A new paradigm in Catholic education evolving right here in Lake County, Ill. is attracting the attention of educators across the country and gives new reason for communities to take a closer look at their local parochial schools during Catholic Schools Week, which begins this Sunday, Jan. 29 and goes until Feb. 5.
The changes have been significant and include the creation of a new regional Catholic middle school in Lake County called Frassati Catholic Academy as well as organizational changes that created preschool through fifth grade centers at Frassati’s three parochial feeder schools: Santa Maria del Popolo and St. Mary of the Annunciation in Mundelein and Transfiguration in Wauconda. In addition, the Catholic schools have invested in a sizable amount of new technology for student use. They also have developed a new entity called the Catholic Consortium of Lake County to address how the three parishes will work together under their new partnership. What hasn’t changed is the focus the Catholic schools have to provide a firm foundation both academically and spiritually for their young students.
A New Paradigm
In early 2009 three Lake County Catholic parishes came together to begin developing a framework to meet the unique academic, social and spiritual needs of students at the middle school level. Pastors at St. Mary of the Annunciation, Santa Maria del Popolo and Transfiguration parishes began discussions about ways to partner together to serve this student population while still maintaining their school’s unique identities.
Fast forward to September 2010 when, after much joint planning on the part of all three schools, Frassati Catholic Academy opened its doors to approximately 130 students in 6-8th grades. In tandem, the feeder schools shifted their focus to preschool to fifth grade, allowing these schools to focus specifically on early childhood and elementary educational needs. Now in their second year under the new grade centers, the feeder schools and middle school are continuing to forge new ground in what once was predominantly a K-8 system and are sparking the interest of educators both here in the archdiocese and throughout the country.
Local and National Attention
Paul Maloney, Assistant Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago said, “This is new at the national level, too. We aren’t copying anyone.” He added, “Our intent is to maximize our resources, both financial and professional, giving various communities a better Catholic educational experience.”
In April 2011 Father Ron Lewinski, pastor of St. Mary of the Annunciation parish and President of Frassati Catholic Academy, received the National Catholic Educational Association Distinguished Pastor Award in recognition of his outstanding support of Catholic education, especially his visionary leadership forming Frassati Catholic Academy.
Dr. Diane Vida, principal of Frassati Catholic Academy, has provided numerous tours of the Academy to interested educators and is currently in talks with principals in two other states who are exploring establishing a similar regional middle school and consortium in their communities.
Eileen Sullivan, Principal at St. Mary of the Annunciation, has received calls from principals in the archdiocese interested in knowing more about the unique learning opportunities the school has implemented, particularly its 21st century inquiry learning modules.
Collaboration at Work
One reason this new configuration is working is the collaboration at a variety of levels, starting at the top with the pastors and principals, and continuing among the faculty, staff, parents and students. The Catholic Consortium of Lake County is more than just a handful of educators meeting a few times a year to share ideas. Rather, the principals and pastors involved have been meeting twice monthly for almost a year and are committed to the success of their neighboring schools that were once seen as competitors in the not so distant past.
The faculties of the three schools have attended multiple training sessions together on a special inquiry-based learning system that the schools are adopting. They have collaborated on lesson planning for some of these special units, developed professional relationships among their peers across the schools, and are finding ways for students to interact in academic, spiritual and social experiences. In fact, the principals have engaged in their faculty, pastors and parish staff to the point where, in December, all of the pastors, principals, faculty, business managers and religious education directors of each of the Consortium schools met to draft a covenant that all participating schools will sign formalizing their partnership.
The covenant details the Consortium’s goals: to meet the high ideals for Catholic schools and the demands for excellence in education, to make better use of parish and school resources, network more effectively the teachers for professional development and support, provide creative and innovative educational programs that are shared about the Consortium schools, expand spiritual, athletic and social offerings and work together to meet the financial challenges of the Catholic schools.
Impact felt at the student level
So what does all this mean for the students at one of the Catholic schools in the Consortium today? Frassati Catholic Academy garnered the support an anonymous donor on the West coast who generous grant was used to purchase laptops for each middle school student to use while in school. The shift to preschool through fifth grade schools has allowed programming to more specifically target the ages of the students, both during class time as well as all-school Masses, assemblies, athletics and events. The fourth and fifth graders are taking on leadership opportunities previously reserved for middle schoolers. Plus, middle school students are being prepared for high school in an environment that specifically meets their unique academic and social needs.
Sullivan said, “We’re in this together as a team. Soon we hope to Skype across all three schools at the same time and hold WAQ bowls (web academic quest), an academic bowl with all the students from the same grade level at the Second through Fifth grades. The kindergarten and first grades will also work in collaboration between the three schools and share Inquiry Unit research, books, projects with the other boys and girls.”
She added, “We’re on the cutting edge for Catholic education. This is an exciting time for students to be enrolled in our schools because we are equipping them with the tools they need to succeed in the 21st century. We’re moving forward in faith where the Spirit is leading us.”
The archdiocese of Chicago is the largest Catholic school system in the country. Here enrollment is up at Catholic elementary schools for the second year in a row, with a total increase of 650 students according to the Catholic New World newspaper. The growth is attributed to an 8 percent increase in the preschool, kindergarten and first grades compared to enrollment two years ago. Furthermore, families are re-registering their children at a rate of 97.7 percent compared to 95.4 percent two years ago, which also has led to the rise in Catholic school education.
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The Consortium of Catholic Schools is hosting a number of Open Houses to showcase their student achievements and provide information to prospective new families.
Frassati Catholic Academy (Grades 6-8) will hold open houses on Sunday, Jan. 29 from 12-3 p.m. and Wed., Feb. 1 from 7-8 :30 p.m. It is located at 316 W. Mill St. Wauconda.
Santa Maria del Popolo (PreK-5) will hold its open houses Sunday, Jan. 29 from 10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. and Wed., Feb. 1 from 9-11 a.m. It is located at 126 N. Lake St., Mundelein.
St. Mary of the Annunciation, (PreK-5) located at 22277 W. Erhart Rd. in Mundelein, welcomes all to attend its open houses on Sun., Feb. 5 from 10:30 -1:30 p.m. and Thursday, March 1 from 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. A special three and four year old Preschool open house will be held Thursday, February 16 from 4:30 – 7 p.m.
Transfiguration (PreK-5) has three open houses: Wed., Feb. 1 from 10-11:30 a.m., Thurs., Feb. 2 from 7-8 p.m. and Sat., Feb. 4 from 10a.m. -12 p.m. It is located at 316 W. Mill St., Wauconda.
For more information, please call 847-476-0980.
