Turnaround!

Enrollment turnaround much higher than expected! 

Three weeks are in the books for the 2020-21 school year and with the hard work of Nancy Lynch and her staff at Archbishop Lyke (ABL) and Rachael Dengler and her staff at St. Thomas Aquinas (STA) we can say our launch in Cleveland is wonderful!  One happy problem is that we may actually have to hire two more teachers and a teacher's aid!!

October 6 Launch Celebration (digital)

We are putting together a digital showcase of what has happened so far with Partnership Schools Cleveland and where we are headed.  The Executive Director Jill Kafka and her staff will be introduced as well as Dr. Christian Davallis and me

Happy brother and sister!

will be your hosts.  We have been taking video and gathering thoughts from supporters, parents and students!  It will be broadcast on October 6 at 5 PM and a link will be available for anyone to watch it later.  I will be sending a link this week so that you can share it with your friends and associates. 

I was schooled by Pete

A longtime friend of mine, Pete, came to visit St. Thomas this past week.  His wife actually attended St. Thomas until 7th grade when they moved out of the neighborhood to Lakewood.  As we were leaving the kindergarten class was marching down the "down" stairs when Pete spotted a little one whose shoes were untied.  When he told her that she better tie her shoes she just continued (not sure she knew how to tie them).  He stopped, knelt on one knee, and tied them. 

She was delighted, thanked him, and went to recess.  Later that day I emailed Pete and told him how great that he did that and said, the kids just need a little help.  He quickly replied, "We all could use a little help."  Yes, indeed!  Let the church say amen!

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.  

We can do hard things!

 

We can do hard things!

Tuesday, Septermber 8 2020, we will be beginning the new era of Catholic school management in Cleveland!  Partnership Schools began operating St. Thomas Aquinas and Archbishop Lyke schools in an agreement with the Diocese of Cleveland that began on July 1.  We have spent the time between then and today getting the buildings ready!  Through the leadership of Dominic Ozanne and Ozanne Construction (a true family affair!), and over $300,000 of investment including many gifts in kind of labor and materials...we are ready!

Recently Partnership Schools hosted a Zoom retreat with nearly 200 staffulty attending.  I snapped the accompanying picture in the principal's office at St. Thomas Aquinas.  "We can do hard things" was one of the themes of the retreat!

The Multiplier Effect

Saint Ignatius loved actions that led to others taking up the cause as well.  The two pictures here are an example of how that retreat has begun to filter down to the classrooms already!  The four themes are displayed here for all to see...these are words for everyone of all ages:  We can do hard things; celebrate success; we can help each other; and together we are better!

 

As Tuesday approaches, I walked into all the classrooms of both schools.  Newly painted, desks all appropriately distanced with 3 foot shields on each one, rooms decorated by the teachers are just so cool!  I talked with many teachers who are truly excited to see their students (they have not been together in a classroom for six months).  There is fear and trepidation as there always is at the beginning of the school year.  One of my old teacher friends from Chicago, Jay Lalley, would always ask this question to me when we first walked back into school after summer (usually about two weeks before the kids), "Have the dreams begun?"  Most teachers know what that means...the dreams that you woke up late for the first day, or your students didn't show up, or your class was up for grabs the moment you walked in...et cetera, et cetera!  Of course the virus has added to those pre-school year jitters in a big way!  Nonetheless, we are commited to our mission of providing a loving community where students will learn along with us!  Pray for us!

This exudes elementary school vibes!

If you notice all these pictures are missing kids!  That will change next Tuesday!  Keep us in your minds and prayers as we begin in a new way!

God is oozing from these walls!

Today's Gospel and other readings may seem a bit harsh and is often cited as the foundation for the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Yet, there are a few hidden gems today!  First, all the commandments and law can be summed up in this saying:  "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."  Love is the fulfillment of the law.  The Gospel ends with a well known passage:  "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them."  I have personally always felt that God can be found in prayer and scripture, in community (today's reading), and in breaking bread with strangers (Road to Emmaus).  It is through relationships of love that God has a chance to work.  In all three of those ways of feeling God's presence there is always a lurking fear.  Fear is always there to paralyze us.  Think of the fear you may have felt when you told someone for the first time that you loved them.  Would they reject me?  Laugh at me? Or run away?  With prayer, there is the fear that I may actually hear what God is calling all me to do!  Imagine the fear of the encounter with the stranger?  So hear we go this Tuesday!  Fear is lurking as usual but we are better together!

As I walked the halls of St. Thomas Aquinas and Archbishop Lyke these past few days.  As I met the teachers, staff and some families...as I saw the care with which each classroom was decorated...as I talked with teachers who felt the strength of community...as I saw people meet with families to give them materials for next week...as I saw families enrolling (we are up 15%!!)...I can honestly say that I felt God oozing from these walls...visualizing all the children that have passed through this entrance and will pass through this entrace...what we are doing is truly Christ's enterprise!  Let the church say amen!