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BALTIMORE-SCHOOLS Mar-4-2010 (600 words) xxxn
Finances, population shifts lead to Baltimore school consolidations
By Matt Palmer
Catholic News Service
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien has decided to consolidate 13 schools -- 12 elementary and one secondary -- after a yearlong scrutiny of the Archdiocese of Baltimore's educational system.
The archbishop said there is a place for every displaced student at schools labeled "receiving schools."
Nine elementary schools in the city of Baltimore will send their students elsewhere in fall 2010. Cardinal Gibbons School, an all-boys high school in the city, and three elementary schools in Baltimore County will not reopen in the fall.
A total of 2,160 students will be encouraged to move to other Catholic schools. More than 300 jobs will be affected by the consolidations. The 297 students at the all-boys school will be encouraged to attend local Catholic high schools.
In conjunction with the announcement, the archdiocese is releasing a consolidation plan and report titled "Preserving the Tradition, Transforming the Future: The Rebirth of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore."
According to the report, Catholic schools owed $11.7 million as of December 2009 for unpaid insurance, pension contributions, payroll advances and other subsidies. The report said that schools "are on track to add an additional $2.2 million to that debt for this fiscal year."
In a letter that opened the document, Archbishop O'Brien said, "This report details the top-to-bottom review that was conducted, the comprehensive research and analysis performed, and the open and transparent process carried out in the last 12 months, including input from more than 1,500 participants.
"I am confident that no stone was left unturned and that this report benefits from that diligence," he said.
Economic forces and demographic shifts have combined to result in sharp declines in enrollment. Of the 32,500 available seats in schools, 10,000 are currently empty.
From 2002 to 2009, 19 schools in the archdiocese were shuttered, four in June 2009 alone.
The city of Baltimore once numbered nearly a million residents; in the last two decades, the city has dwindled to slightly more than 600,000 people. In 1980, there were 27 Catholic elementary schools in the city serving 7,300 students. By 2008, there were 18 schools serving 3,800.
Nine archdiocesan or parish elementary schools will serve the city in the fall of 2010, thanks to the addition of a new school inside Seton Keough High School. The report said it hopes the new west Baltimore school will eventually have its own building.
The elementary schools in the city that will send their students elsewhere in the fall under the consolidation plan are: St. Bernardine, Father Charles Hall Catholic Elementary and Middle School, St. Katharine, Mother Mary Lange, Our Lady of Fatima, St. Rose of Lima, Shrine of the Sacred Heart, Sacred Heart of Mary and St. William of York.
In Baltimore County, Ascension in Halethorpe, St. Clare in Essex and Holy Family in Randallstown will not reopen.
Archbishop O'Brien told The Catholic Review, the archdiocesan newspaper, that the city of Baltimore will remain a top priority during his tenure.
"I heard from city leaders at a recent meeting about our effort to improve our schools, how pervasive poverty is in Baltimore City and how crucial education is to overcoming that," the archbishop said.
Msgr. Robert L. Hartnett, executive director of the archdiocesan school's planning office, helped make recommendations for consolidations.
"Sometimes I'll go to bed in the night, wake up and think about all the people affected and the scope of this whole thing," he said.
A committee of educational, business and political leaders is currently working on a strategic plan for the reconstituted archdiocesan school system. That plan is expected to be delivered to the archbishop in June.
END
Copyright (c) 2010 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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