In line with the approach that it takes a village to raise a child, the broader Catholic community has to contribute to strengthening its school system.
That’s the main thrust of a new strategic plan, called the “System for Success,” that outgoing Hawaii Catholic Schools Superintendent Carmen Himenes helped develop for the church’s 41 schools in the state.
Himenes, who has held the reins since 1997, was called “the primary force behind the plan” by the Hawaii Catholic Herald, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hawaii’s newspaper, in its Aug. 5 issue. A Catholic educator since 1974, she is retiring from the position at the end of the month, but is looking at other options in education, she said.
Himenes believes the vitality of each school should not only be the responsibility of an individual school or parish, as it largely is now, with each independently in charge of its own enrollment, faculty, finances and facilities.
“For Catholic education to thrive, it has to be the responsibility of the whole local church community,” as the entire church suffers when its school system struggles, Himenes said. Bishop Larry Silva ordered that the plan be created by a task force “in response to the declining enrollment and the need to plan for thriving schools,” versus schools that are just surviving.
“He saw the isolation of each school and how it affected its planning and the ability to provide the best resources,” Himenes said. “This is a wonderful plan and I think this will take our schools right into the 21st century alive and well.”
New strategies require more involvement from the bishop on down, including support from many of the state’s parishes that aren’t aligned with schools. Of the 66 parishes statewide, about 40 parishes in Hawaii are not aligned with a school, diocese spokesman Patrick Downes said.
As with other private schools affected by the recession, the number of students attending Catholic schools has been in decline since 2006 because tuition has become unaffordable to many. Enrollment is at its lowest in 66 years, with 10,111 students attending 43 schools at the close of the 2010-11 school year — the latest tally available, Downes said. (With the recent closing of St. Joseph School on Maui and Holy Trinity in Honolulu, there are now 41 Catholic schools of all grade levels in the state.)
One aspect of the plan asks parishes to “generate special efforts, including tuition assistance, to make enrollment possible for all who want to attend its school,” according to Downes.
Himenes said the widespread trend of marketing a school to consumers who can afford the high tuition is “the antithesis as to why the Catholic Church came into existence in Hawaii. We were of the poor, the immigrants who came from the old countries. The Catholic schools were an outreach to the poor, to assist in the education of our young,” as well as a vital part of the church’s mission, she said.
“We work hand in hand with parents to build our faith and see how it manifests itself in today’s world. We make it real for our students, who we hope become active participants in the church, and make contributions to the world in the name of our faith. If we lose that treasure, there’s nothing else to replace it,” she said.
The incoming superintendent, Michael M. Rockers — a Catholic educator for 35 years in Minnesota, Arkansas and South Carolina — said maintaining the vitality of the Catholic school system is essential to “each individual (student) and his eternal salvation. Someone said there can be no perfect education that doesn’t teach a commitment to man’s eternal salvation. We’re educating them so that they are eternally happy and holy. We’re not educating them only for what society would see as a successful career.”
Rockers, 56, has already gotten his feet wet though he’s doesn’t start officially till Thursday. He most recently served as the principal of St. Francis Elementary School of Hilton Head Island, S.C., beginning in 2005. Last year, he was named the South Carolina Private School Principal of the Year, receiving the Dr. Charles Armar Educational Leadership Award.
In 1993, he was appointed superintendent of Catholic schools for the Diocese of Little Rock, Ark., a system of about 35 schools. In 2001, Rockers was named the principal of Catholic High School in Little Rock, an all-boys school, before moving to South Carolina.
The first thing Rockers said he wants to do is fill a new position which calls for someone with technological expertise and education experience to coordinate the technical support schools will need to bring them into the 21st century — one of the goals of the new plan.
“A technology position at the superintendent level would help us network as a group of schools, and will help individual schools with support, so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel at each school,” he said.
According to the Aug. 5 issue of the Catholic Herald, the System for Success aims over the next 10 years to achieve four main goals:
» Strengthen a school’s Catholic identity, including making the education and formation of the schools part of the life of a parish.
» Promote academic excellence, including initiatives to improve facilities, and using resources provided by Chaminade University to further student achievement and personnel development.
» Offer leadership training programs in collaboration with Chaminade University.
» Improve organizational efficiency, which includes providing school personnel with expertise in budgeting and accounting to enable a school be financially sound, and closer collaboration between parish school boards and the superintendent.
The plan also recommends a marketing effort to improve enrollment, combining smaller elementary schools and reconfiguring high schools so that high growth population areas are better served, the Catholic Herald said.
