Catholic school application process

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This is ridiculous. Truly, I don’t get upset about most issues posted here but this one makes me angry for you, OP. First of all, how are you supposed to know in advance that you should have been putting envelopes in the collection for however long? You wouldn’t know prior to the school application process. Second, how sad that they have to resort to this method and consider nothing else as a confirmation of your parish involvement. Are there other Catholic schools that would accept your child?

My son went to a school across town, had nothing to do with where we lived or attended church. It was not the best school in the area but still better than public. And he was accepted to high school no problem.
 
I know we’re in the same city, I’ve never even heard of such a thing, I find that quite weird, tbh, there are people who the envelope system do not work for at all, i’m one of them, i’m visually impaired so can’t write anything on them and you have no idea how many times the collection basket completely skips over me because people assume that someone with a disability doesn’t have anymoney to give. I don’t have kids but if I did, this would obviously cause a problem for me as well

yes, speak to the priest, you are plenty involved and you son shouldn’t be denied entry to the school because of this,
 
"It was not the best school in the area but still better than public. "

Nationally, and locally where I live, public schools outperform Catholic schools academically. The difference is that public schools have a far greater percentage of students that come from disadvantaged backgrounds. If you are talking academics, you are better off, on average, sending your child to a public school. If you are talking about your child learning the Catholic faith, then yes, probably a Catholic school is the right choice. If you are talking wanting your child to learn Christian morality/values, this is just my opinion, but once again public would win over Catholic.
 
cloistered said:
"It was not the best school in the area but still better than public. "

If you are talking wanting your child to learn Christian morality/values, this is just my opinion, but once again public would win over Catholic.
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Goodness, how does this work? Morality/values in Catholic schools are worse than public? Isn’t this the whole point of a Catholic school? You must have exceptional public schools where you are.
 
Public schools across our country are exceptional! They are based on the principle that everyone should care just as much about the education of their neighbors child just as much as our own, a very Christian concept!

Pick any (or almost any, there might be an exception that proves the rule) Catholic school and the neighborning public school and look at the student populations. The public school will be educating more poor, foster, minority, english language learner. The public schools do more of the loving-other-less than that was the message of Jesus.
 
cloistered said:
The public school will be educating more poor, foster, minority, english language learner.
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In some countries, the government recognizes the service provided by non government schools and so contributes to their running costs, which reduces the fees the school must charge so that it becomes more affordable to the groups you highlight. Otherwise, many of the poor cannot access a catholic school.

In an environment where non-government (not for profit) schools are permitted and regulated (as to standards, requirements curricula etc), it seems unfair that a government accepts all taxes but will financially only support the kids in public schools!
 
All kids are accepted into public schools. Not all kids are accepted into Catholic schools…which is in evidence in this thread (the OP is talking about trying to get her Catholic kid in and having issues). If you want private, it should be paid for privately, is my thought. Your Catholic kid will be
 
cloistered said:
If you want private, it should be paid for privately, is my thought.
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That’s fine with me but education is a large government expense and if I’m not calling on the government system, perhaps a credit on my tax would be reasonable.

But since the government is in education in a big way, and regulates all schools, I see merit in it contributing consistently to all kids education.
 
“if I’m not calling on the government system, perhaps a credit on my tax would be reasonable.”

Aren’t you though? I think we all benefit from living in an educated populace and therefore should all contribute to it. I don’t think a democracy would work without an educated populace. My opinion, the point of the public education system isn’t to educate workers, but to grow citizens.
 
Our parish is opposite
A small donaton weekly is fine. A large 2 time donation-'Christmas and Easter is frowned upon.
Katie
✝️
 
cloistered said:
Aren’t you though? I think we all benefit from living in an educated populace and therefore should all contribute to it. I don’t think a democracy would work without an educated populace. My opinion, the point of the public education system isn’t to educate workers, but to grow citizens.
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In my country, Catholic schools educate about 20% of kids. The reduction in costs to the public purse is immense. Evidently parents with kids at catholic schools contribute far more to the education spend of the nation than parents of kids at government schools. This is not really in debate.
 
I’m in trouble, then. Most of the time, I forget my envelope. If I have cash, I just drop it in anonymously. I’ve toyed with the idea of Catholic school, so I may have to rethink this practice!
phil19034 said:
HOWEVER, if the school has a lot of demand, interviews seems like a good way to keep heretical families (who would undermine Catholic teaching) out of the school.
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“Heretical” isn’t automatically tantamount to “undermin[ing] Catholic teaching.” Catholic schools admit non-Catholic children regularly. They employ non-Catholic faculty and staff members. Anyone employed with the school or enrolling their kids there know that on school grounds, policies and procedures are to be honored and will be consistent with Catholic teaching.
 
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Glad I’m not the only one. After that interview i almost felt like I’m a bad Catholic for not giving sufficient number of envelopes (despite the fact that I do give regularly and significantly…).
 
blackforest said:
“Heretical” isn’t automatically tantamount to “undermin[ing] Catholic teaching.” Catholic schools admit non-Catholic children regularly. They employ non-Catholic faculty and staff members. Anyone employed with the school or enrolling their kids there know that on school grounds, policies and procedures are to be honored and will be consistent with Catholic teaching.
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True. I didn’t mean all heretical families. I just meant families who would undermine Catholic teaching.
 
Go talk to the parish office and get a letter from them, they issue them for tax purposes, showing how much money you gave last year. Then get the DRE to sign a brief letter testifying to your CCD work. Then take that to the principle. If he/she us still such a bureaucratic nincompoop, go talk to the pastor.
 
twf said:
So I applied for our local parish Catholic school for my four year old. He will be turning 5 in October, so will be starting kindergarten in September. The school called us back for an interview which was this morning…my wife, son, and I all attended. Over all the interview went well, but it was very disappointing to learn that we are pretty “low” in the queue for available spots. Apparently first dibs goes to siblings (which is fair and I have no issues with).
The next category is for regular, “participating” members of the parish. I was alarmed to learn that, according to the school, I don’t fit into this category.
I attend Mass every Sunday (though not always at the parish - I am very fond of our cathedral and go there quite often as well). I am a special needs catechist at the parish and am preparing a young man for confirmation every Monday afternoon. I donate a significant amount of money to the parish. Yet the official criteria for determining eligibility is based strictly on the number of weekly envelopes dropped in the basket. Amount is not looked at, only the number of envelopes. I tend to put money aside and then write large cheques which I drop in the basket periodically, rather than putting small amounts in every week…turns out this will really, really hurt my son’s chance of getting into Catholic school. The principial said I could write a $10 000 cheque one Sunday and that wouldn’t help me one iota…number of envelopes is the only criteria.
She did ask if the pastor knows me…which he definitely does (and is well aware of my weekly catechism ministry)…so she will talk to him to confirm and that may help us out… still frustrating.
I suppose this is more of a rant than anything else.
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I don’t really see anything wrong with how they do it.
Surely you wouldn’t want them to base it off the amount contributed would you?

The school has to have a way to be fair on who gets the available spots.
As you mentioned, having Father vouch for you should be easy and if the school knows the situation, hopefully they will make it right. But I still think it would be fair for a family that is there every week to be placed ahead of you.
 
phil19034 said:
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twf:
Amount is not looked at, only the number of envelopes.
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Question: does she literally mean only envelops, or does your parish also have a weekly electronic giving option tied to your envelop number?
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We are required to drop an envelope in the basket even if donating electronically. We just write attendence on the envelope.
 
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