Committee to plan long-term future of both Burlington campuses
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
A committee is studying the feasibility of combining Burlington’s two Catholic grade schools into a single entity, according to officials from St. Mary and St. Charles Borromeo parishes.
Steering Committee Chairman Bob O’Neill said the group has been tasked with setting a course for the long-term future of Catholic education in the Burlington area.
Last week, O’Neill said the three main goals of the committee are to develop a plan that:
- Ensures the longevity of Catholic education in Burlington;
- Improves the level of education delivered by local Catholic schools; and
- Makes best use of financial and physical resources.
“We want to come up with a plan for long-term Catholic education and preserving that ministry for long after we’re gone,” he said.
While such a process would have likely been rejected a few short years ago by proud parents and staff at both St. Mary and St. Charles schools, a different climate prevails today, according to O’Neill.
That climate grew out of the creation of the tri-parish cluster including St. Charles, St. Joseph, Lyons, and St. Mary’s and the naming of the Rev. James Volkert as its lone pastor, O’Neill said.
“Under Father Jim’s leadership with the tri-parish pastoral council there is a renewed spirit that we really are one Catholic community,” he said.
As the walls between the three parishes have fallen, so have the barriers to greater cooperation between the two schools.
O’Neill said the greatest impetus for discussion of school unification came from financial trustees of the individual parishes.
“They asked – from a financial standpoint – are we really doing what’s best?” O’Neill said.
However, he conceded, the process will not be easy nor is consolidation a foregone conclusion.
“It is our full intention to move forward and get this done, unless something arises that tells us it’s not the right thing to do.”
The committee took the first step in the process June 13 when it hosted a listening session at St. Charles School. O’Neill said about 35 people attended, including parents and teachers from both schools. Fewer than 10 of them expressed concerns about the possibility of consolidation, he said.
Issues of whether teachers will lose their jobs or which campuses will be utilized for which grade levels won’t be answered until much later in the process, according to O’Neill.
The Steering Committee, which includes representatives from both schools as well as the preschool programs and Catholic Central High School, was scheduled to meet Wednesday and would likely formulate a mission statement and a rough timeline for making a recommendation, according to O’Neill.
He said as many as 11 sub-committees could be formed to investigate everything from facilities, to staff, to supplies and finances.
The Steering Committee will meet twice a month during the process.
O’Neill said he wants to stress that both schools are currently viable as standalone entities and both have done and outstanding job of educating students.
He said many of the top students at both Catholic Central and Burlington high schools were students of St. Charles or St. Mary schools.
“Both schools are strong. It is a good reason to do it now,” he said. “We are intentionally using the term unification.”
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