ENROLLMENT DECLINE

IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens have recorded a decline in enrollment and Catholic high schools in the two boroughs report an enrollment increase, according to statistics for 2005-2006 released Tuesday (Nov. 8).

Attending 127 elementary schools from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade are 41,893 students, a decrease of 2,874, or 6.5 percent, from the 44,767 registered in the 2004-2005 school year. On the high school level, 17,965 are enrolled in 20 schools, an increase of 219 over the 17,746 who attended last year.

The statistics also show that the 147 schools on both the elementary and secondary levels have 3,175 lay teachers, 187 Sisters, 54 Brothers and ten priests.

Eleven elementary schools---seven in Brooklyn and four in Queens---have an enrollment of fewer than 200 students, and 18 schools---eight in Brooklyn and ten in Queens---have between 201 and 250 students. There are between 251 and 500 students in 79 schools in both boroughs.

Of the remaining elementary schools, Our Lady of Fatima, Jackson Heights, has the highest enrollment with 704 students. It is followed by St. Francis DeSales, Belle Harbor, with 697 and Our Lady of Hope, Middle Village, with 623.

St. Francis Prep, Fresh Meadows, has the largest number of students among the secondary schools with 2,756 registered. Second is Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood with 1,561 and third is Xaverian High School, Bay Ridge, with 1,471.

About 20 percent of the students attending the elementary and secondary schools are non-Catholic.

The average elementary school tuition approximates $3,100, and the average per-pupil spending cost is at least $3,900. The difference is made up through fund-raising and underwriting by parishes.

The Office of the Superintendent-Catholic School Support Services compiled the statistics, based on data supplied by the local schools.

Msgr. Michael J. Hardiman, Vicar for Education, said the enrollment decline could have been steeper, since a “predictive model” had indicated perhaps an additional 1,000 fewer students.

He also noted that:

---Nearly 2,200 students transferred into Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens, almost 200 more than transferred into public schools from Catholic schools.

---Close to 1,000 children transferred to schools outside of New York City, the same as the average for the past four years.

Msgr. Hardiman said Dr. Thomas Chadzutko, Superintendent of Catholic School Support Services, and his staff  are working with parish school officials to help them create educational planning committees. They would be charged with developing a strategic plan for the next three to five years in terms of enrollment projections and anticipated operating costs.

“These measures are in response to Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio’s desire that schools and parishes actively engage the lay faithful in the planning process,” he said.

As for the potential for additional school closings, Msgr. Hardiman said, “I hope that would not be the case,” but he cautioned that with 29 schools under 250 students and 24 schools reporting a loss of 25 or more students, additional consolidations “could or may have to be proposed.”

The Vicar for Education said “there has to be a far greater involvement of alumni, business leaders and others committed to preserving Catholic elementary schools, as Bishop DiMarzio has indicated is his desire.”

Saying that the educational programs offered by the schools “are strong,” he said Catholics as well as non-Catholics “choose to send their children to our schools because they appreciate the pervasively Catholic atmosphere and Catholic values which abound.”

The face of Catholic education on the elementary level is changing, Msgr. Hardiman said, “but it’s changing for the better.”

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