By Marcy Stenstrom
On Monday November 2nd at 7:00pm, approximately 50 Newman Catholic Schools parents, staff, priests, and supporters met in the St. Therese church basement to hear about the proposed changes scheduled for the 2010-2011 school year. Fr. Janusz opened the meeting with a participatory prayer and read an encouraging letter from Bishop Listecki in regards to the upcoming changes slated for the Newman Catholic School system.
Jan Klosinski, president of Newman Catholic Schools began the presentation stating repeatedly that the proposed changes are to ensure the future of Catholic Schools in the Wausau area and that doing nothing is not an option.
Just as a corporate business looks at inefficiencies and makes decisions to decrease and eliminate debt to operate more efficiently, so too must the NCS system. Currently there is an outstanding debt to the Diocese of La Crosse in the millions of dollars. In both 2004 and 2007, based on an outside professional marketing research group’s studies, the school system had restructured and downsized buildings, increased tuition, minimized salaries, reduced staff, and combined classes at the elementary levels. However, even with these changes, economic factors continue to keep NCS in the red for the diocese. Increased unemployment and lower birth rates contribute to decreasing enrollment in Catholic schools, not only for the Wausau area but nationally in all Catholic schools as well.
To keep a Catholic education affordable and viable, four separate “scenarios” were presented that explained variable combinations of restructuring which would occur to reduce the debt and increase efficiencies. In each situation the overall common change would be that the St. Matthew’s 7th and 8th grade students would be a part of the Newman High School. Sixth grade students would become part of the elementary grade levels at one of the existing schools.
Additionally, in each scenario, elementary grade levels would be combined into fewer school buildings to increase the number of students in certain classes. (To see complete details of the four scenarios and combinations of proposed restructuring, see the NCS website, www.newmancatholicschools.com.)
After the presentation and proposed scenarios, a listening session began with an open mic for feedback from attendees. A response survey was included to be filled out on paper or at home electronically. This was due on Friday November 5th.
This information session at St. Therese was the last in a series of meetings. We were assured that no decisions have yet been made and that our input at the sessions and through the survey will weigh in on the decision that many, along with the Bishop, will make to ensure the future of Catholic education in our area.