, would have to be 66-passenger buses, big enough for a teacher aide and the students. She said the transportation division of the Atlanta School System is looking into prices of such vehicles. When this information is gathered, she will present it to Dr. Crim and his cabinet.

She also said that Dr. Crim does not mind the idea of renting space for the instructional time but does not like the busing proposal because it takes time away from the instructional day.

What is disturbing to the principals is that in the September meeting with Mrs. Blayton they were assured the alternative programs would be in place by Oct. 1.

In the meantime, the principals say, it’s the children who are suffering. And Sister Patricia Clune, C.S.J., at St. Anthony’s school in southwest Atlanta, wonders “why we can’t have the services that are due us?”

“We were told the program would be in place by Oct. 1, now we’re told it will be a few more months. In the process, the kids are really suffering. We had a wonderful remedial reading and math program. A teacher and an aide were in our school full time and the students’ test scores really improved. They want to come back and work with our children,” Sister Clune said.

The city school system has offered St. Anthony’s space in an old vacant school around the corner but says it will take some time to make repairs and clean it up. Alternative suggestions have been to rent a room in a nearby West End library but officials there didn’t want to tie up a room. Another idea was to put a mobile unit on the grounds of the old school, which was more recently used by the Office of Economic Opportunity program.

Sister Clune is worried about the security of the vacant school building where the two teachers and children would be using just a couple of classrooms in the large structure. A guard would be necessary, she believes.

The tragedy of the situation as she sees it is that the children affected by the withdrawal of services are those who need the most help. But these children cannot handle an extended school day because of shorter attention spans.

At Our Lady of Lourdes School, 29 Boulevard N.E., it has been suggested that the city school system look into renting space in the Martin Luther King Jr. Center across Auburn Avenue from the Catholic school. This would require a crossing guard or aide, Sister McCann says.

Sister Anna Kearns, C.S.J., principal, fears the hazards that increased traffic will bring with the use of the Hulsey railroad yards as a “piggyback facility.” This was a reason for the vigorous opposition from the “Lourdes community” to this action by the City Council.

Furthermore, she said, Our Lady of Lourdes is not an “elitist” school and accepted children with special needs because of the services provided with government funds. The loss of these services puts an added burden on the regular teachers.

One proposal she favors is “to give back the teacher and aide until they can make a decision.” She sees this as essential for the sake of the 75 children who had been getting remedial instruction from the full-time teacher and aide.

Sister Kathleen Purser, G.N.S.H., at St. Paul of the Cross School, said the principals came away from the mid-September meeting with Mrs. Blayton with a good feeling and were optimistic. In her case she was offered the option of having the children bused to Miles Elementary School six miles away because there is no room in the Hartwell School right next to the Catholic school. Neither is there room on the adjacent public school premises for a mobile unit. And to get a portable unit, she was informed last week would take six to eight months.

“Under Chapter 1, we had a full-time teacher and full-time aide helping about 50 children,” Sister Purser said.

Sister McCann says that Sister Jean Liston, G.N.S.H., principal at Christ the King School, plans to present a busing proposal to the parents. The public school to which the children would be bused is six or seven miles away. Public schools closer to Christ the King are too crowded.

Busing the children doesn’t fit into the school day, Sister McCann said. It is instruction time being wasted. When remedial teachers were in the schools, the children’s instruction was scheduled all day long. “I wasn’t really enthusiastic about our kids going to another school. Our previous experience has been that they schedule them early in the morning or at lunch time.” Another factor that concerns her is that there is less control of curriculum when the children are taken out of the school for instruction.

At Sts. Peter and Paul in Decatur, Sister Marita Regina O’Connor, I.H.M., said 28 children have been going to Tilson Elementary School, two blocks away, for instruction since Sept. 30. The parents drop them off at Tilson for the 7:15 a.m. class every school day and the DeKalb County school bus brings them back to their own school at 8 a.m. The bell rings at 8:10. This adds 45 minutes to their school day.

“It has an advantage in that it’s better than nothing,” Sister O’Connor said. She credits Pat Ryan, who was remedial teacher at the Catholic school for 13 years, with coordinating the program at Tilson. Sister O’Connor also praised the cooperation of Carey Wynn, Chapter 1 director for the DeKalb County schools, in getting the program under way.

“All the children’s needs are not being met,” Sister O’Connor said. Before the court decision there were two full-time teachers in the school providing remedial instruction in reading and math to 75 students. Now the 28 children going to Tilson early each morning get instruction in math only since DeKalb does not offer remedial reading in its schools.

“This is minimal and we can’t get anyone to give us answers,” the principal said. “Financially we are not able to hire another teacher for remedial reading.”

At St. Thomas More School in Decatur, Sister Margaret Mary McKeon, S.N.D., said the parish school board hired the teacher, Ann Dugan, who had worked at the school as Chapter 1 teacher for about 11 years. She teaches math and reading in the morning and gives computer instruction in the afternoon.

Sister McKeon said Mrs. Dugan’s services had previously been provided by the DeKalb County system since the Decatur City School system had never provided instruction in their private schools. This meant that St. Thomas More would have had to send its children to the Decatur schools for remedial instruction.

Mrs. Dugan, she said, could have had a job with the public schools but wanted to stay at the Catholic school. “At least there’s a continuation,” but at a salary “we weren’t expecting,” Sister McKeon said.

At St. Joseph’s School in Athens, Clarke County, parents were polled as to whether they wanted their children, about 25 in number, bused to the Chase School three blocks away, according to Sister Noreen James Friel, I.H.M., new principal. Only two parents approved this proposal so nothing is happening. Such busing, Sister Friel said, is an hour’s block of time from the school during which children would lose 30 minutes’ instruction time in another subject. The school had had a Chapter 1 teacher for remedial reading since 1975.

Sister McCann has a voluminous file of correspondence from the United States Catholic Conference’s Department of Education regarding the implementation of the court decision. One memo is accompanied by a copy of a letter written by U.S. Secretary of Education, William Bennett.

The Council of Chief State Officers, quoted in the letter dated Sept. 12 sent by Bennett to the head of the Alabama Department of Education had “voted unanimously to express concern over the impossible task of implementing in many states the July 1, 1985 Supreme Court decision in Aguilar v. Felton by the beginning of this school year...With schools starting in August and early September, there simply is not adequate time to implement the Aguilar decision in a manner consistent with the health and safety of children and teachers, sound educational practices, state building codes and teacher contracts.” This decision, Bennett goes on to say in the letter, leaves standing in the Congressional mandate that equitable services be provided to disadvantaged children in private as well as public schools.

Bennett continues, “This department will support local and state agencies in litigation, who have good grounds for requesting necessary delays in implementing the Supreme Court’s decision.” In Georgia, there is no sign that such a delay will be sought.

On their side, that of the private schools, one or two of the principals interviewed think that the time is ripe for court action. Who will instigate it is the question.

“I’m sorry it’s not a bright picture,” Sister McCann said, “but truthfully I didn’t think the Supreme Court decision would affect us as quickly as it does.”