Communities working to keep their parish schools alive

"Every school struggles with the financials," said Superintendent of Catholic Schools, Anne Depperschmidt. Winning the battle to remain viable, she explained, depends largely on the community in which the school is a part.

"Parents make a commitment to donate time and talent to support that school," she said. "That’s why Catholic schools build a better family community, because parents are totally committed to the school and students. If they choose Catholic school, they choose to be involved."

Depperschmidt recently met with Catholic school principals, their pastors and Bishop Ronald Gilmore for the annual pastor/principal meeting in Dodge City. Among the issues they discussed were financial matters, as well as what makes a good Catholic school.

When posed the question by the SKR, she quickly responded, "parental support. Then of course we have the power of prayer, which is part of everything we do. We try to build faith into everything. We try to build a community of respect and caring to everyone, stressing that everyone has worth."

Because Catholic school tuition alone doesn’t pay the bills, schools, parents, and communities must find ways to supplement the school purse.

"All the parish schools have to raise extra money to help support themselves any way they can," Depperschmidt said. "They sell calendars and cookies, they have cow bingo, silent auctions, or rodeos. Every community does different things. It’s as creative as the people who are doing it; it’s a necessary part of having a Catholic school in a parish. The parish can’t support the school alone. We have to help."

Sadly, no amount of fund-raising is going to give re-birth to the Religious presence wrought by the many sisters who taught at Catholic schools over the years. Just this year, the last two sisters to teach at Catholic schools in the Diocese of Dodge City retired.

Their loss wasn’t only the loss of role models — an example of someone selflessly devoted to the Church — it was a financial loss, as well.

"Schools used to be handled totally by Religious," Depperschmidt said. "Principals were sisters; sisters did the teaching. We now have no sisters left in any of our schools, which is very sad to me.

"That also has affected the economics of the school," she added. "Often, sisters took vows of poverty and supported schools financially. When sisters were teaching, we saw them live a commitment to religion. We saw them live another life-style."

Despite the loss of Religious teachers and staff, Depperschmidt remains optimistic, choosing to look for the silver lining, which, in this case, again has to do with "community."

"Religious formation is still very strong in the schools," she said. "Sometimes the people who are teaching religion now are the people who live on the street with you, and you see them in other walks of life."

She added that all teachers are required to take religious formation classes.

How else have schools changed, say, in the last 50 years?

"We face more moral issues," Depperschmidt responded, "because we live in a global society and communications are wide open. People think kids have changed, but the world that they live in has changed. We lose some of the fundamental values of what we’re about.

"It doesn’t seem to be as simple a life," she added. "Many things enter into your environment that you never thought about before."

Technology has provided its advantages, though.

"Now you can pull up the San Diego Zoo on the internet and control the camera in the zebra pen," Depperschmidt said. "It’s totally different now."

One of the more recent changes to affect schools across the nation is that of the No Child Left Behind Act, which, according to a NCLB website, "significantly raises expectations for states, local school systems, and schools in that all students will meet or exceed state standards in reading and mathematics within 12 years."

Repeating words often heard from educators across the country, she said that the act has caused a fair share of anxiety.

"How financially do we meet all those standards? Academically, we are very solid. As we go through this it could become an issue as the bar is raised and we have to meet even higher standards. Most of our schools are scoring way beyond that, so far."

Regardless of the financial challenges, the diocese’s Catholic schools are juggling funds to allow students of low-income families to attend.

"This year we’re trying to use Catholic education funds to address this so that we can offer scholarships for lower income families," she said. "We don’t want to become schools just for upper incomes. We want a balance of students from all financial levels."

On June 5, students and teachers past and present gathered at Sacred Heart School in Larned to celebrate nearly 70 years of devoted service to the community, and to mourn its closing. The reason for its closure depends somewhat on whom you ask. Reasons range from financial difficulties to a diminishing number of students. Depperschmidt agrees that there were several contributing factors.

Discussions regarding closing a particular school will begin years prior to the actual closing, she said, adding that at present, no schools are facing such serious difficulties.