Endangered Species: Catholic Schools serving urban kids

First, read this New York Times article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/01/us/01religion.html?partner=rss&emc=rss.  It is a bit of a left handed compliment to urban Catholic schools.  I can say that be because I am a left handed Catholic urban educator.

Our school, Saint Martin de Porres High School, is part of one of the largest private school networks serving urban youth (or charter management organizations for that matter) in the country, the Cristo Rey Network.  Sometimes people reflect on the old days of Catholic education and say that it can't be recreated because of the lack of sisters and priests that formed the backbone of inexpensive, mission driven labor force.

As far as I can tell, Saint Martin is the first new Catholic high school in Cleveland (short of "new" high schools that formed by joining several high schools together) in 40 or 50 years.  It is a lay owned, operated Catholic school.  Whether or not our teachers and staff are members of religious communities or in religious life or not, they are all paid at the same level.  We have nearly 400 students, 55 staff members, and our first three graduating classes have 100% college accceptance rate!  It still can be done!

However, many Catholic diocese are making choices that seemingly are going to result in the demise of the urban Catholic school serving predominantly urban kids.  In Ohio, the state money supporting students who choose to go to private schools in the city of Cleveland is being cut dramatically.  So, two major facets of our society--Church and State--de facto are conspiring to close the most successful educational model for urban students.  Politics certainly does make strange bedfellows.

Recently I was reading a newsletter from The Business of Doing Good (http://www.thebusinessofgood.org/homepage.html) and it referred to an article  http://www.thebusinessofgood.org/success_stories.html from the Stanford Social Innovation Review.  It is a must read for anyone trying to build a high impact non-profit.  The authors talk about six common threads shared by high impact non-profits.  The one that hit me between the eyes was:

 1. Serve and Advocate: High-impact organizations may start out providing great programs, but they eventually realize that they cannot achieve large-scale social change through service delivery alone. So they add policy advocacy to acquire government resources and to change legislation. Other nonprofits start out by doing advocacy and later add grassroots programs to supercharge their strategy.

When we began Saint Martin, I had no concept of the issues we were confronting.  Now I am just beginning to see the broad social policies that must be changed if we are ever to educate urban youth.  Since I am also a Catholic, I see the choices being made by many local ordinaries across the country, the priorities being set and the actions taken, are sadly leaving many young people in the cities without much choice for education.

In her book, The Guns of August, historian Barbara Tuchman, told the story of how, seemingly against its collective will, Europe moved inexorably toward World War 1. At one point, she recounted a conversation between an ex-chancellor of Germany and his successor. “How did it all happen?” the first man asked incredulously. “Ach,” said his successor, “if we only knew.” (http://themoderatevoice.com/19185/ach-if-we-only-knew/)  Allegedly John Kennedy used that quote during the Cuban missile crisis.  My hope is that some day as our cities implode we are not wondering the same thing.

The State, at least in principle, allows for change through the political process.  I must fight cynicism.  I was told once that Saint Ignatius of Loyola said that the biggest temptation from the Evil One was to succumb to the notion that the problem is so big, so out of control, as to say, "There is nothing I can do."  I often meditate on Mother Theresa's quote:  "If you can't feed 100, feed one."

The Church is a much more confusing reality for me.  I secretly wish for a leader like the fictional Pope Kiril from The Shoes of the Fisherman.  I know all the realities against that, but it gives me comfort to know that something like that could happen.  In the meantime, I pray the prayer of Romero that says we are working for a future that is God's, not ours.  God knows what will be and invites us to work with him.  So, I will commit to work with God, trusting that the kingdom will come.

On the political side, in the coming months and years, Saint Martin and Cristo Rey will grow as a voice for educational reforms in our American urban centers.  Stay tuned!!