Recordpub.com - Tough lesson for students: Parents, staff concerned about St. Joseph closing

By Diane Smith

Record-Courier staff writer

MANTUA — Students at St. Joseph School are learning some tough lessons about change and making friends in a new environment.

The lessons will come in handy for the students, who will lose their beloved Catholic school at the end of the school year.

Principal Beth Frank said parents are “very concerned” about the impending closing of the school.

“This has always been a really quality school,” she said. “The parents of students in K through 7 are very disappointed that their children can’t graduate from St. Joseph’s.”

Frank said the students recently had a prayer service on change, and will be journaling about their feelings about saying goodbye. They also have been learning about making friends in a new school.

“The parents are very grateful for this school,” she said.

The Rev. Michael Garvey, pastor of St. Joseph Parish, informed parents of the decision by letter on Friday and during Masses this past weekend.

St. Joseph Parish was founded in 1864. The school opened in 1962.

Garvey said the decision to close the school had nothing to do with the plan to reconfigure parishes and schools in the Diocese of Youngstown. Although preliminary meetings on the fate of the schools have been held, the plan for schools is not expected to come out until next year.

But only 59 students were registered for the upcoming school year at the end of February. The parish was facing the possibility of $150,000 to $200,000 in debt over and above what could be met.

“We take a fair amount of money out of the collection plate to support the school, which has been our practice,” he said.

Although he acknowledged that closing the school might help the parish financially, he said the parish would ultimately lose the energy and support of some parents who send their children to other schools.

“They will be encouraged to support the schools where their children are going,” he said.

He said the school draws students from Ravenna, Streetsboro, Aurora, Garrettsville and Windham in addition to the Mantua area. Families are being encouraged to continue a Catholic education for their children at St. Patrick school in Kent, St. Joseph school in Randolph or St. Rita school in Solon, which is outside the diocese.

Staff of the Mantua school, which includes seven teachers and several part-time aides in addition to Frank, will be placed on a Diocesan layoff list and would be first in line for any job openings at other Catholic schools.

The annual Ox Roast fair will not be affected by the closing of the school.

Frank noted that Catholic education is often sponsored by the student’s home parish, and parents should speak to their local pastor about whether their church will support a Catholic education for their children at another school.

Last year, the Crestwood Board of Education voted to stop transporting students to private schools, voting to pay parents in lieu of transportation.

The fate of the building where the school is housed remains uncertain. Garvey said weekend Parish School Religion classes probably would be held there, and there has been talk of renting out the hall for events.

“There’s a lot of room for creativity,” he said. “It’s a wonderful building.”

Remaining Catholic schools in Portage County are St. Joseph School in Randolph and St. Patrick School in Kent. Immaculate Conception School closed at the end of the school year in 2004 with only 54 students registered for the following school year. That school had been open for more than 120 years.

15.	Posted by Integrity April 3, 2010
	Hi mom4life, you have raised some interesting points that many of us may not be aware of. I have no children; therefore, I have no recent experience with St. Joe's school. Withhout firsthand knowledge, I cannot speak about today's academic benefits of the school. I can only speak about my education that I received there in the 70's and it was a good education. However, I do have a close friend who has put 4 kids through the school, and she has never expressed dissatisfaction with the educations they were receiving. I have heard that Father Ballash was not a strong supporter of the school. That is really a shame. It is also a shame that any member of the school staff would forbid any committee or individual to promote the school. To me, this would be like shooting myself in the foot now that the closing of the school has been announced. Enrollment has been weak during the past decade, that much is clear. It is disappointing to learn that exit interviews weren't being done to get to the root of the problem and fix it. Something as easy as that may have given the school another chance. I have a feeling that the steady decline of the economy played a role. Nonetheless, the news of St. Joe's school closing leaves me and many others quite sad. I have wonderful memories from my years there, and so do many of my friends.

14.	Posted by mom4life April 3, 2010
	I want to address on thing you said HHGP-B: The parochial schools get no money from the local public school budget except bussing or a transportation stipend if they are within a certain radius. They get title one services from the public schools, but these are kids that would use those same services no matter where they were being educated and always on the public school dime. Charter schools take money from the local districts but parochial and private schools do not. To answer your question about the enrollment being low I can tell you. It is due to five reasons. First, Fr. Ballash when he was the parish priest did not want the school. He did nothing out of his way to promote it and vetoed any efforts to up enrollment. Second, Beth Frank (the principal) kowtowed to Fr. Ballash and therefore would not allow the marketing committee to actually market the school. There were a lot of great ideas that the marketing committee came up with over the years and Beth just would not allow them to go forward with anything. If she'd been any kind of a leader she would have allowed them to act on their good ideas especially since some of the committee members actually did marketing in their professional life. Third, exit interviews or questionnaires were supposed to be given to exiting student's parents. They were never done thus no one really knew why students left unless they moved from the area. Fourth, who wants to enroll their child in a school that for at least a decade has been rumored to be closing soon? That rumor was never quashed by the school or the diocese. There was no firm commitment by anyone with authority to keep the school open. Fifth, no one wants to admit this but it isn't a good school educationally speaking. Some of the teachers are not even accredited by the state. They may have been when they were hired but have since let it lapse. Kids that leave there and go to publics schools or other Catholic schools are often behind their peers when they start. The kids are isolated from what happens in public school, and there is a family atmosphere because enrollment is so low, but no one is choosing this school for the academics. The main reason most chose it is that it was the cheapest non-public school anywhere in the area and that you don't have to schlep your kids to PSR is a bonus. I wish people would see the reality instead of the rosy picture they've painted for themselves. This boat has been sinking for at least ten years. If anyone didn't have a Plan B tucked away somewhere then they are like an ostrich with their head in the sand.

13.	Posted by Integrity April 2, 2010
	This is sad news to me. I attended this school for 8 years back in the 70's and received an excellent education here. In my parents' eyes, the tuition was money well spent and worth every sacrifice they made to pay for it. The class sizes were manageable for a single teacher without aids, and individual attention was given to all students. Teachers communicated with parents if students struggled in any subjects, and the parents worked in tandem with the teachers to make sure we learned the material. As for ninth grade at the public high school, it - along with most of the 10th grade - was pretty much a total review of the material I learned in the 6th through 8th grades at St. Joe's. Plenty of my high school classmates lacked the skills to spell, write a complete sentence, and many essays often consisted of only one, very long paragraph. I am sure the economy has contributed to the closing of the school. Tuition is expensive, and I wish these organizations would consider making it more affordable for families to send their kids to their schools. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I received a strong education here from excellent teachers in a safe and healthy environment. As for the strengths of the public school system, I fail to see very much of that when I read the writings of my fellow students in the college courses I am presently taking. The spelling, grammar, and punctuation skills are highly lacking to the point where one has to wonder how these students even made it past the 4th grade in any school.