By Gretchen Keiser and Erika Anderson, Staff Writers

ATLANTA—Voices of concern have been raised in the three school communities impacted by an archdiocesan proposal to close two Catholic schools and create a regional school at Sts. Peter and Paul School in Decatur.

At the same time, enhancing the Catholic education offered to children at the schools is on everyone’s mind.

“We remain concerned for excellence in education for our children and that’s our priority,” said Father John Adamski, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church.

Pastors of the three parishes, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Anthony’s Church and Sts. Peter and Paul Church, wrote a joint letter to archdiocesan officials asking for greater involvement by their communities and by the archdiocesan Office for Black Catholic Ministry, headed by Charles Prejean, in the process.

Archbishop John F. Donoghue has asked that Prejean become a part of the process, said Kathi Stearns, director of communications and vice chancellor.

Donald Sasso, Secretary for Education, said that community response would be essential. Reflecting upon the pastors’ input, he said the type of format was under discussion.

All three schools serve a student body that is predominantly, but not exclusively, African-American.

The archdiocese has proposed closing Our Lady of Lourdes School and St. Anthony’s School and encouraging families to send their children to Sts. Peter and Paul School, which is proposed to become a regional school renamed for St. Katharine Drexel, who founded Our Lady of Lourdes.

Our Lady of Lourdes is on Boulevard and St. Anthony’s is in the West End of Atlanta. Sts. Peter and Paul is on Tilson Road in Decatur, near the Candler Road exit off I-20 East.

Sts. Peter and Paul School is the newest school building and it sits on a 50-acre parish site with room for expansion. All three schools have less than full enrollment, but Sts. Peter and Paul could handle 400 to 500 students, according to the proposal.

One enhancement proposed by the archdiocese is a free busing service to the Decatur school to and from the sites of Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony’s schools and possibly from neighborhood clusters. The service would be for students and also for parents for evening activities.

Numerous other enhancements proposed for the Decatur school include a review and upgrade of the curriculum and academic program, a technology upgrade, free notebook computers for students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades and the addition of a gymnasium.

Teachers at all three schools would reapply for teaching positions at the new regional school. If the proposal is adopted, Queen Grady, the principal of Sts. Peter and Paul School, would be principal of the new regional school for the 2001-02 school year.

Jerralyn Winston, a member of St. Anthony’s Church, who has three children at Our Lady of Lourdes School, helped chair a meeting held at St. Anthony’s School Feb. 28 for parents from both schools.

She said parents do not understand how their opinions, expressed in a survey conducted by Independent School Counsel, Inc., for the archdiocese, resulted in the proposal now on the table. Originally the archdiocese had discussed merging Our Lady of Lourdes into St. Anthony’s and improving the West End facility and curriculum.

“The original proposal by the archdiocese of merging Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony’s to create a regional school on the campus of St. Anthony’s is one that the school communities are very much in favor of,” Winston said March 5. “We are all still very shocked as to how our survey responses indicated anything other than support for a regional school on the campus of St. Anthony’s.”

She acknowledged that St. Anthony’s School has had an increasingly difficult time for at least 10 to 15 years and has been in a “vicious cycle” of declining enrollment, which leads to less financial stability and diminished quality of education.

But, Winston said, the first proposal to merge the two schools, accompanied by an archdiocesan vision of “reconstruction and better facilities, as well as upgrading curriculum, academic programs and technology, would allow this regional school to thrive in the place of the currently struggling situation.”

Lourdes and St. Anthony’s “have so much to offer to each other that would make such a merger a success,” she said.

Superintendent of Catholic Schools Judith Mucheck in a March 1 article in The Georgia Bulletin expressed the archdiocese’s strong commitment to urban education.

However, Winston said that the proposal currently on the table “is to essentially reduce the mission of providing a school for this community to providing a bus for this community to a school in the suburbs.”

“This suggestion also poses a whole list of obstacles for working parents already struggling to be more involved with their children’s school,” said Winston.

She expressed confidence that “we actually can come up with an alternate plan that would satisfy the economic, educational and community-based obstacles involved.” She said the parents would like to see a revitalized school at St. Anthony’s become “more financially solvent, less subsidized and less dependent on the diocese.”

But, she added, “this cannot be said without also considering the goal of a mission school,” which she described as a school that does not limit enrollment to children “with the highest test scores, economic advantages and stay-at-home moms.”

“I just hope that the archdiocese will ultimately realize the impact this decision will have on a community with more limited resources and options than others,” she said. “I hope they will see the value in revitalizing their mission school into one dynamic regional school, actually located in the city, and exhibit a deeper commitment to urban education.”

Father T.J. Meehan, pastor of St. Anthony’s Church, who observed part of the parents’ meeting, said there was a “perception that people have done something to us and for us rather than with us.”

“Nothing can condemn a project faster than leaving the people out of the picture, not hearing their voice,” he said.

He underscored the questions among parents about how the original proposal to merge Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony’s schools had been replaced by an option of creating a regional school in Decatur.

“The survey had a couple of options, but the current suggestion was not one of the options apparently that was on the survey,” Father Meehan said. The pastors said they did not have a copy of the survey themselves. Since the new proposal, a second survey was given to parents.

At the same time, he acknowledged real problems at St. Anthony’s School, which was put on probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in February and is in danger of losing its accreditation. He cited problems including turnover in personnel, a loss of Catholic identity at the school and a range in the quality of teachers.

“There are some dedicated teachers. Some are not real impressive. Some are trying to get their wings and are ready to fly on to another, more lucrative assignment in a few years,” he said.

He supports the archdiocesan vision of establishing a higher quality of education for the children in a better environment for learning. “We were hoping it would be at St. Anthony’s,” Father Meehan said.

Mary Avery, who has a daughter in kindergarten at Our Lady of Lourdes, is a member of the parish and has served the school as a secretary for seven years. She also serves as the vice president of Our Lady of Lourdes’ Home and School Association. She said that she does have “some feelings of anger . . . even going so far as resentment.”

“I think Atlanta needs an urban black Catholic school and by closing the doors of two urban black Catholic schools, for parents who live in the city or who work in the city, . . . you are removing options for us,” she said.

Avery said that when she first received the news of the proposed merger she was “very puzzled.”

“It came completely out of the blue,” she said. “There were no members of the archdiocese who came to sit down with the faculty and the staff or even the parishioners.”

Avery, who is working toward a degree in education at Georgia State University, said that this proposal has also taken the faculty, especially many of those who have served the school for many years, by surprise. Any teacher wishing to serve at the proposed St. Katharine Drexel Regional School must reapply.

“I think that just adds insult,” she said. “You’re telling these teachers that what they’ve done so far is not good enough, that everything they put into Our Lady of Lourdes or St. Anthony’s doesn’t count. And that’s not fair.”

Though archdiocesan officials have said that academically, the schools are not up to par, Avery said that as a kindergartner, her daughter is reading at almost a second-grade level.

“I am very pleased with the education she is receiving,” she said. “If I wasn’t, she wouldn’t be there.”

As far as sending her daughter to the proposed regional school, Avery said that she is “leaving this in God’s hands.” She added that she wishes parents had known that this was a consideration a year ago, because in many ways, she feels that “our hands are being forced.” She is hoping that Lourdes stays open at least for a few more years, if not permanently, so parents can consider all the options.

Above all, she wants the archdiocese to remember the focus of the school.

“Our Lady of Lourdes was founded as a mission to provide a Catholic education to families who could not otherwise afford the school,” she said. “I know that for the archdiocese, part of the reasoning (for the merger) is financial, but then you lose the point. This school has a purpose.”

“We have to focus on the mission of Our Lady of Lourdes and why it was founded and who it was founded by,” she said. “I think it’s such a charade that with her canonization, the archdiocese recognized all that St. Katharine Drexel had put into Our Lady of Lourdes and then they turn around and say, ‘We’re closing it.’”

Kathleen Poll has a son in the first grade at Our Lady of Lourdes. Like several other parents, Poll, a single mother who belongs to St. Monica’s Church in Duluth but works at Georgia Tech, was drawn to Our Lady of Lourdes because of the proximity to her job.

“I wanted him to be in a Catholic school and it was convenient,” she said. “There were a lot of things that drew me to Lourdes.”

She said that the proposed regional school in Decatur is not convenient to her commute.

“I like having him closer to where I’m working. It makes me feel better knowing that I’m only 10 minutes away from him,” she said.

She serves as an officer on the Home and School Association board and said she wishes the parents, faculty and staff were consulted before this proposal was made.

“I just feel like we’re not a part of it, like it was just kind of thrown at us,” she said, adding that many of the other Catholic schools are full or have already ended their application process for the coming year.

Poll had already been considering sending her son to a public school on a trial basis, but said that she feels that he is getting a good education at Lourdes, where, she said, the “academic standards are fairly high.”

“I think my son’s where he needs to be,” she said. “I don’t feel he’s behind.”

Because she is not sure how her son will do in a public school, she is disappointed that Our Lady of Lourdes may not be there to welcome him back.

“I just want to know that there is a Catholic school that I can look to again,” she said.

In a letter to The Georgia Bulletin, two Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament serving in the archdiocese, Sister Loretta McCarthy, SBS, and Sister Nancy Auster, SBS, the order founded by St. Katharine Drexel, said they were unable to support the proposed regional school at this time, or naming it after St. Katharine, as has been suggested.

They asked whether archdiocesan school subsidies were “ever adequate enough to give Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony’s a chance to become self-sufficient again” and whether there was an “on-going, consistent endeavor on an archdiocesan level” to tap into the resources of parishioners, alumni and the broader community “to create a financial foundation for these two schools.”

The sisters, who belong to Our Lady of Lourdes, also asked whether parents, faculty, alumni and parishioners of the two school communities had been “invited into the entire decision-making process and involved in the decision” and whether the Office for Black Catholic Ministry had been a part of the process.

“Until these questions are addressed, we are not able to support this proposal,” they said. “Nor are we in favor of naming this proposed school after the foundress of our congregation . . . We would prefer that her name be used on a school that would honor her vision. At this point, we do not believe the proposed regional school would do this.”

At Sts. Peter and Paul School, several parents interviewed are excited about the proposal.

Pat Schadl, an art teacher, has a third-grade son at Sts. Peter and Paul School and two older sons who graduated from the Decatur school. She volunteers there regularly and is on the staff. She said she was “really happy” when she found out about the proposed merger.

“I’m pleased as punch,” she said. “I think it is good for all three schools because we all have low enrollment. With us pulling together, we can upgrade the technology and the curriculum, which will be good for the children.”

Schadl, co-president of the Home and School Association, is a parishioner at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, and said that she believes the proposal is positive in many ways.

“I think it’s good for the betterment of the church as well as the school,” she said, adding that the church may receive more members so that they can “reach out to more people.”

Ella Rogers Brown, president of the Home and School Association at Sts. Peter and Paul, said that she wasn’t surprised by the proposal. She, like Schadl, believes that the new school will work for the betterment of the children’s education.

“I didn’t relish the idea of spending all that money on three places, when you can have better results in one place,” she said. “I’m just a person that likes to see the best product for the money.”

Rogers Brown also believes that the school will maintain its close-knit relationship with the parish, although it will take work with a bigger school.

“I am hoping that we can bridge any gaps that there might be,” she said. “The important thing is that we maintain the quality so that the kids can reach their highest potential.”

Rogers Brown admits that she is a little unsure about the various aspects of the new school that have been promised, but at the same time, she is excited that her third-grade daughter will be able to have the best possible education.

“If things are done the way it’s proposed, then it’s a good idea, but I’m a little skeptical about it happening.”

Father Richard Wise, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, also struck a balance between the good that could come out of the proposal and the need to listen to the concerns of everyone involved.

“I think if you take a dispassionate look, it is probably logically and economically the best move,” he said, “but there are very strong and committed parents at the other two schools and for them this appears to be a defeat.”

He also expressed concern about trying “to do it so quickly so as not to really allow for long-term planning.”

In addition to the concerns of the three school communities, he said, he has to factor in and plan for the impact of proposed construction on the activities of the parish.

“I know there is a great need to bring everybody into the process,” he said, adding that in the African-American community there is concern for black children who are in the school system, or could be served by the school system, whether they are Catholic or non-Catholic.

As a matter of course, Father Wise said, he prays “every night to ask Mother Katharine’s intercession. I think we need to spend some more time in prayer.”