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Benedict108
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BALTIMORE (AP) — Maryland is considered the cradle of Roman Catholic education in America, but if that heritage is to endure, decisive action must be taken soon to address falling enrollment at Baltimore’s parochial schools, the archbishop said.
For a decade, leaders have prayed the situation would turn around, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien said. But this academic year, enrollment at archdiocese schools is down 5%, or approximately 1,200 students, according to the archdiocese. That’s the equivalent of four full schools and twice the average decline of the previous five years.
“To punt any further would be to lose the school system completely,” O’Brien said. “It’s obvious that some action has to be taken.”
O’Brien recently gathered priests and educators to discuss the problem, and he’ll introduce a committee formed to find solutions over the next 18 months. Leaders want most of all to avoid closing schools, but they’ll also have to look at other painful options such as consolidation.
Full text: usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-02-18-catholic-schools_N.htm
For a decade, leaders have prayed the situation would turn around, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien said. But this academic year, enrollment at archdiocese schools is down 5%, or approximately 1,200 students, according to the archdiocese. That’s the equivalent of four full schools and twice the average decline of the previous five years.
“To punt any further would be to lose the school system completely,” O’Brien said. “It’s obvious that some action has to be taken.”
O’Brien recently gathered priests and educators to discuss the problem, and he’ll introduce a committee formed to find solutions over the next 18 months. Leaders want most of all to avoid closing schools, but they’ll also have to look at other painful options such as consolidation.
Full text: usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-02-18-catholic-schools_N.htm