Catholic education?

[mlz]

I am a convert to the Catholic faith a faithful follower of Christ in His Church. I have a question. I am a retired elementary teacher. (only one year from having been full time for 30 years!) and my grandson who has some asperger symptoms and ADHD diagnosis yet is not welcome in a Catholic educational system…I totally realize that dealing with these “special needs” students cost more in education and they work in a restricted budget BUT…oh my, how this seems not right to me in that my understanding of my Catholic faith should of all school systems accomodate and accept and want to help the “poor” of this world , needy children in need of something better than what the public schools offer…yet after discussing this with our local Catholic schools it was clear to me that my grandson was not welcome within the Catholic education system in our locality…such a shame as these our neediest children are left to the public school although children of Christian families…and although I know there are such good public school teachers (I was a public teacher loving teaching my students!) still…it isn’t the most ideal situation for some special needs students with strong Christian values today in our society. So very sad that Catholic Schools will not accept the poor and most needy of our society today… to me this seems a lack of Christian Charity and a lack of meeting the most needly for which I am most sure our Lord would desire…something is wrong in our Catholic schools in the area i live in…so sad… Please pray with me that we open our doors of education to all!! To be the strongest witness in serving these the youngest, most vulnerable and left to themselves and to the cross bearing of many parents who struggle to provide a good Christian education to their children. Let us reevaluation WHY we educate as faithful Catholic Christians and open our doors to those truely in need with His love! Think and if you can help…please help those like my grandson by advocating this need!

My prayers for Catholic education and those held to this responsiblility.
mlz

 

[hadulzo]

1st never assume Catholic school gives a Catholic education. They have to earn that. Since you were are teacher have you considered home schooling? If he goes in public school, he will be labeled and it will follow him the rest of his life. My yougest was adhd and went to public grammar school. Decided to make a fresh start at a Catholic high school. That lasted a year. Did very well in public high school. He is 33 now, has a steady job, goes to church every week. I know lots of kid who went to Catholic school and ond only go to church for their wedding.

 

[St_Francis]

Considering the good which the Church has done for so many, it would seem not to be a matter of lack of compassion but simply a lack of resources.

Maybe you can think of a good way to serve disabled Catholic children and help start a program to help them.

 

[Casilda]

Thank you for your long career in teaching! My three kids had wonderful teachers, but I was not happy with the government school system. The blind bureaucracy. I homeschooled my children. They are better people today for that. My youngest, being the last one home, did attend Christian private schools for middle and high school. She did earn herself a scholarship to a Catholic university.

The Lutheran Christian schools she attended also did not accept students with any learning disabilities. But it was due to costs. Their school system is geared as a ministry, partially funded by the church, donations and A LOT of volunteer hours from parents AND dedicated teachers. Hiring a specific special education teacher is just cost prohibited. But I will tell you that our community has a very large, vibrant Catholic homeschooling community. Many of the moms are ex-teachers. There are co-ops, were the parents (moms and dads) co-teach the students. This way a student with special needs does not fall through the cracks.

One difference I noticed between the Catholic and Christian schools, is that the Lutheran schools hired multi-talented Lutheran grad students for their teaching staff. The Lutheran university has a wonderful teacher training program. My local Catholic school does not have all Catholic teachers. The university did not have a push for students to go into teaching. I believe it should. There are NOT enough Catholic schools, there are not enough Catholic teachers, and those parents that are homeschooling are filling in for those deficiencies.

Support your local Catholic homeschooling group, volunteer to teach your specialty! See if they have special ed teachers!

 

[Usige]

mlz, I feel the same way. My two older children have learning disabilities but our younger ones are welcome to attend because they could thrive. We heard a presentation for a local Catholic school about how it is the duty of Catholics to send their children to a Catholic school. When we mentioned our two oldest had ADHD, Tourette’s, and dyslexia we were told they would not meet the schools standards. I guess being Catholic is not a good enough qualifier to attend Catholic schools.

In my area, most Catholic schools are not primarily interested in educating Catholics. I don’t know of one that doesn’t require passing an entrance exam even for kindergarten. If a child does not meet high academic standards then the school simply will not accept them. Even if they pass the entrance exam, they are placed on a one year academic probation. In the vast majority of cases the schools under a Catholic banner are really private college prep academies. I know a couple schools in my area that have rejected Catholics with lower academic ability in preference for high achieving non-Catholics. Since they can select only the best students they can boast of high academic scores and thereby justify charging 5-7K per student.

I have though a couple times of starting a fund to provide a pool of shared special ed teachers, but when I floated the idea to a member of one of the local Catholic school boards, he said “I don’t know about that. Those kids aren’t up to the standards we want to maintain.” This isn’t about lack of resources, but academic elitism that says we only want the best and brightest. If the kids happen to be Catholic, all the better.

 

[Allegra]

The purpose of Catholic schools in my area is to separate rich, white, “normal” kids from the undesirables of society. Despite whatever the schools’ mission statement says, there is no doubt about the reason the parents write the checks. They don’t want their child to have to learn to deal with kids who are "weird’, or black, or speak a different language, or who have divorced parents, or who are a “scholarship case”, etc.

 

[pianistclare]

mlz, I feel the same way. My two older children have learning disabilities but our younger ones are welcome to attend because they could thrive. We heard a presentation for a local Catholic school about how it is the duty of Catholics to send their children to a Catholic school. When we mentioned our two oldest had ADHD, Tourette’s, and dyslexia we were told they would not meet the schools standards. I guess being Catholic is not a good enough qualifier to attend Catholic schools.

In my area, most Catholic schools are not primarily interested in educating Catholics. I don’t know of one that doesn’t require passing an entrance exam even for kindergarten. If a child does not meet high academic standards then the school simply will not accept them. Even if they pass the entrance exam, they are placed on a one year academic probation. In the vast majority of cases the schools under a Catholic banner are really private college prep academies. I know a couple schools in my area that have rejected Catholics with lower academic ability in preference for high achieving non-Catholics. Since they can select only the best students they can boast of high academic scores and thereby justify charging 5-7K per student.

I have though a couple times of starting a fund to provide a pool of shared special ed teachers, but when I floated the idea to a member of one of the local Catholic school boards, he said “I don’t know about that. Those kids aren’t up to the standards we want to maintain.” This isn’t about lack of resources, but academic elitism that says we only want the best and brightest. If the kids happen to be Catholic, all the better.

Yup.
Until the schools start to fail. Then they will take anyone with a check that won’t bounce. A dear friend was the Resource teacher for my old school. She had 44 kids out of less than 200 last year that needed special assistance. This year, she said most of the children they accepted as “new” students also had special needs. When the school needs the money more than anything else, they make room. It’s ridiculous. She refused to teach any longer. She said there not enough hours in the day to help the children she had last year.
“take it or leave it”. She left it. Really sad.

 

[pianistclare]

The purpose of Catholic schools in my area is to separate rich, white, “normal” kids from the undesirables of society. Despite whatever the schools’ mission statement says, there is no doubt about the reason the parents write the checks. They don’t want their child to have to learn to deal with kids who are "weird’, or black, or speak a different language, or who have divorced parents, or who are a “scholarship case”, etc.

Nailed it.

Somewhere along the line we lost our mission. When I was at the Catholic school (it’s a regional school, not a parish school) our Mission statement began with the verbiage that clearly stated our purpose was helping parents to teach their children about Jesus Christ and to nurture that relationship with Him. The academic expectation followed in subsequent sentences.

Today, that same school Mission Statement begins with a statement staying that they exist to support the traditions of Catholic Church.
They are clearly courting rich non-Catholics.

That, and the fact that the tuition is way out of reach for most families. Way out of reach.
If Catholic Elementary schools fail, you can forget about Catholic Highs schools. Once people perceive that they’re getting burned by the school system, they won’t shop around there again. Oh, and guess what? Parents that pay over 10 grand for Catholic school tuition don’t tithe. They are still laboring over the notions that the schools and the parishes are joined. So the pastors suffer as well.

Anyway, a lack of vocations won’t matter in a couple of generations.

 

[jeannetherese]

Our Archdiocese is working hard to support children with special needs in Catholic schools.

 

[pianistclare]

Our Archdiocese is working hard to support children with special needs in Catholic schools.

That’s wonderful! Many prayers for success! You are certainly blessed!

 

[jeannetherese]

That’s wonderful! Many prayers for success! You are certainly blessed!

Thanks Clare. You and your friend will be familiar with the challenges of providing this support.
My experience with the public system is that they have so many resources available. Extra staff, special materials, and big budgets.
I really appreciate what our Catholic schools are attempting to do with fewer resources.
It’s quite a challenge.
Those prayers are really important.

 

[pianistclare]

Thanks Clare. You and your friend will be familiar with the challenges of providing this support.
My experience with the public system is that they have so many resources available. Extra staff, special materials, and big budgets.
I really appreciate what our Catholic schools are attempting to do with fewer resources.
It’s quite a challenge.
Those prayers are really important.

Indeed. To be fair…I concur with Allegra’s point: Many parents view Catholic school as PRIVATE school, and put pressure on the system to not accept anyone who isn’t likely to be a Rhodes Scholar one day. They feel like their children will somehow suffer, or be negatively influenced by kids of all shapes and sizes, and learning styles. They don’t really see potential in kids who are not at the top of the test scores.
But I would ask them this: How will these kids serve others later? How will they develop compassion, understanding for those different, or patience with others? There’s a lot to learn in life. And calculus is only one part of it.
But the schools are a business. A franchise. Not a ministry. At least around here.
I do understand that there are pockets of wonderful institutions and various Diocese that are really taking great care of families and children. God bless them.

 

[St_Francis]

Thanks Clare. You and your friend will be familiar with the challenges of providing this support.
My experience with the public system is that they have so many resources available. Extra staff, special materials, and big budgets.
I really appreciate what our Catholic schools are attempting to do with fewer resources.
It’s quite a challenge.
Those prayers are really important.

Another thing to consider is that public schools get money from all levels of government. They get *extra *funding if they have special ed kids.

So PS already get twice as much as private per pupil, and then extra for special ed. Private/parochial schools only get tuition or maybe also some extra support from the parish, and how can they get extra for special ed students?

 

[Kal2012]

It really depends on the child’s needs.

Mine is special needs, but he’s in the public school because he can get speech, OT and other services.

It’s hit or miss whether or not private/parochial schools can or will accommodate special needs. Unless they are in a special needs specific private school.

A lot depends on the community where you live. I’m hoping that my son won’t have so many challenges by the time high school comes around, so we can send him to our local Catholic (all boys) high school. We have top notch Catholic schools, but you really have to look for them. Some are a lot more secular than Catholic.

I understand wanting a Catholic education, but sometimes, it’s just not realistic.

We still do mass, religious ed. We just got done with VBS last week.