Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark: Benchmarks for the Strategic Plan for Schools

Reprinted from The Catholic Advocate, 6/3/04

In developing a vision for schools in the Archdiocese through the year 2013, the New Energies Task Force for Schools established a number of benchmarks,or guiding principles,by which schools will be examining themselves for the future.The benchmarks cover such areas as:maintaining Catholic identity and mission; quality and innovation in programs;teacher and administrator quality and education;study body size;cost of education, and quality and size of facilities.

Catholicity
Each Archdiocesan,parish and co-sponsored elementary and secondary school will be distinctively Catholic and Christ centered in its mission,faith-based values and program.

The Archdiocese affirms its obligation to provide opportunities for Catholic education to Catholic families and will encourage all Catholic families to enroll their children in a Catholic school. Non-Catholics will be welcomed to apply.

Students attending Catholic schools (and their parents) will be regularly challenged to follow the example of Jesus Christ and to develop a personal,life-long commitment to Him.

Administrators,school boards,faculty and staff of Catholic schools will be regularly encouraged to deepen their faith commitment,and to live their commitment on a daily basis.

Catholic elementary schools will be an integral part of parish education ministry.

Program Quality
All Archdiocesan,parish and co-sponsored schools will be accredited by the Middle States Association.

All elementary and secondary schools will strive to develop curriculum based enrichment programs for high achieving students.

Elementary schools located geographically close to each other are strongly encouraged to share resources in math,science and world languages.

ESL programs to serve an increasing immigrant population will be expanded.

Schools will continue to take advantage of funding for updating technology in order to enhance teaching/learning strategies.

There will be an increase in training for teachers in order to integrate technology with curriculum more fully.

Catholic high schools will investigate and implement opportunities to offer advancement/enrichment programs
to middle school students.

Catholic schools will use only religion textbooks that are in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

School Viability
All schools will strive to meet the following criteria:

a distinctively Catholic and Christ-centered program
a minimum K-8 enrollment of 225 (assuming one class per grade), and average homeroom enrollment of 25 per class.
a quality educational program accredited by the Middle States Association that is judged by parents to be a good value for the investment
school facilities maintained in quality condition and providing an up-to-date and positive atmosphere for learning
a consistently maintained balanced budget
a qualified school board in place to advise the pastor and principal on policy issues and to assist with fund development and property maintenance
development and maintenance of a marketing and recruitment plan,development plan,tuition assistance plan,school improvement process plan,and long-range capital improvement plan
evidence that all professional staff have appropriate state and religious educational certification,that professional and spiritual development plans are in place,and that the school follows Archdiocesan Administrative Manual policies and is accredited by the Middle States Association.
When only one school remains in a geographic area,special efforts will be made to ensure that the school remains viable so that all Catholic children in the Archdiocese have access to a Catholic school.

Staff
The Office of the Superintendent will be responsible for annually updating the Strategic Plan for Catholic Schools.

The Office of the Superintendent will create a position,in collaboration with the Archdiocesan Office of Development,that will work with individual schools to expand aggressively their institutional advancement programs.

The Office of the Superintendent will realign and expand its staff so that ample time can be invested with schools to help them become stronger and more self-sufficient.

School Administration
Principals will be compensated at a level that will attract and retain qualified persons in the position.

Selection of new principals will be carefully monitored.

The formation of new Catholic school leaders will be a priority.

Steps will be taken to strengthen the role of the Catholic School leader.

Faculty
The minimum teacher salary schedule for 2003 – 2007 will be implemented in each school.

Teacher selection and development will continue to be a high priority of the individual school and the Office of the Superintendent.

All teachers of religion will be practicing Roman Catholics qualified to teach religion.

School Facilities
The Archdiocese of Newark will conduct a professional analysis of many of the older school buildings.

The Office of the Superintendent will require that all schools have a deferred maintenance plan that is updated each year.

Enrollment/Marketing
The Office of the Superintendent will expand the Archdiocesan-wide marketing program.

Catholic schools that have less-than-capacity enrollment will develop an aggressive marketing program to bring the school to capacity.

Where possible,pre-kindergarten programs will be researched and opened as part of the elementary school,or in parishes that do not sponsor a school.

Finances
Schools will make an accurate calculation of their cost-per-pupil and communicate this cost figure to parents.

Each year,schools will move tuition rates closer to their actual cost-per-pupil,and simultaneously increase scholarship funding.

The Scholarship Fund for Inner-City Children has been challenged to increase scholarships to $3 million or more within the next three or four years,and to higher levels in future years.

The Archdiocese will investigate the potential of a parish subsidy program in which all parishes support Catholic schools. Elementary and Archdiocesan secondary schools will increase development income substantially.

Schools will develop realistic budgets annually.

Governance
The Superintendent will establish the Superintendent’s Pastors Advisory Council.

The Archdiocesan School Advisory Board will be restructured with more responsibility for developing policy,visioning and strategic planning.

Each Archdiocesan and parish elementary school and high school will be required to have a functioning consultative school board no later than 2008.

The Office of the Superintendent will have appropriate budget and staff to help individual schools achieve the objective of an active consultative school board by 2008.

Local school boards will be consultative and involved in policy development. They may also have a hands-on involvement in fundraising,development,marketing and facility planning. However,local boards do not become involved in areas of day-to-day school affairs,which remain the school administration’s responsibility.

In addition to the current governance models,alternative governance models will be considered when appropriate.

Restructuring
Schools must meet the minimum viability criteria or have a plan to achieve the minimum on an agreed timeline.

In towns with multiple elementary school sites,schools will collaborate with regard to sharing resources and programs.

The Co-Sponsorship Manual will be rewritten to reflect the experiences of recent years.

The current alignment of schools and parishes in co-sponsorship relationships will be studied to determine if any current alignments should be re-evaluated,with a view toward adding parishes if appropriate.

New Initiatives
Parishes in growth areas that have schools with suitable acreage at the site (or the potential to acquire acreage) to expand the school will study the market to determine if there is enrollment potential to add another section of each grade.

Parishes that do not have schools and that are located in growth areas will participate in a regional study to assess the need for new schools.

When new parishes are started by the Archdiocese,sites will be acquired with enough acreage to include a school. Alternative Catholic school structures will be studied to determine if there are any areas of the Archdiocese where they may be feasible.

Regional middle schools will be considered when their creation would be advantageous.