Members of school form Strategic Action Committee
By: Scott Morgan
The Diocese of Trenton is willing to listen, but the supporters of Holy Assumption School have one month to make their case.
In their efforts to save the 82-year-old Roman Catholic elementary school from a recently announced consolidation plan one that would combine Holy Assumption with three other Burlington County Catholic schools and create a regional superschool in Willingboro for the 2006-2007 year two dozen supporters of Holy Assumption have launched a strategic plan aimed at proving the diocese is making a mistake.
The diocese made its announcement on Nov. 17 that, due to a bleak financial picture and declining enrollment, Holy Assumption part of a parish that has stood on Roebling’s Hornberger Avenue for 82 years could join St. Peter’s of Riverside, All Saints of Burlington, and Corpus Christi of Willingboro to form a single school at the Corpus Christi campus. The announcement was based on a recommendation by Wisconsin-based planning group Meitler Consultants, upon the group’s completion of a 10-month study into salvaging some of its less profitable schools.
In the wake of the news that their school might be closing, members of the Holy Assumption parish and school PTA, with the support of school faculty and staff, are in the throes of a public campaign to reverse the diocese’s thinking. About 25 members of the school have formed the Strategic Action Committee, which is planning to blanket the area with as many signs, bumper stickers and public statements as it can in the coming weeks to raise support for the school.
Public awareness, according to committee member Karen De Bow, is a major facet of the committee’s approach first in setting the record straight that Holy Assumption is in dire financial straits. According to the diocese, Holy Assumption is $225,000 in debt and not making any headway. While Ms. De Bow acknowledges the debt, she said Monday that what the school and parish needs is a fiscal board to monitor spending.
She also said the diocese needs to realize that fundraising, through the parish’s annual carnival and fashion show (which happens this Friday night), for example, are lucrative cash cows for the school. By contrast, Ms. De Bow said, whereas Holy Assumption’s volunteer parents and staff raised $150,000 for the school last year, Corpus Christi (which hosts no public events) raised no money at all.
Showing financial independence is the ultimate requirement of the diocese. Spokeswoman Rayanne Bennett said Tuesday that the diocese has offered to listen to alternatives to the consolidation plan, but that any plans Holy Assumption has to stay open must both demonstrate that the school can operate fully, outside the purse of the diocese, and the presentation must be given before Dec. 31.
Ms. De Bow said the presentation, a PowerPoint display showing a definitive action plan (and pointing out the successes of Holy Assumption’s pre-kindergarten drives, its fundraising and its sense of community), will be ready in time.
Could it make a difference?
"You would be surprised what the people in Roebling can do," said former Holy Assumption choir director Susan Cusack. Now a member of All Saints School and a Burlington resident, Ms. Cusack said she left Holy Assumption due to differences with a former pastor. Pastoral turnover and lack of support from the parish have been cited by numerous people familiar with Holy Assumption, who say that now that things seem to be settling in, the school is once again showing the qualities that make it such a strong community.
As a parent of two children who once went to Holy Assumption and a sixth-grader who would go back if the school stayed open next year after All Saints closes Ms. Cusack said she is a strong supporter of the school. Though not a member of the Strategic Action Committee, Ms. Cusack said she has "offered my opinion" to anyone and everyone who asks for it and "doing what I can to spread positive word about Holy Assumption."
Roebling resident Bob Lane, whose son and daughter (like himself) graduated from Holy Assumption, is taking the same approach. Mr. Lane said Wednesday that he has written to the diocese to point out that present worries about Holy Assumption’s enrollment (which has dropped from over 200 to about 165 in the past five years) are no big deal. He cited the case of St. Mary’s in Bordentown City, which just a few years ago had 101 students and generated all sorts of concern. But now that the Bordentown area is growing, St. Mary’s is thriving and was even targeted for expansion by the same Meitler study that could close Holy Assumption. Florence and the surrounding area will grow, Mr. Lane said, and Holy Assumption should be given the chance to see the future.
Consolidation itself is not what worries Ms. De Bow. In fact, she said she would like to see Holy Assumption be the hub for a regional school, but on a much smaller scale than what the diocese has planned for Corpus Christi.
Part of the Strategic Action Committee’s approach, she said, will be to show that Willingboro is, for one thing, too far for Holy Assumption’s students, who would end up riding a bus on the highway through several lights and probably for close to an hour each way.
There also is the matter that few parents, according to Ms. De Bow, as well as Mr. Lane and Ms. Cusack (who said that she knows of no parents at All Saints who will send their children to Corpus Christi should Holy Assumption close) enjoylike the idea of having their children go to school in Willingboro.
Parents’ reason for concern is a lingering street gang presence in Willingboro, plus the knowledge that almost 20 registered sex offenders live there. The diocese is no doubt aware of Willingboro’s reputation, as the diocese stated in a recent report that it plans an "aggressive marketing" campaign designed to assuage fears about Willingboro.
Ms. De Bow said the money spent on regionalization surveys and marketing campaigns could be put to better use at Holy Assumption, a school she adamantly maintains would draw enough students to run efficiently.
Ms. Bennett, on the other hand, maintained that the diocese is willing to hear Holy Assumption out, but defended the plan to relocate to Willingboro. Though nothing is official yet (and won’t be until Bishop John Smith makes his decision sometime in January), Ms. Bennett said the diocese is leaning toward Corpus Christi because the campus is able to accommodate growth now and is a relatively new building. While she acknowledged that Holy Assumption has the physical space to grow (there are about 6 acres of ground at the school), Ms. Bennett said regionalization works better in Willingboro because it is the most centrally located school to most students.
As for the future, Holy Assumption Principal Gerard Steffe said he is optimistic, given the lightning speed and boundless enthusiasm the Strategic Action Committee has shown already. He also said he believes his school will show itself for what it is: "This school, in my judgment, is the most positive, the most visible, the most effective presentation of Catholicism in Florence Township. Probably the whole diocese."
While he admits he’s treading shaky ground that between angering the diocese and getting the word out that the diocese needs to take a second look at its plans Mr. Steffe said he also has faith in Bishop Smith.
"We don’t want to step on the bishop’s toes," Mr. Steffe said, "but we want him to hear us. But he’s a real good shepherd, and when he hears our concerns, he’ll do what’s best.