Come and see!

School tours are beginning!

Imagine walking down a hallway and opening a door to this scene from kindergarten day 7!  Remember this is from the seventh day these children have EVER been in school!  Our wonderful teachers consistently create a culture of learning and respecting others.  So exciting to see!  Please email me at richard.clark@partnershipcle.org or text or call me at 216.409.709.  Visits are available to both our schools:  Archbishop Lyke and/or St. Thomas Aquinas.  The school day begins at 8 AM and ends at 4 PM.  The scene above was filmed at Archbishop Lyke.

Face the brutal facts!

Is it OK that black eighth graders aren’t proficient in math and reading?

The question above was asked in a recent Wall Street Journal editiorial.

Why do we keep making excuses?  We need to face this issue in all schools:  public, private, charter, homeschool...you name it!  Our American cities have not faced these brutal facts...instead reasons are given for decades of slow or no progress!  The time for excuses is over.  Partnership Schools is facing this head on.  We seek constant, year after year, improvement in reading and math proficiency.  We have just introduced a curriculum in fourth grade that will lead to our scholars taking algebra in eighth grade.  We want all our scholars to have the freedom to succeed in high school and complete a four year college degree.  We have a long way to go!  The following graph is taken from the National Assessment of Educational Progress/Our Nation's Report Card website.

Return to in person instruction for all!

4th Graders learning together

A recent blog by Maggie Johnson, who was one of the leaders for our opening week of professional development in Cleveland outlines what is ahead of us.  Cleveland's nearly 40% increase in students last year meant that we needed to create a completely new culture for all our students with a great number of them having never stepped into a Catholic school.  This coming year all of our students will begin on the same page!  Our teachers have been through a year of rigorous training and have familiarized themselves with new curriculum across board. 

If you clean it, they will swing!

 School starts today, enrollment up again!

After some pretty hectic weeks of cleaning, repairing, putting in new water bottle fillers and completely new furniture for classrooms and offices at both St. Thomas Aquinas and Archbishop Lyke, students return this Monday.  On the heals of an historic enrollment growth last school year (~40% up), this year as we stand yesterday, we are up 4%!  Typically we will admit more students in the first week or so.  From 2015 to the beginning of last year the two schools had suffered a 35% decrease in enrollment.

If you clean it, they will swing!

Yesterday, 15 volunteers descended on an abandoned playground adjacent to Archbishop Lyke School.  The Harvard Community Center received a beautiful playground several years ago.  They do fantastic work, but are under resourced to say the least.  They could not afford the proper mulch to pass their insurance inspection.  It was padlocked for over 5 years.  You can see the before and after pictures!

And so it begins...

Here come the volunteeers!

   

Backrow:  Dr. Susan Lasch, Maureen Bagley

From left to right: Mark Biche (Chief Playground Officer), Shana, Julie barry, Denny Dunn (looks like gorgeous George), Marc Ciccarelli, Matt Roggenburk, Steve Nock, Tom McIntyre, Neil Barry, Gerard Daher, and Mark McNamara

Inculding St. Dominic's second grader, Sam!

After!!

And before we could lock the gate, children materialized and went right to the swings!!

As a few of us were cleaning up the barbecue set up (yes, Riche Burgers were provided!), the maintenance man from Harvard Community came over and we offered him a Riche and he told us how great everything looks, then someone said, "We need a master gardener!"  He said, "Just a minute I have one."  He soon returned with Rich Goudreau who is a master gardener and Director of Community Development at Harvard Community Services Center.  All of this before noon!

This is why we do it!!

Come and see!

What a long strange trip its been!

When I was a teacher, the period between the end of Easter vacation and the last day of class for the year was often a mad rush to complete the curriculum and at the same time to begin to reflect on how the year went.  This school year, which began on September 8, 2020, has been, for me, the longest school year of my life! This animated map shows the timeline of how COVID spread at the beginning of last calendar year.  Schools closings, many of us sheltering in place, the rise of Zoom and at the time of this writing, 571,464 people dead from COVID in the United States...those dark and scary days of early 2020 are deeply etched in my memory!

Time lapse animation of COVID spread

By <

Yet, at the same time, Partnership Schools Cleveland was born with a signed agreement with then Bishop Perez on February 13, 2020, and began managing Archbishop Lyke and St. Thomas Aquinas grade schools officially on July 1, 2020.  So when I look back on these past months I also remember the joy and excitement that came into my life amidst this tragic period of history.

Holy Impatience!

Derrick Smith, a fourth grader at Archbishop Lyke, has taken us by storm!  The link below leads to you to his remarkable story...he wasn't going let a pandemic get in his way!!

 

Click here to read his amazing story!!

Schedule a visit--virtual or in person!

With vaccinations in place we are beginning limited visits to our schools.  Our school day begins at 8 AM and ends at 4 PM.  On Wednesdays we have professional development for our teachers and students are dismissed at 1:30 PM. If you are not comfortable with in person visits, we can arrange a Zoom visit as well!  Please call me at 216-409-7018 or email me to arrange.  Seeing is indeed believing!!

The Truth Behind ’40 Acres and a Mule’

Henry Louis Gates wrote a brief history of this...I found it astonishing.  I had never been taught the whole story!  Click here for the story!

Blessed be...

Forest bathing?

The last two Sundays I was in a tent in a state park in Ohio. I spend one full week a year camping solo. The break allows me to take some time to reflect and contemplate while worrying about the basic

necessities...food, water, warmth, shelter and health. It clears my mind of many of the senseless worries and concerns that haunt me during the year. It is a restart in a way and a recommitment to my mission!

Someone sent me an article from the NYT two years ago with this quote in it:  "“Forest bathing,” or immersing yourself in nature, is being embraced by doctors and others as a way to combat stress and improve health."  Who knew?

We can do hard things

https://www.partnershipnyc.org/we-can-do-hard-things/  This is a well written article by our academic  leader in Cleveland, Christian Dallavis.  He is a strong writer and paints a picture of what changing school culture looks like!

Life Changing voucher program...opinion piece from Cleveland.com

I read this piece https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2020/10/a-truly-life-changing-voucher-program-is-within-reach-for-cuyahoga-metropolitan-housing-authority-leila-atassi.html two weeks ago.  It has been haunting me ever since.  Certainly, if I lived in CMHA housing and I had an opportunity to leave with my family to a better place, I would do it in a second.

What haunts me is what this policy could actually mean.  It could mean that this city has given up on certain neighborhoods and basically is relocating people rather than helping the neighborhood.  In line with "We can do hard things" drastically improving grade schools in a neighborhood might be seen as the first step in assisting the people in that neighborhood!  The local businesses in many cases are closed or on their last legs.  How can we help them?  The infrastructure of water (lead), gas (leaks), electricity (poles in disrepair), internet (markedly slower), phone (old lines) and the list goes on, has lacked significant investment for several decades.  The abandonment of neighborhoods in Cleveland was begun many years ago.  My belief is that it all starts to fall apart when the schools can't deliver learning in a loving community.  People begin to move out to seek better schools.  Population diminishes and things begin to suffer.  This can seen powerfully depicted in the documentary, Waiting for Superman.  This documentary is 10 years old.  It refers to our rankings internationally in two areas:  math and science.  In 2010 the United States ranked 25th in Math and 21st in Science.  In 2018, the US ranks 18th in Science and 37th in Math!!  We need to face the brutal facts as a country and as a city where our National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scores have not moved significantly over the last 18 years.  The average in Cleveland for Math and Reading is well below proficient and has remained that way for 18 years!  The scores for students of color are even more dismal.  I hope city leaders will begin to work to improve learning for all children.  Recently I was talking to someone who told me of a theory he has:  the solution should have something to do with the problem!

So on one hand, this idea of a housing voucher, is one solution for sure and may be needed as neighborhoods begin to receive what they need.  But my belief is build a strong community of learning and love, known as a school and bring people back to neighborhoods.  This is not an easy thing to do, but, again, we can do hard things!!!

Access!

Driving from Archbishop Lyke to St. Thomas Aquinas I saw this street sign and traffic light!  It is a few blocks from Archbishop Lyke on Harvard.  How fitting!  We are providing effective and results driven education which will lead to access to quality high schools, college and beyond!

	2019-20	2020-21	% increase
St. Thomas	175	248	41.71%
Lyke	156	200	28.21%
	331	% INCREASE=	35.35%
"the diff"	117	448

This our admission's tracker as of this morning.  There's really nothing much to say beyond, "Incredible!"  We have to hire two new teachers and a teacher's aide, if you know of someone please share this link:  http://www.partnershipnyc.org/work-for-us/apply/?gnk=job&gni=8a78839f7475f4bc0174babd39bf0e70

and this one as well:  http://www.partnershipnyc.org/work-for-us/apply/?gnk=job&gni=8a78879f73b5522c0173f9d8621728ff.

Good News Tuesday, 

October 6!

This Tuesday we are presenting a steaming event which is an update on all that we have done and are doing since July 1, 2020.  It is not a fundraiser!  We hope to answer questions you might have and ask that you register and pass the invite along.  It will be available after Tuesday as well.

Here's the link:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/leading-the-change-partnership-schools-cleveland-launch-celebration-tickets-121200294343.

The Times they are a changin'

A New Dawn in Catholic Education

Archbishop Lyke School

 On September 8, two diocesan schools begun instruction under an historic  management agreement with Partnership Schools.  The excitement o

St. Thomas Aquinas School

f the staff and children really was palbable!

 

 I was talking with parents at pickup one day last week.  There was a young couple, first in line in their car (thirty minutes early).  The scene in front of us was three classes outside.  One was playing some sort of kick ball game (still learning gradeschool lingo and games), a second one was dancing in a circle (well spaced), and a third was reciting and whenever possible acting out the nursery rhyme, "One two, buckle my shoe."  I blurted out to the parents, "Behold!  Gradeschool!"  We all had a good laugh.  

Scenes from our first day!

Click here to read a blog with plenty of pictures to give you a sense of what happened on September 8!

A picture is worth...

Brothers after a great day!

Masks up! With their new
Partnership Cleveland T-shirts!

Buildings repainted, social distancing circles

This door welcomes our scholars!

Here we go!

Synopsis of our plan

Below is a one-pager (well, front and back of one page) that gives you an overview of who we are and what we hope to continue to accomplish.  If you wish an digital copy of this document to distribute to your friends, email me at richard.clark@partnershipcle.org.  I am also available to talk with anyone interested in person, on phone or zoom.  My mobile number is 216.409.7018.

 

7 AM Ansel and Superior

Though She Be But Little, She Is Fierce

Cue the rainbow!  7 AM on September 8, Cleveland's innovative approach to Catholic schools in the city was launched under a rainbow!!  Here is a story mostly in pictures of our first day throughout our 9 school network in Cleveland and New York.

The solution should have something to do with the problem!

On Friday I was talking to someone who was interested in what we are doing at Partnership Schools Cleveland.  We were talking about the education landscape in Cleveland and the discouraging results.  Nearly one in four of Cleveland residents 25 or older do not have a high school degree, 15% have a college degree and 5% have post graduate degrees.  66% of adult population of the city of Cleveland are functionally illiterate.  In 2003 when I was gathering information like this, the number of adults with a college degree was 13%.  We have spent, over those past 17 years, upwards of $12 BILLION on our school system.

Then he told me about a theory he has:  The solution should have something to do with the problem!  His view was the problem was not centered as much on money as it was on management and organization to achieve the goal of student learning!

Recent history has seen some experimentation in this organizational model.  Charter schools are a good example.  A recent podcast has found some interesting and encouraging data about this model.  Obviously as with all new models, some iterations fail (remember Blackberries and PDA's?).  To expect perfection on the first draft is a bit presumptious!

Catholic schools too are struggling.  In 2015, FADICA (Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities)produced a report, Breathing New Life into Catholic Schools:An Exploration of Governance Models.  The report explores various models that may help the Church reinvent the management and organization of Catholic schools.  Cristo Rey schools, along with Partnership Schools in Cleveland and New York, are shining examples of what can happen!

My sister, my daughter, my sister-in-law, my nephew-in-law (is there such a term) are public school teachers.  Between the four of them, there is so much love and passion for education I can't begin to tell you. So if the case is that teachers are committed, hard working, passionate why do these systems consistently fail on the whole?  The problem is really one of how that passion is harnessed and directed on such a large scale.  Therefore the solution is one of vision and management.  

You duped me O Lord and I let myself be duped!

 In-person or remote?

That seems to be the question I get most lately.  We live in a VUCA world (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) and COVID has done what it does...magnifies our reality.  Please take a moment and read our blog about reopening plans.

What is the answer to our present world's dilemmas?  

1. Flexibility – willingness to try new things.
2. Speed – rapidly grasping new ideas.
3. Experimenting – testing out new ideas.
4. Performance risk taking– taking on challenges.
5. Interpersonal risk taking – asking others for help.
6. Collaborating – leveraging the skills of others from different functions.

Or put more simply, the answer to VUCA is:  Vision, Understanding, Clarity, and Agility.  The problems we are facing do not necessarily have binary answers, they are much more nuanced and need a great tolerance for risk and uncertainty.  Colin Powell's famous leadership primer can be downloaded here.

What a privilege to be duped!

Fr. John Foley, SJ

Fr. John Foley came into my life when I was 24 years old.  By coincidence (maybe) we both enrolled in a graduate counseling class as Loyola University.  He was back in the US for a few months.  He had been a missionary in Peru for 20+ years.  He was going back after this respite.  We hatched a plot to bring 12 students from Loyola Academy to work and live in the Third World for 8 weeks in the summer of 1976.  That's why I spent the bi-centential in Juliaca, Peru!  In any event we became good friends and after I moved to Cleveland, John was called back in the early '90's to lead an effort of the Chicago Province to minister to the Latinos in Chicago.  That, of course, became the great movement of Cristo Rey Schools.  In 2000, John called me to ask if I would accompany him to Peru for a fact finding trip regarding how to build a network of schools.  He had just recently hatched a plot (he's always hatching a plot) with B. J. Cassin to create a Cristo Rey school in every major American city!  In any event, I thought the idea to be fanciful, but I would not pass up a free trip to Peru with my great friend, John Foley! 

Montenegro Chapel

While there I had what I can only characterize as a mystical experience in a small chapel in the Montenegro neighborhood of Lima at a school, Fe y Alegria #37.  There were no words or even any message in that experience...just feelings or fear, awe, love, being loved and somehow being overwhelmed by an experience of God.  My life was forever changed in that moment (it lasted less than a minute).  I came back from Peru hell bent to start a Cristo Rey school in Cleveland.  That was in October of 2000.  I was principal of Saint Ignatius High School and then, just like that, we opened the doors to Saint Martin de Porres High School and had our first Mass of the Holy Spirit on September 3, 2004.  

In 2018, I stepped down at the founding President and was named Founder.  Through a series of conincidences (maybe) I went to New York to meet with the founders of Partnership Schools New York.  In talking with Jill Kafka, the executive director, she asked, "Why are you here, again?"  I told her that we were thinking of starting a grade school in our soon to be empty 1912 school building.  She quite simple said this, "Why, don't you have grade schools in Cleveland?"  Well, of course we did, but my view is that most were not doing a very successful job in the academic realm.  She said, "Well, make them better!"  So just as I was contemplating a slower life, perhaps consulting and helping other schools, the words of Jeremiah came to life again, "I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more.  But then it becomes like fire buring in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it." (Jer 20.7-9)  I came back from New York City hell bent to bring the Partnership Schools model to Cleveland!  

This isn't about Rich Clark, it is about God using Rich Clark with all his weaknesses.  So as I come up on my twentieth anniversary of that fearful moment in a little chapel in Montenegro, I thank God for giving me a chance to be his instrument!

O woman, great is your faith!

 Full speed ahead!!!

Dominic Ozanne recounting his days in the 

principal's office at Saint Ignatius!

This week saw a tremendous amount of activity at Archbishop Lyke and St. Thomas.  Dominic Ozanne stopped by yesterday at both schools to check on the progress.  We had an impromptu walk down memory lane sparked by sitting in Ms. Dengler's Principal's Office!  Carpentry work, painting, moving of materials, cleaning...all getting ready for September 8. 

By next week all of this paint will be on the walls!!

Presently our families are taking advantage of either in person instruction or on-line streaming at about an equal rate.  George Grenier will be coming from New York in the Partnership Van with PPE for the schools.  Enrollment is still active and new students are coming each week.  The Cleveland Scholarship window is still open!  Portia Gadson, our enrollment manager, is utilizing all means necessary to spread the word!

Professional Development on over-drive!

Zoomland!  Clockwise from upper left:  
Christian Dallavis, Nancy Lynch, Rachael Dengler

Teachers and principals are zooming almost daily.  Christian Dallavis, Assistant Superintendent of Partnership Schools and our two principals, Rachael Dengler (St. Thomas Aquinas) and Nancy Lynch (Archbishop Lyke) are in constant communication. The Partnership is already paying dividends by creating cohorts of new teachers from NY and Cleveland!  Teachers are preparing for an exceptional beginning of school in the time of Covid!  

Building a community of supporters!  Help!

In the last month, I have been meeting with people almost everyday.  Everyone I have talked with has been so positive about our mission!  I remember in 2000, when I began to talk about Cristo Rey, people knew very little about the idea.  I made the circuit talking at teh First Friday Club, an occasional parish, people's living rooms and churches throughout Cleveland.  Those were the days!  Now much of my networking is done one on one in the Metroparks our outdoor coffee shops, on the phone, or through email and the like.  People are beginning to ask for tours.  I gave one early last week and one yesterday.  The one yesterday was with Pete.  Pete was blown away by the character of the building at St. Thomas Aquinas.  He saw twenty union painters busy working on a Saturday morning.  We walked outside and around the neighborhood.  We saw the magnificent old St. Mary's Seminary Building on Ansel Rd.  It is now the Hitchcock Center for Women.

After the tour, Pete texted me and thanked me and told me how encouraged he was to see what we are doing...it is faith in action!  Fear not, just have faith!

Spread the news!  Volunteers needed!

Please share this blog with your friends or people you think might be interested.  My contact info is richard.clark@partnershipcle.org or 216-409-7018.  Stay tuned for our online event coming soon.  As we get the buildings ready we really could use some volunteer labor to help us organize and bring stuff to the dumpster or decorate an area.  Just email me and I will set up a time!

A tiny whispering sound...

 

Partnership Schools Cleveland team featured on Sounds of Ideas

This past week, Portia Gadson, Enrollment and Recruitment Coordinator; Christian Dallavis, Assistant Superintendent; and Rich Clark, Founding Director of Partnership Schools Cleveland, joined Rick Jackson on WCPN for story about us!   This link will take you to the whole show, our segment runs from 11:10-37.38.  Portia, Christian and I are the staff for Cleveland.  Portia has led the charge on enrollment and our numbers are strong!  Christian has been working closely with our two principals as well as the faculties of both schools.

Mission Forward!

Our mission is to teach, love, and care for our community.  We believe that great schools are guided by faith and values, grounded in rigorous content, supported by quality professional development, and

animated by a clear vision.  The first day of school for Cleveland Partnership Schools is September 8, 30 days from now.  Our plan is to accomplish that mission in the best way possible.  Sans COVID, in person school would never be in question.  Now, in order to accomplish our mission, we may have to creatively find ways to reach our goals.  Presently we are ready for opening school with in school option.  We hope that through good community health practices and citizens working hard to prevent the community spread of the virus, we can safely do that!  As with all schools right now, we are planning for multiple and in some cases simultaneous methods of accomplishing our mission.  I don't pretend however to know the status of the world 30 days from now!!  I think our growth in enrollment (up 10% over last year and still growing) can be explained in part by our willingness to listen and work with families with the understanding that we are committed to make the best of this horrific health crisis

Why ignore the crisis??

When I read of parties in the Ozarks, on Long Island, or AirBNB house parties I shake my head with disbelief.  The spread continues and in some places it even worsens.  I have mentioned a wonderful podcast series called Cautionary Tales before.  This most recent season was 5 shorter shows concerning how the past can shed light on what is going on now in our pandemic.  The one about a nightclub fire in Beverly Hills helped me understand our strange response to this killer virus.  Click here to listen!

Something small...

The reading today from the Hebrew Scripture is one of my favorites.  It is the story of Elijah encountering God.  He was told to leave the cave he was in for shelter because the Lord will be passing by.  First there was a strong and heavy wind that was rending the mountains and crushing rocks...but the Lord was not in the wind.  Then an earthquake...but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  Then there was fire...but the Lord was not in the fire.  After all that, there was a tiny whispering sound and that was the

A tiny whispering sound...

Lord!  A tiny whispering sound after all those big and noisy events...the Lord was in the whisperings.  This is reminiscent of Adam and Eve hearing the rustling sound of footsteps in the garden.  Many stories by Jesus use small things that grow or have big effects:  yeast, salt, and mustard seeds to name a few.  So too am I called to leave the safety of the cave and listen for that tiny whispering sound amidst all the cacophony of our daily world.  Echoed even in today's Gospel the call from Jesus on the water, "take courage, it is I; do not be afraid."

We need your help in spreading the word!

Please consider subscribing to this blog and passing the link on to your friends.  If you wish, you can share other emails with me for people you think might be interested.  In the upcoming weeks we are going to have a digital "Launch Party" and I will give you that information and will really need you to pass that along to all your friends.  That's how small things grow!  I am also available for calls, tours of the school buildings, Zoom or in person (outside, socially distant) meetings.  My email is richard.clark@partnershipcle.org or mobile number is 216.409.7018.

We only have five loaves and two fish

Cleveland featured in Partnership Schools Blog!

The Ozannes!!

As we are busily working on Archbishop Lyke and St. Thomas to renew the physical structures, Ozanne Construction has been a local leader for us.  Here is the link to the story behind the man https://www.partnershipnyc.org/catholic-school-impact-one-cleveland-family/.

  This Thursday Partnership Schools Cleveland will be featured on Sound of Ideas!

I met with Mike McIntyre last week outside at some picnic tables at the Stinchcomb Monument in the Rocky River Reservation.  We talked for about and hour and a half and he said he definitely thought there was a story here!  We are working out the details, but we are tentatively scheduled to be on Sound of Ideas (aired between 9AM-10AM) on this Thursday, August 6, with Rick Jackson.  Please tune in and call in!!  Of course, the show will also be available in the archives.

Two mindsets:  Scarcity and Abundance

Yesterday's Gospel, commonly referred to as the "Feeding of the 5000,"  sends a strong message about how God works.  The disciples tell Jesus to send everybody home, we can't possibly feed them we only have 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish!  Jesus says matter of factly, bring me what you have.  They did, and the rest is the story of God's abundance!  Partnership Schools Cleveland is bringing to God what we have and are beginning ot reap God's abundance. 

The painting begins with twice as much paint as we could afford!  Ozanne Construction takes over the project and showers us with generous donations of time and materials!  We already experienced the abundance of God's help through raising $3.14M dollars in 4 months during a pandemic!  What more do we need to see to believe.  Today's reading has Peter asking Jesus to invite him to walk on the water.  Jesus' reply is quite simple: "Come!"  He does for few steps and then fear takes over and he begins to sink.  The constant message of the Gospel is proclaimed to Peter:  Do not fear!  Just have faith!  I am continually challenged by those words.  I pray that someday I can rid my self of fear and just have faith.  In the meantime, I am constantly reminded of God's abundance and thank God that he has so much patience with me.

What lessons are we learning?

School nurses, well lit and airy school buildings, school lunches are all lessons that were learned in 1918 from the pandemic that rocked the world then.  A recent PBS News Hour segment  looked back at the outcomes of the so-called Spanish Flu pandemic.  What are we learning from the COVID-19 pandemic with regards to schools? 

Children at home in 1918

Certainly the universal need for connectivity is becoming more and more apparent.  The importance of a strong sense of community, the need for families to have support, the increased need for after school programs and nutritional assistance as well as the central need for schools to educate are some of the ideas surfacing now.  We are in the middle of this now, but the challenge is to find solutions for the problems that are being brought to light by the disease.

Cautionary Tale Podcast 

Please subscribe and share!  Please contact me for further info or to talk more:  richard.clark@partnershipcle.org  or 216-409-7018

Learn, Teach, Love

Face the brutal facts!

Beth Blaufuss contributed to this week's Partnership blog.  I first heard of Admiral Stockdale's Paradox when I read Good the Great by Jim Collins.  He developed the theory during his 7 years as a prisoner of war in Viet Nam.  While firmly believing in his ultimate release, unlike many of his fellow prisoners, he knew they were not getting out by Christmas!

Cautionary Tales

One of my favorite podcasts is by Tim Harford entitled Cautionary Tales. Before he begins his second season this year he is doing a series of cautionary tales to help make sense of the world pandemic.  The episode, A Tsunami of Misery examines the reality of taking action

against an urgent danger can also cause longer term ills.  Many choices facing us are not black or white, but rather "double binds" which are situations in which a person is confronted with a choice between two undesirable courses of action.  Whether to have classes in person or online (or hybrid) might be seen as a double bind.  Exposing staff and children to the possibilty of infection and even death v. online remote learning.  Is it really a choice between death and life?  After I heard A Tsunami of Misery I gained a new perspective.  Our mission remains to learn, teach and love.  How we go about accomplishing that mission is going to take incredible faith, agile planning, and willingness to try anything that works!

History made and in the making!

As I get more immersed in our new venture, I have discovered so much history

of  Cleveland that I knew little about.  This link explains the long history of the southeast side of Cleveland's Catholic community and a brief bio of Bishop Lyke (he became Archbishop when he was assigned to Atlanta).

Meanwhile the staffs of both schools met briefly in downtown Cleveland on July 22 to celebrate our history making collaboration.  July 22, 2020 was the 224th birthday of the City of Cleveland and now the birth announcement day of Partnership Schools Cleveland!

Please subscribe to this blog and invite your friends!!!

To learn more or talk more about Partnership Schools Cleveland please contact me at richard.clark@partnershipcle.org.  We are planning digital events, digital and real tours!

Mission Impossible? Not with God!

Whoever has ears ought to hear.  Mt. 13

Today's Gospel is an echo of Isaiah.  The prophet compares rain and snow coming down to do its job:  watering the earth, making it fruitful, giving seeds to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats to God's word which will do its will, achieving the end for which he sent it.

All the illusions in scripture about storms, terrible winds, earthquakes, fire and brimstone are accompanied first by fear and then by God's calming presence with his constant message:  Be Not Afraid!  Well we certainly are in a storm the likes none of us have ever seen before.  Fear is rampant.  Hope is scarce. Giving up is a strong temptation.  Today's Gospel, the Parable of the Sower, is really an allegory.  I do not pretend to know where that rich soil is for the word of God to land, but I believe it exists!

Response to a VUCA World!

Our mission to educate children is unchanged.  The why and what will not change, but it is the how that is unclear right now.  This week's change in the AAP's advice simply shows how fluid all of this is.  Who's to really say where we will be 8 weeks from now?  It is indeed a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguious) World.  Partnership's hallmarks are:  Guided by faith and values; Grounded in rigorous content, Supported by quality professional development, and Animated by a clear vision.

Educators are surely essential workers, yet how will we protect them?  Students are gifts of God's love, how will we care for them?  Whatever those answers are I know that we will need to be nimble and quick in our responses. We will need to turn on a dime and yet keep acheiving the end for which we were sent!

Partnership Schools included in national dialogue

Students at St. Charles Borromeo, a Partnership School in Harlem

As Cleveland begins to launch the first replication of Partnership Schools (originally only in New York City), the benefits of being a member of an established network were seen this past week.  The Cristo Rey Network in its national internal weekly memo mentioned Partnership Schools and its expansion to Cleveland.  The National Catholic Register praised Partnership Schools as an example of a priviate school management organization: 

 Private School Pioneers,” a 2015 report (Andy) Smarick co-wrote for the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, called Private School Management Organizations “among the most interesting and exciting innovations related to the supply of private-school seats — and potentially one of the most important recent developments in urban K-12 education.

We were also featured in a recent Philanthropy Roundtable e-magazine.  The lead paragraph says much:

While more than 50 Catholic schools have been forced to close their doors in the last few months, in part because of the coronavirus, two in Cleveland are poised to prosper under new management. Partnership Schools, a network of seven inner-city NYC schools that are connected to the local Catholic diocese but privately run, is expanding to the Midwest. 

 The recent news this week from New York City Archdiocese is indeed a chilling reminder of the crisis we are in.

We benefit greatly from the thought leadership and several years of practical experience in the arena.  Of course, the involvement of two schools from Cleveland adds to this experience and brings a new perspective to the whole organization.  Right now, we are the much younger sibling and benefit from the wisdom of our elders!  The old adage of "Out of the mouths of babes..." might come into play from time to time.

How we doin'?

To quote the former mayor of New York, Ed Koch, I am happy to say the two newest schools in the Partnership network are really working hard to get ready for this coming school year.  Archbishop Lyke and St. Thomas Aquinas.  Enrollment in the two schools has risen 6% over last year.  The Cleveland Scholarship Program is opening a second window this coming week.  I visited both schools this week and was so happy to see what I saw! 

At Archbishop Lyke I walked in while Jackie was reenrolling a family.  We chatted after and she led me through the history of the school.  An excellent summary is available on the website, just click here.  When I arrived at St. Thomas Aquinas, Rachael Stenger was on a Zoom call with 9 other teachers participating in professional development on the new language arts curriculum (CKLA).  Rachael could not speak highly enough of the currriculum and the accompanying professional develop.  

Meanwhile through the leadership of Dominic Ozanne of Ozanne Contruction, our vigorous "sprucing up campaign" is beginning to take shape.  We have plans for painting, updating doors, offices, entrance ways, bathrooms, boilers, and on and on!  Walkthroughs and bids are happening!  This just might rival a HGTV special!

What can you do?

We need to spread the word!  I am reaching out to you to introduce me to people you think would be exicited about this kind of news!l  Last week I had two meeting in the Rocky River Reservation, outside and we each brought our own coffee! 

Smoky the WWII dog hero

If we meet at Stinchcomb Memorial you can visit the statue honoring Smoky, World War II's smallest hero who: ...crawled through a tiny 70-foot-long culvert on a captured Japanese island, hauling a communication cable, sparing GIs from having to drag it above ground and be exposed to enemy sniper fire."  We met early in the morning to beat the heat and outside, socially distant, seems to be the ticket!  Of course email, calling, Zooming or however you would like to meet would be great.  I can answer your questions and you can talk about your contacts and how you might introduce me!  Email is richard.clark@partnershipcle.org.