By Gretchen Keiser, Staff Writer

ATLANTA—Four proposals were submitted to Archbishop John F. Donoghue following an estimated 15 to 17 hours of meetings by representatives from the school/parish communities of Our Lady of Lourdes, Atlanta, St. Anthony, Atlanta, and Sts. Peter and Paul, Decatur, with representatives of the archdiocese. The meetings took place on the evenings of March 26 through 29.

Task force representatives were April Austin and Jerralyn Winston from St. Anthony Church, Mary Avery and Karen Allen from Our Lady of Lourdes Church, and Paul Williams and Dolores Spencer-Izegbu from Sts. Peter and Paul Church.

Representing the archdiocese were Donald T. Sasso, Secretary for Education, Judith Mucheck, superintendent of Catholic schools, Kathi Stearns, vice chancellor, Gary Meader, chief financial officer for the Department of Catholic Education, Lloyd Sutter, senior administrator in the Department of Religious Education, and Gareth Genner, a consultant from Independent School Counsel, Inc.

Bill Mulcahy, a member of the Archdiocesan Finance Council, was a liaison from the council, which must advise Archbishop Donoghue on any proposal having a significant financial impact.

Charles Prejean, director of the archdiocesan Office for Black Catholic Ministry, was also asked to take part on the task force.

The proposals, which were submitted by the parish/school communities in the four-day period, are summarized below.

Proposal To Merge Two Schools Into New St. Anthony’s

This proposal recommends merging Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony’s schools and rebuilding one school on the site of St. Anthony’s School. It also supports development of Sts. Peter and Paul School, to draw more students to that school from parishes in the east corridor of the archdiocese.

This proposal includes a recommendation that the combined school of Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony’s seek an accomplished principal who could work at restoring confidence in teachers and curriculum. (See proposal by St. Anthony’s pastor page 5.)

It also proposes an annual faculty appreciation ball to establish a fund to help adequately pay and retain excellent teachers.

It proposes seeking college students from the Atlanta University Center colleges to volunteer to tutor in after school-programs in a variety of subjects to help children succeed.

To increase funding for the schools, the proposal recommends a 12-16 week period where annual gifts are solicited to be made directly to each Catholic school. Using these donations and matching gifts from employers where applicable, the proposal estimates $50,000 can be raised by each parish, even if only half of the households in each parish participate.

Task force representatives brought forward the model in place in the Diocese of St. Augustine, Fla., called “The Guardian of Dreams,” which raises approximately $300,000 a year for two inner city Catholic schools in the diocese, reportedly through companies who are based in the same community and see the schools as an attraction for their employees and as a tax benefit. The nonprofit has also established a $170,000 endowment fund for the tuition fund at the inner city schools.

According to the documents supplied by the task force representatives, the two inner city schools in Jacksonville, Fla., that benefit from the fund are at 92 percent of capacity.

The proposal also recommends establishing a finance council for the new school partly to help eliminate uncollected school tuition. It also proposes using parental involvement and volunteers to help reduce the costs of before and after school care and seeking donation of in-kind services by parishioners involved in construction and remodeling of buildings.

In supporting documents, a paper was included arguing that smaller class sizes are an asset in inner city Catholic schools that can be used to the advantage of children, rather than prompting the schools to close because of reduced enrollment. A detailed proposal was outlined in the paper as to how this might be used at various grade levels to improve the children’s education.

Enhancement and individualized programs utilized by the Diocese of Memphis, Tenn., were also cited in supporting pages.

A marketing and public relations plan was included that recommended describing the schools as Catholic metropolitan Atlanta schools, rather than using terms such as urban or inner city schools, that have a negative connotation and promote segregation rather than attracting a diverse student population.

The plan recommends seeking students for St. Anthony’s School from southwest Atlanta, including the feeder parishes of St. Anthony, Our Lady of Lourdes, Sacred Heart, the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Most Blessed Sacrament and St. Paul of the Cross, all in Atlanta, and for Sts. Peter and Paul School from southeast Atlanta, including feeder parishes of Sts. Peter and Paul, Christ Our Hope, Lithonia, St. Pius X, Conyers, and St. James, McDonough.

It proposes having the two elementary schools feed students into the new Catholic high school of Our Lady of Mercy, Fairburn, and into a proposed high school at the site of the former St. Paul of the Cross school in northwest Atlanta.

The two-year marketing plan, to include brochures, mailings, radio spots, print ads and billboards, was estimated to cost $897,120.

The proposal recommends that in addition to educational, spiritual and financial aspects, the task force consider community support as an ongoing need. It recommends that the task force remain in place to “start spiritual healing and reestablish trust” and that the task force “remain part of the decision-making for this plan to ensure execution.”

This was the proposal made by the school/parish communities.

As an addendum to this proposal, financial projections were made “to provide a general concept of the financial consequences of the proposals.”

The proposal was estimated two ways: with phased-in construction at St. Anthony’s or with construction completed all at once. If phased in, this was estimated to lead to a deficit in 2001-02 of $936,603, with subsequent annual deficits ranging from $693,013 to $524,226 over a four-year period. If built at once, the deficit in 2001-02 would be $1,208,603 and subsequent annual deficits would range from $973,607 to $523,906 over a four-year period.

At the same time, Sts. Peter and Paul School would operate at an annual deficit of $864,557 in 2001-02 and deficits ranging from $862,465 to $626,962 over the next four years.

Proposal To Make Two Schools Into Interrelated Model

This proposal asks that both St. Anthony’s and Our Lady of Lourdes schools be kept open but merged. Our Lady of Lourdes would serve the lower grades and St. Anthony’s would serve the upper grades.

The proposal, called “Don’t Close a Door Without an Open Mind,” was submitted by “concerned parishioners, alumni and community supporters.” It emphasizes the rich heritage of Our Lady of Lourdes Church and School, its founding by St. Katharine Drexel, and the “binding ties” that connect generations of black Catholics into a family whose history and sacramental life have been celebrated at the Boulevard site for 90 years.

“Because of the rich history, the reputation of these schools, and the community impact, we recommend that both Atlanta schools remain open,” the proposal says. “They should be staffed with reputable, qualified, certified personnel to elevate the performance of all concerned.”

The proposal requests that a five-year plan be put into place that would lead to a merger of Sts. Anthony’s School and Our Lady of Lourdes School. Our Lady of Lourdes would become a pre-kindergarten through fourth grade school and St. Anthony’s would become a fifth-grade through eighth-grade school.

In the 2001-02 school year, all grades would be housed at Our Lady of Lourdes and fund raising of $20,000 would be carried out.

Renovations would be carried out at St. Anthony’s School during this year.

In the 2002-03 school year, the fifth- through eighth-grade students would return to St. Anthony’s School. Fund raising of $25,000 that year is proposed, along with an unspecified tuition increase, cosmetic repairs to the building at Our Lady of Lourdes and a goal of improved test scores by students.

In each of the three succeeding years, fund raising of $30,000, $35,000 and $40,000 respectively is proposed, along with annual tuition increases and goals of improved test scores. The fifth year a pledge drive among alumni is proposed.

After the fifth year, each school should be financially self-operative, the proposal said.

It proposes immediately establishing a marketing advisory council to seek endowment funds, capital funds, scholarship funds and business partnerships. It proposes drawing on alumni support, corporate support and pledges and commitments from parishioners.

The proposal recommends hiring certified principals for each of the two schools and certified teachers for both schools. It also proposes hiring an assistant principal, counselor, technology instructor, bookkeeper and religion director and installing a learning lab to assist students who are having difficulty meeting the objectives on standardized tests. It recommends instituting a technology plan for each school, making staff development available to teachers and achieving fair pay for all teachers. Donations and fund-raisers are proposed to implement the technology plan at each school.

Spiritually, the proposal includes implementing the religious education curriculum provided by the archdiocese, having the religious education director provide materials for teachers to use, having students attend weekly Mass, Stations of the Cross during Lent and other activities coinciding with the liturgical seasons.

Closing Catholic inner city schools “negatively clouds the Catholic image in Black America’s eyes,” the proposal states.

“We believe this plan is viable and successful . . . It could possibly provide the church with a model which would eliminate the issue of closing schools in the inner cities across the country.”

As an addendum to this proposal, financial projections were produced to provide “a general concept of the financial consequences of the proposals.”

These projections state that the model of Our Lady of Lourdes as a pre-K through fourth grade school with 145 students would operate at a deficit of $274,368 in 2001-02. The deficit would decline slightly each year over five years, but it is estimated to be $211,103 in 2005-06.

The model of St. Anthony’s School as a middle school with grades five through eight and a student body estimated to rise from 150 students in 2001-02 to 250 students by 2003-04 also would run a projected deficit. The projected deficit would be $628,633 in the year 2001-02, would drop to $293,279 in 2002-03, would rise to $340,418 in 2003-04 and then would decrease again in the next two years, to $213,040 in the year 2005-06.

The projections noted that at the same time Sts. Peter and Paul School would run the deficits noted under the first proposal listed.

Proposal By St. Anthony’s Pastor

Father T. J. Meehan, pastor of St. Anthony’s Church, asked the archbishop to reconsider the first proposal of the Education Department to merge St. Anthony and Our Lady of Lourdes schools at the site of St. Anthony’s School.

“Parents and other concerned parishioners at both churches have met to sign statements that would pledge their spiritual and financial support for a downtown, combined Catholic school,” Father Meehan said.

He emphasized the need to select “an accomplished and dedicated principal who could work at restoring confidence in the teachers and curriculum at the school.” He named a Religious Brother, who has been successful in rebuilding and increasing the enrollment in African-American schools in New Jersey, as an interested candidate if the two schools are combined under one principal. For the past five years, Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony’s have shared one principal between two schools.

Father Meehan said parishioners to whom he has spoken are willing to accept demolition of the Lyke Center building adjacent to St. Anthony’s School if that is necessary to expand the school and improve it. Two parish-owned lots on Howell Street, behind and adjoining the school grounds, could also be used for expansion, he said.

He argued against closing the school when the parish is growing. He said that St. Anthony’s Church has registered more than 100 new households in the past year and has close to 150 children in religious education. This bodes well for the possibility of more families sending children to St. Anthony’s School, if the school is renovated or rebuilt, he said.

“If we put new resources into our building, curriculum and staffing, many of our people would recognize a better alternative to their use of public schools,” he wrote.

The school is also a force for evangelization, he wrote. Five people, students or parents of school children, are currently receiving instruction in the Catholic faith, the pastor said. “The opportunity for evangelization, through the ministry of our school, is something we would hate to lose,” he wrote.

Parents are willing to pay more tuition and to creatively seek other sources of income to make the combined school a viable institution, he said.

In a supporting document, the “Save Our Schools” core committee said that there should be an ongoing campaign in both Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Anthony’s parishes to raise awareness of how Catholic schools are funded and seek greater support from parishioners.

Parishioners would be asked to make a monthly donation of at least $10 per household and to seek matching donations from their employers. The SOS committee estimated that $50,000 per parish could be raised in this manner, even if only half of the households in the parish participated.

The SOS committee also proposed that the current after-school program at both schools be replaced with a structured, tutoring and homework assignment program with a set curriculum and guidelines. They proposed that grants be pursued to fund this endeavor and that college and high school students be encouraged to work as volunteers with this program.

The SOS committee also proposed looking at the Guardian of Dreams model in Jacksonville, Fla., which raises $300,000 per year in direct tuition subsidy for inner city children in Jacksonville through corporate contributions.

Father Meehan also expressed strong reservations about the consolidation model the archdiocese has proposed, which would place children from Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Anthony’s and Sts. Peter and Paul all at Sts. Peter and Paul School.

“It must be abundantly clear to all concerned that a three-way merger of the schools on the site of Sts. Peter and Paul in Decatur has practically no support from any of our people at all three locations,” Father Meehan wrote.

Further in his letter he pointed out that the black Catholic community has seen Catholic schools in their community closed before and feels anger and mistrust regarding how the decision will be made and what the decision will be. In addition, a plan that offers a more racially integrated church and school is needed.

“The suggestion of removing our children to Decatur, to many people, feels like socially isolating the Black children of our archdiocese,” he said.

“As a matter of fact, the downtown of Atlanta (including the West End) is rapidly redeveloping and incorporating a broader, more integrated cross-section of families. A new combined Catholic school here at St. Anthony’s would tell all Catholic and non-Catholic parents that we can and will all live together and learn together to be truly brothers and sisters in Christ,” he wrote.

Further, he said the community noted that the archbishop recently issued a public letter to parents at St. Joseph’s School, Marietta, apologizing to them and stating that the Marietta school, which was to have closed after construction of a new school, will now remain open. Many at his parish, he said, “wonder if a similar consideration should be extended to them.”

A meeting at St. Anthony’s Church with the archdiocesan Education Department and the archbishop “left a very bitter taste in everyone’s mouth here at St. Anthony’s,” he wrote. “There is a perception that no one at the Archdiocese cares enough to listen to the hopes and dreams of our people. Without more sensitive and respectful statements and efforts from our Archdiocesan Education Office, I’m afraid we’ll further lose credibility and support from our Black Catholics throughout the archdiocese . . . I would respectfully urge you to say and do something that convinces our people that the Archdiocese has heard and valued their passionate request to hold onto our school,” Father Meehan concluded.

“I know you sincerely want to find a solution that offers greater hope and promise to our Catholic school children. I feel strongly that the way to restore peace and hope among our people is to return to the original proposal, this time with the will to make it work,” he wrote.

The financial ramifications of Father Meehan’s proposal would be similar to those proposed by the task force in their proposed merger of St. Anthony’s and Our Lady of Lourdes schools, producing annual deficits ranging from $900,000 to $525,000 over a five-year period.

Proposal By Sts. Peter And Paul Pastor

Father Richard Wise, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church and dean of the south metro deanery, proposed making both St. Anthony’s School and Sts. Peter and Paul School into regional elementary schools. He proposed having St. Anthony’s School serve the southwest Atlanta area and draw from the feeder parishes of St. Anthony, Our Lady of Lourdes, Sacred Heart, the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Most Blessed Sacrament and St. Paul of the Cross, all of which are in Atlanta.

He proposed having Sts. Peter and Paul serve the southeast side of metro Atlanta and draw from feeder parishes of Sts. Peter and Paul, Christ Our Hope, Lithonia, St. Pius X, Conyers, and St. James the Apostle, McDonough.

He proposed selling Our Lady of Mercy High School, Fairburn, for $15 million to World Changers Church and using the money from the sale, “plus the proposed $12 million and the educational equipment,” to rebuild St. Anthony’s School and to remodel Sts. Peter and Paul School and construct a new gymnasium there.

He also proposed using “the remainder of the money from the sale” to convert the former school of St. Paul of the Cross into a regional high school for the parishes to the south, west and east of metro Atlanta.

“The key to the success of this proposal is quick cash from World Changers Church that wants to expand in the area but cannot because it is landlocked, and the development of regional schools that have existing buildings and feeder parishes,” Father Wise wrote.

However, Kathi Stearns, vice chancellor, said that Archbishop Donoghue had addressed the issue raised by Father Wise immediately of proposing to sell one of the archdiocese’s new Catholic high schools and had rejected the idea.

“That proposal was taken to the archbishop and he has decided not to sell Our Lady of Mercy High School,” Stearns said.

Archbishop Donoghue committed to building Our Lady of Mercy High School and Blessed Trinity High School as part of the capital campaign, “Building the Church of Tomorrow.” To sell the brand new high school, which cost $27 million, for $15 million would result in a loss of $12 million.

Other aspects of Father Wise’s proposal, such as consideration of the former school building at St. Paul of the Cross, were ideas that were left on the table for the task force representatives to consider, she said.