John Mayer, Principal, St. Anthony and Our Lady of Lourdes Schools

By Gretchen Keiser, Staff Writer

ATLANTA—A proposal has been made by the archdiocese to close Our Lady of Lourdes School and St. Anthony’s School in Atlanta and create a regional school at Sts. Peter and Paul School, Decatur, to serve the combined student body of the three schools.

The proposed regional school, if approved, would be named for St. Katharine Drexel, who founded Our Lady of Lourdes in 1912. This is proposed for the 2001-2002 school year.

The two urban schools, each almost 90 years old, predominantly, although not exclusively, serve the African-American community. Our Lady of Lourdes, located on Boulevard, near the Martin Luther King Jr. historic site, has an enrollment of 117 students in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. St. Anthony’s, located in the West End of Atlanta, has an enrollment of 100 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Sts. Peter and Paul School, located on Tilson Road in Decatur, has an enrollment of 143 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, about 70 percent of whom are Catholic. The newest of the three schools, it opened in 1961.

Our Lady of Lourdes School and Parish were established, at a time of racial segregation, for the black community. St. Katharine, who founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to serve blacks and Native Americans, helped establish the parish and school. The parish today has a diverse membership.

St. Anthony School opened in 1912, although the present-day school was built in 1934. Both schools have student bodies that are 60 percent Catholic and 40 percent non-Catholic. They share one principal.

The operations at both schools, and at Sts. Peter and Paul School, are subsidized by the archdiocese. The amount this year totals $1.2 million.

Over at least the last five years, discussions have taken place publicly concerning the future of Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony’s schools and possible consolidation of the two schools.

Each school has experienced frequent turnover in the principal’s position in the 1990s, but also have alumni who have continued to boost the schools. Both schools have been below their enrollment capacity, although Our Lady of Lourdes had 160 students as recently as 1995.

In the 1995-96 school year, the two schools consolidated some faculty, including the principal’s position, to better utilize their resources to enhance curriculum. Each school also has a lead teacher who assists the principal. However, the principal’s position has turned over twice since 1995.

Our Lady of Lourdes School was re-accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in the past two years, a self-study that must be accomplished by schools every five years and scrutinized by a SACS visiting team, according to Judith Mucheck, superintendent of Catholic schools.

However, St. Anthony’s was placed on probation by SACS two weeks ago, she said, which puts the school in danger of losing its accreditation.

Our Lady of Lourdes, originally built on a small piece of property in the heart of downtown Atlanta, has nowhere to expand. Expansion at St. Anthony’s could impact surrounding parish structures and parish plans.

Families at both schools answered a survey in late January that asked over 60 questions concerning academic programs, facilities, tuition affordability and parental expectations. The survey is part of a feasibility study performed for the archdiocese by Independent School Counsel, Inc., a consulting firm.

The outcome was a “strong interest in upgrading curriculum and better facilities for their children,” said Donald T. Sasso, Secretary for Education.

Speaking for the proposal, Sasso said, “I would love to see a school of 400 to 500 kids at that site (in Decatur), with a facility that has room to expand, with new construction, a gymnasium, the benefits of a 50-acre plus campus . . . a school that would be self-funded and better able to direct its future.”

Considering the $1.2 million spent by the archdiocese for the schools to be financially solvent, the tuition parents are paying and the facilities and programs available to children at Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony’s, “I think a reasonable person would come to a conclusion that this is a situation begging for change, for the kids’ sake,” Sasso said.

While the archdiocese had originally proposed merging Our Lady of Lourdes into St. Anthony’s, the survey responses from parents at the two schools led instead to the option of the regional school at the Decatur location.

Other factors contributing to the archdiocesan proposal are:

—A consolidation between the two schools only at St. Anthony’s would lead to a maximum school community of 250. This size “would mean that the school would never break even financially,” according to the Secretary for Education.

—Sts. Peter and Paul School has a site of over 50 acres, is better suited to renovation and expansion and could support a school of 400-500 students.

—“Our Lady of Lourdes Parish needs and wants the current school facilities for its own parish programs,” a letter from the Secretary for Education to parents stated.

—“The achievement level of students at all three schools is below their academic potential,” the letter said.

The archdiocese is offering to provide free round-trip busing service to and from the St. Anthony’s School location, to and from the Our Lady of Lourdes School location, “and possibly to and from neighborhood ‘cluster areas’” to the regional school. This service would be provided for students for the school day and for parents for evening activities, the letter states.

Other points in the proposal for parents to consider are the building of a new gymnasium for the proposed regional school; a significant upgrade in technology at the regional school, including free notebook computers for students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades; a schoolwide academic improvement program to improve student skills and standardized test scores; and the possibility of building new permanent classrooms as enrollment increases.

While it is too early to determine a tuition rate, the rate at Sts. Peter and Paul School is currently lower than at Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony’s schools.

“It looks like the regional school concept would have a positive impact on tuition increases in the years to come,” Sasso said, since the economics of a school with a larger student body is more favorable than that of a smaller school.

The first survey in late January was sent to parents at Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony schools.

Parents at those schools, and at Sts. Peter and Paul School, are now being mailed a new survey to gauge their response to this proposed regional Catholic school. Focus groups will also be formed “to gain additional feedback from parents and the general community,” Sasso said in his letter to parents.

A demographic study has also been done to look at where families who bring children to the three schools live and their commuting patterns. According to officials at the Department of Catholic Education, the Decatur school, which is near the Candler Road exit off I-20, is central to the overall population of the three schools.

A meeting was held with pastors from the three parishes, Archbishop John F. Donoghue, the vicars general and leadership of the Department of Catholic Education on Feb. 21. That was followed by a meeting with leadership from the three schools the same afternoon.

In a statement, the archbishop said, “No decision has been made. We have simply put one proposal on the table. We needed at least one workable idea before we could move forward. Our goal is to get the feedback of the communities before we make a final decision. It is imperative that the members of all three communities be a part of the process.”

If the proposal is approved by the parties involved, and adopted by the archdiocese, Queen Grady, the principal of Sts. Peter and Paul School, would be asked to serve as the principal of St. Katharine Drexel Regional School for the 2001-2002 school year.

Faculty at all three schools would have to reapply to teach at the new school. The proposal recommends that Mucheck and Hannah Martin, director of curriculum for the archdiocese, evaluate the curriculum and the teachers at all three schools and work with the regional school’s principal to develop and implement an enhanced curriculum.

“We are really trying hard. We have been at this drawing board since early fall,” Mucheck said. “We are not giving up on it.”

The message is that “there is a very, very strong commitment to urban education,” she said.

“All I can hope and pray is these three school communities will see the wisdom in the plan that we have proposed,” Sasso said. “If there is a better alternate plan, we would like to know what it is. We feel we have examined this plan from so many angles and perspectives.”

As student populations have grown smaller at the schools, the type of programs that are offered has also diminished in quality, he said. “We are looking at this as a potential renaissance for these school communities.”

Students at all three schools are underachieving to varying degrees, he said. He said this is a reflection on the quality of the curriculum and the delivery of the curriculum, not on the effort of the students. In addition to creating a consolidated regional school, the education office would like to ensure that students are provided a strong core curriculum, he said, and that the curriculum is delivered well and that student achievement is closely measured throughout the program.

“I would hope these school communities understand and trust that we’re trying to do the very best for the children in these schools and for other children who may gain access to a new regional school,” he said. “These wonderful children deserve more than they are presently receiving.”