Finally Fed Up with Parish Schools

[Bataar]

Your bishop tolerated that? I would absolutely contact the bishop if that happened in my parish. There is zero chance that any Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Portland in my lifetime would have allowed that. If I didn’t want to contact him myself, one call to Oregon Right to Life would have taken care of it.

Unfortunately, it can be impossible to contact some bishops. My mom used to be an RCIA instructor and after noticing multiple violations of church teachings and practices from various churches/groups, she tried to contact the bishop multiple times. She was never able to get past the “gatekeepers” at the Archdiocese.

 

[pensmama87]

bold: this confuses me. You mean the secular version of “be nice”, “don’t judge” and “help the lady cross the street” values?

Plus your story is rather unfortunate, if not stereotypical.

My son’s public elementary school has a values curriculum and thus far I’m actually very impressed with it, although I am keeping a very close eye on it.

I don’t have issues with our parish school at all, in fact it’s a great school in faith and academics, but we simply can’t afford it even with the financial aid available.

 

[tafan]

This is a complete derail but I felt the need to comment on this. On behalf of every parent that has been told “there just are not enough funds for your child” and was forced against what they desired which is to send their most vulnerable children to a place where there is no religion, no rosaries, transgender bathrooms and no prayers at Christmas or any other time I can tell you how painful this is to read.

Catholic schools have been saying they have “no funding” for children with disabilities for 50 years now and I am wondering if they will be saying it for another 50 because I am looking around and I see no end in sight.

Schools have fundraisers for playgrounds, gym equipment, marathons, adopt-a-student-funds, help for poor students, remodeling, new roofs, you name it but have you ever seen a fundraiser for special needs? If not why is that? Our children are off the radar that’s why, they have been abandoned by our schools and passed off to the government, period.

Okay, that’s all thanks for letting me vent, Sorry not picking on you just venting some steam, God bless your day.

I agree with you. Although most parish schools cannot handle these situations, each Diocese could and the Diocese should have a Catholic school option for children with special needs. I do not believe it is ever even considered by most dioceses.

 

[mommy_k]

This is a complete derail but I felt the need to comment on this. On behalf of every parent that has been told “there just are not enough funds for your child” and was forced against what they desired which is to send their most vulnerable children to a place where there is no religion, no rosaries, transgender bathrooms and no prayers at Christmas or any other time I can tell you how painful this is to read.

Catholic schools have been saying they have “no funding” for children with disabilities for 50 years now and I am wondering if they will be saying it for another 50 because I am looking around and I see no end in sight.

Schools have fundraisers for playgrounds, gym equipment, marathons, adopt-a-student-funds, help for poor students, remodeling, new roofs, you name it but have you ever seen a fundraiser for special needs? If not why is that? Our children are off the radar that’s why, they have been abandoned by our schools and passed off to the government, period.

Okay, that’s all thanks for letting me vent, Sorry not picking on you just venting so
me steam, God bless your day.

Yes it’s sad, and heartbreaking…please take the little that I know to perhaps settle your soul a bit.

I would think that because the cost to educate special need students out if pocket is prohibitive…maybe not for you, but for alot of familes. As I said up thread…we are fortunate to have a nurse.

Statistics in my state show that the cost to educste public school elementary is 10, 000 per student.
For special needs…double that. For high school it’s 15 k.double that too.

Perhaps that translates to 14k and 25k a year for Catholic…this is a guesstimate.

The government is not involved in Catholic school…So this is what families would pay out of pocket. To allow vouchers for tuition is another can of worms…and eventually the schools will no longer be Catholic…the curriculum will be dictated and government regulated.

Fundraisers in Catholic schools these days are mostly to keep schools open, or to bring teacher salaries up a little or even afford to keep them, as they make a little over half the salary public teachers make. No joke…

Bake sales and mini fundraisers go to hire a bus for field trips, yes …we pay for this in elementary school here, in the suburbs. As you see this would not make even a dent in the tuition.

Enrollment is waaaaay down too. People do not want to pay taxes, AND school tuition.

I read frustration in your post, so I offer just a little glimpse of some reasons…Ifor i were you, I would direct more questions to your diocese if you feel enough parents in your area would be open to this. They cannot pay special needs educators for just a few students.perhaps if you have enough families to commit, something can be done.

 

[1990Domer]

This is a complete derail but I felt the need to comment on this. On behalf of every parent that has been told “there just are not enough funds for your child” and was forced against what they desired which is to send their most vulnerable children to a place where there is no religion, no rosaries, transgender bathrooms and no prayers at Christmas or any other time I can tell you how painful this is to read.

Catholic schools have been saying they have “no funding” for children with disabilities for 50 years now and I am wondering if they will be saying it for another 50 because I am looking around and I see no end in sight.

Schools have fundraisers for playgrounds, gym equipment, marathons, adopt-a-student-funds, help for poor students, remodeling, new roofs, you name it but have you ever seen a fundraiser for special needs? If not why is that? Our children are off the radar that’s why, they have been abandoned by our schools and passed off to the government, period.

Okay, that’s all thanks for letting me vent, Sorry not picking on you just venting some steam, God bless your day.

Sorry, also not meant to derail, but there is some good news in the Archdiocese of Philly. Archbishop Chaput is starting a fundraising campaign and separate endowment for schools with children with special needs. So far, we have three schools dedicated to different delays, but he wants this expanded before he retires (if the Pope accepts it) in 5 years!

Monicad, you know I feel your pain. God bless you! And Happy Mother’s Day to all moms. Your vocation is needed and cherished!

 

[1990Domer]

MommyK,

What you wrote about fundraisers holds true to our parish school. To keep tuition at reasonable levels, the HSA has to raise $65,000/year, plus or minus. Sadly our Archdiocese got hit with a lot of lawsuits from the priest scandal. However, near us, there are Quaker and Mennonite schools who work with Medicare to offset services for kids. So, it is doable.

I have to say that a friend of my son’s wasn’t sure if his family could swing Catholic HS tuition. Well, the public HS he would be attending secretly passed the transgender mandate–use the bathroom of the sex you identify with. A student got caught off guard in the locker room, and now the parents are suing the school. It’s scary.

Happy Mother’s Day