Parents scrambling after Raytown MO Catholic school suddenly closes

[pstokely]

Source: KCTV 5

RAYTOWN, MO (KCTV) -

Due to declining enrollment, parents now have to find a new school for their children after a Raytown Catholic school closes its doors.

The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph announced Tuesday that Our Lady of Lourdes School would not open its doors to students next week. The school had been open for 59 years.

One mother said the notice caused anguish in her home. She and other parents are scrambling to find alternative schools.

As of Aug. 8, only 57 students were pre-registered for this school year at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Raytown. The school had 119 students last year. Ten years ago, 199 students attended the school, which is down from the enrollment of 600 students when it opened nearly six decades ago.

Read more: http://www.kctv5.com/story/15243135/too-few-students-means-raytown-catholic-school-closing

[alp227]

1. I feel so sorry for these parents. Public schools gutted by budget cuts,

religious education...meh not much better.

[Shadowflash]

3. Religious education

is an oxymoron.

[whathehell]

5. Bullshit.

You may not like the "religious" aspect but Cahtolic schools

generally provide eduation on par or better than public schools.

[Pale Blue Dot]

6. Unless you have data to back that up,

I call bullshit.

[melm00se]

8. I call upon the GOOGLE!

http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pdf/studies/2006461.pdf (no, private schools aren't better)

http://www.hks.harvard.edu/pepg/PDF/Papers/PEPG06-02-PetersonLlaudet.pdf (yes, they are, the above study has flaws)

http://www.ncspe.org/publications_files/OP111.pdf (no, private schools aren't better)

you can go back and forth on this one all day.

Anecdotally, when I graduated from high school (private) 100% of the students graduated with NYS regents diplomas (we all took the tests and we all passed) and, IIRC, in the public schools, the number was approximately 1/2 to 2/3 (this was back in the 1980s).

[musette_sf]

18. Private school students are on a college prep track

therefore of course they all would receive Regents diplomas.

Public schools have vocational tracks, and the kids in the vocational tracks receive general education diplomas.

Everyone in my high school received a Regents diploma. I went to a college prep HS.

In the high school my siblings went to, a fair number of graduating seniors received general diplomas. That school was the local area high school.

I and my siblings went to public high schools.

Just to show that your point does not prove that private schools are "better".

[Stuckinthebush]

7. I don't know if that is true for the population

Teachers in private schools do not have to have the same credentials as those in public schools (at least in my state). Many times these teachers are not highly qualified. Now, in some localities, I'm betting that your point is true, but overall it isn't the case.

[Ino]

9. Not in my experience!

An hour+ every morning for mass, then breakfast for those who took communion. Phys Ed consisted of jumping jacks next to our desks. Music class was learning hymns to sing in church. Got pulled out of class to sing at funerals. Stations of the Cross every Friday during Lent. Praying the rosary every week during Mary's month. Religion class every day. Confession once a month. The whole school marched into church to practice enunciating "T" properly when singing hymns in mass. No playground equipment but jumping ropes and big bouncy balls (no swings, jungle gyms, etc.) Lunch food was disgusting.

This was at the height of catholic school enrollment. This is what my parents paid tuition for. The school was so crowded that my lucky little brother "had" to go to a public school.

What was he learning while I wasting time in religion class and church every day?! He was doing things in grade school that I didn't get to do until high school, like dissecting frogs. He learned to play an instrument. His school had a library -- I had a bookmobile once a month. He had a gym, a higher student-teacher ratio, new textbooks.

Private schools are not subject to state requirements for certified teachers. My first grade teacher spent half the day talking about her boyfriend.

I =begged= my parents to send me to the public school. They refused. I've never forgiven them.

[Judi Lynn]

10. That's horrid! I can so easily understand your disgust, disappointment, resentment, etc,

People who've never seen inside that system have never known what the heck goes on in there.

Hope you've been able to make good time after school on your own, to put in some of what was missing. Thanks for your post.

[whathehell]

13. Mass every day ?!..Your experience was certainly not mine.

We not only didn't attend daily mass,

we didn't attend ANY mass, as a class.

I don't recall saying the rosary either.

It certainly true that there was a higher teacher to student ratio in public

schools, but there was less discipline in the public schools,

at least in my area.

I attended in Philadelphia...Maybe dioceses differed.:shrug:

[Ino]

16. When were you in school?

I was there 1958-1966 (plus another 4 years of catholic high school).

It would not be hard for there to be less discipline in a public school, LOL. My school was ALL about discipline.

Oh yes, let's not forget how the boys always went first to lunch/recess with the girls following, and only boys could be elected class president -- because "boys grow up to be priests and presidents, and girls don't."

[whathehell]

17. I was in school around the same time you were..

only two years earlier 1956 to 1963 and yes, I went to a catholic high school as well.


Sorry, but, in our school, we all went home for lunch and boys, honestly, were not shown any particular preference,

although special "privileges" for males was hardly a practice limited to Catholics, especially in the nineteen fifties and sixties

Those were the days when classified ads in newspapers separated jobs into "Males" from "Females".

[Ino]

19. This is upsetting...

... to discover that I can't feel a solidarity with other catholic grade schoolers... that my school was among the worst... maybe THE worst!

Did you at least collect pennies & nickels to buy pagan babies? Then spend an hour deciding what to name him/her? :D

[whathehell]

20. Yeah, well...

I'm sure you'll get over it.B-)

[Ino]

21. No one "gets over" having been incarcerated at a catholic grade school...nt

[whathehell]

22. Maybe you never got over being "incarcerated", LOL

but some of us did, myself included.:hi:

[Shadowflash]

11. Sorry

Learning that --

Man was created from dust, Women were created from bone, unicorns existed, a boat with 2 of every animal in the world on it were the only survivors of a world wide flood, the Earth is only 6,000 years old, people lived for hundreds of years, people can come back from the dead and virgins can conceive children is NOT 'education'.

[whathehell]

14. Umm...Sorry, but I think you're confusing Catholicism with Evangelical Christianity

Catholicism did and does NOT refute Evolution, and

does NOT hold by a literal interpretation of the Bible.

Noah's Ark, the garden of eden, etc. all allowed

for METAPHORICAL interpretation.


The virgin birth and the resurrection of Jesus

were NOT taught as "every day reality" they were taught

as "exceptions" to reality, or "miracles" that were allowed by a spiritual force.

Whether you learn such things in a Catholic school or in a Protestant "sunday school".

hardly matters.

[snooper2]

12. If there is a such thing as "god", would it be made up of matter?

[whathehell]

15. I'd say that question is a bit beyond elementary school curriculum,

wouldn't you.:eyes:

[Sherman A1]

2. It was nice of the school to give the parents so much notice

but, I would have thought the handwriting would have been on the wall. I hope that the staff is able to find jobs elsewhere.

[liberal N proud]

4. The Diocese couldn't have made this decision earlier?

This kind of situations don't happen overnight, unless they had all their money in the Stock Market this last week.

Will the public schools even allow the kids in on this short of notice?