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Saint
John Baptist de La Salle said it many times: "Jesus Christ
has called you to fulfill His ministry and to teach the poor."
District schools are working diligently to incorporate this historical
challenge into the heart of school life. The process is neither
easy nor simple, but the results are proving to be more than worthwhile.
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Every
four years, the Brothers of the San Francisco District elect from among
their members Brother-delegates to the District Chapter, a policy-shaping
body responsible for formulating legislation based on the Brothers'
Rule and for nominating the Visitor for a four-year term. For
Brothers throughout the world, the Rule informs mission, duties,
and practices that are adapted locally as directives for communities
and districts. The Tenth District Chapter was held at Mont La Salle
in 1998 and 1999, and the eleventh will convene in October 2002.
Among
the legislative acts formulated by the Tenth District Chapter is Chapter
Act #187, which is the foundation for the efforts of District schools
to increasingly root their communities in the heritage of the Brothers
of the Christian Schools, particularly by making their work with and
service of the poor an effective individual and corporate priority.
Of
the 6,900 students attending the nine District high schools and Saint
Joseph School in 2000-2001, over seven percent were from families living
at or below the federal poverty level. The most striking statistics
were from Cathedral High School, Los Angeles, where 200 of the school's
601 students were from families living at or below the poverty level
and another 200 just above it; La Salle High School, Yakima, with 21
percent of 167 students from families at or below the poverty level;
and Saint Joseph School in neighboring Sunnyside, Washington, with 86
of 126 students living at or below the federal poverty level. Many of
these students, marginalized by the effects of economic poverty and
by language and cultural barriers, are at great risk of being lost in
the public school system. Lasallian schools offer supportive communities
that provide a chance for academic success with a Catholic education.
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"At
one of our school assemblies, our Principal placed 200 empty
chairs at the front of the auditorium to represent how many
students in our community are able to attend Saint Mary's through
the financial support of people who are dedicated to the Lasallian
mission. That's a full third of our student body. The students
were moved, and we said a prayer of thanksgiving together."
Lawrence Puck, Director of the Saint La
Salle Program, Saint Mary's High
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The
5% Program – A Bold Initiative
Three
specific District Action Plan directives derived from Chapter Act #187
are focused on increased attention to the educational needs of the economically
poor in the District of San Francisco:
• Tuition-free enrollment of students who possess potential
for academic success and whose family income is at or below the federal
poverty level. (Action Plan Item B5)
• Financial assistance for students from families who otherwise
would have no hope of enrolling in a Lasallian school or educational
work. (Action Plan Item B6)
• Establishment, if needed, of appropriate remedial and compensatory
programs for students receiving financial assistance described in
B6. (Action Plan Item B7)
How
better to live out the Lasallian legacy than by opening school doors
to more young people in great need of what the schools can offer? Living
the legacy poses challenges, however, when the expanded definitions
of the action items are considered: In four years' time, 5% of each
school's total enrollment is to be made up of tuition-free students
who meet the B5 criteria, and this goal is to be accomplished with significantly
decreased funding historically provided to schools by the District for
tuition assistance programs. That funding is being re-directed to support
newly established and less developed District works, and works in need
in other areas of the Lasallian world, at the request of the International
Institute. In early 2000, during the first stages of planning for the
"5% Program," Mark Warren, President of Christian Brothers
High School in Sacramento, and then-President of the District's Secondary
Schools Administrators Association (SSAA), underscored the dilemma faced
by the schools: "The SSAA members are committed to the 5% Program
and see it as a good, necessary, and important step in keeping alive
the Lasallian traditions as given by our Founder, Saint John Baptist
de La Salle. However, our schools differ in age, location, size, and
cultural history, which presents each with a unique set of challenges
and risks."
In
2000-2001, the average tuition of District high schools was $6,026,
and ranged from $4,250 to $7,224. Full tuition assistance has been the
exception, not the rule, and making provisions for such under the 5%
Program, without a considerable budget increase for tuition assistance,
narrows the distribution of available funds to all school families in
need of help. Based on 2000-2001 data, tuition-free enrollment alone
of 5% of each school's student body was projected at nearly $2.2 million
across the District for a single school year.
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Though
not direct participants in the 5% Program, two new District schools,
De Marillac Middle School in San Francisco and De La Salle North
Catholic High School in Portland, Oregon, are a testament to the
reason for their establishment in their respective neighborhoods.
Of the 19 sixth-graders who attend De Marillac, 15 are below the
federal poverty level, and in the North Portland school, 47 students
in the school's first ninth-grade class of 72 are in this category.
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Education
for All
An
early concern about the new program was the potential "hourglass
effect," by which the "haves" would be able afford to
attend the Lasallian schools and the "have-nots" would attend
tuition-free. Significant numbers in between, who depend on partial
financial assistance provided by the schools, might be shut out. Many
of these students are from local Catholic grammar schools, and tuition
assistance allows them to continue their Catholic education into high
school.
Although
fundraising to permanently endow each school for tuition assistance
is considered an obvious long-term solution, short-term challenges required
that each school administration, with its board of trustees, make some
difficult budgetary adjustments in order to meet the first-year phase-in
of the 5% Program in fall 2001, and the requirements of each successive
year. Struggling with necessary annual tuition increases is compounded
by this new financial obligation.
In
spite of challenges, schools continue to be deeply committed to making
the 5% Program one that will truly change the lives of greater numbers
of young people. "We are committed to expanding the number of students
from poor and working class families," says Brother Edmond Larouche,
FSC, President of Saint Mary's High in Berkeley. "There are definitely
hurdles to get over, but we are committed to doing the very best we
can to serve these young people, and are thankful to alumni, businesses,
and foundations that have assisted us thus far in our efforts."
Across
the District, school budgets have been reworked, recruitment policies
have been refined, and fundraising and development goals have been strengthened.
Greg VanderZanden, President of La Salle High School in Milwaukie, Oregon,
says, "Since the inception of the 5% and Remedial/ Compensatory
Programs, we have been compelled to move beyond the theory of our mission
to its implementation. We've been forced to acknowledge the necessity
of a strong endowment to sustain programs in the service of the poor,
and we've taken first steps in the development of a planned-giving program
for endowment. Our corporate sponsorship program has grown, and has
planted seeds for similar scholarship funding, all of which is helping
to resolve our concerns about the hourglass effect."
A
secondary impact of the 5% Program is a potential for change in the
socio-economic diversity of campus populations. Statistically, the majority
of students enrolled under the new program are from very low-income
families and from ethnic minorities. At La Salle Milwaukie, which has
historically served a local student body that is predominantly Caucasian
and middle to upper-middle class, Greg VanderZanden says that the La
Salle community will benefit from increased diversity. "Our school
culture will be greatly enhanced by the presence of greater numbers
of students of color, students from less fortunate areas, of less fortunate
means, and whose limited opportunities thus far in life could be greatly
enriched because of what a Lasallian school can offer them."
As
implementation of the tuition-free program continues, a collective need
has arisen from the schools for an extension of the original four-year
time frame for full inclusion of a 5% tuition-free student population.
Ensuring that short- and long-term financial resources are available
will take more time for many schools. Ironically, other schools need
more time to find students to serve with funding that is readily available.
This
is the situation in which La Salle High School in Pasadena, California,
finds itself. "The location of the school in an historically affluent
neighborhood, and a lack of transportation to La Salle from outlying
areas present detriments to the recruitment effort," wrote La Salle
President Richard Gray in an October 2001 program status report. "While
the targeted inner-city Catholic elementary schools are open and supportive
of La Salle's outreach, they have had difficulty encouraging poverty-level
families to consider a tuition-charging school in the northeast section
of Pasadena." Administrators at La Salle and around the District
have redoubled efforts to get the "accessibility message"
out into the communities they seek to serve, working with the help of
parish youth ministers, pastors, school principals, teachers, and directors
of local after-school recreational programs.
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Service on Behalf of the Poor and Education for All, so well-exemplified
by the 5% Program, was a major topic of workshops at the October
1999 District Convocation held in Burlingame, California. Over three
days, 800 participants – Brothers, lay and religious Partners,
and invited guests representing many sectors of the world of Catholic
education – discussed their hopes for the future of the Lasallian
educational mission in the District of San Francisco. A colorful
"Vision Wall," created by graphic artists in attendance,
captured those hopes on paper. The Vision Wall has been recreated
in part at the following link:
Reaching Out, Touching Hearts |
Ensuring
Student Success
With
financial support from the District of San Francisco toward hiring specialized
personnel, remedial and compensatory programs have been created in District
schools, or enhanced in schools where they were already in place. Helping
those students in the 5% Program who need academic support to succeed
in rigorous high school and college-preparatory curricula is critical.
These students establish short- and long-term academic and personal
goals for their high school years, and work with mentors to develop
an individualized plan for working toward those goals. Faculty formation
is equally critical, to expand understanding of techniques to accommodate
students whose circumstances can create obstacles that may impede or
diminish their success.
Schools
have been surprised by many of the young people in the 5% Program. "An
early assumption was that participating students would be academically
deficient coming from low-income homes and schools," says Gery
Short, Director of the Office of Education for the San Francisco District.
That assumption proved to be inaccurate, according to schools' remedial/
compensatory program personnel. Bill Krueger of Sacred Heart Cathedral
Prep says, "Sometimes there is no correlation between the student's
home environment and former school and their performance in our school."
David Galaz of Cathedral High School, Los Angeles, elaborates: "We
find that students come to us from homes and schools where the resources
available to them don't challenge them. They come to a school where
they are challenged, and they bloom." Galaz adds, "Something
as simple as a visit to a college campus can inspire them to academic
achievement."
Cathedral
High has traditionally served young men from the oldest and poorest
neighborhoods of Los Angeles, where a 50 percent dropout rate is common
in public schools. Yet, 99 percent of Cathedral graduates go on to college.
Brother James Meegan, FSC, school President, describes STEP, Cathedral's
Student Tutorial Education Program, designed to assist ninth and tenth
graders admitted tuition-free who are in also in need of academic assistance,
as well as other freshmen and sophomores with low academic skills, primarily
from low-income families. Five faculty members and 18 to 20 honor students
teach and tutor in the program in the hours before and after school.
"The spirit of Saint La Salle permeates the program, with our concern
for each student's growth and development," says Brother James.
"They are treated with dignity and care, and it has made a great
difference in helping marginal students adjust to high school studies.
Our retention rate for these students has been much better as a result."
A key component to STEP's success is regular contact with students'
families and teachers – a major element of virtually every District
school's skill-building program. "Ongoing communication with faculty
and parents is primary, as well as development of programs that break
down socio-economic barriers across the school population," emphasizes
Allyson Wright, Coordinator of Student Support Services at Christian
Brothers High in Sacramento.
At
Berkeley's Saint Mary's High, a unique model is coordinated by Lawrence
Puck, Director of Admissions. The Saint La Salle Program supplements
the school's tuition assistance programs with local scholarship resources,
such as the Making Waves Foundation in nearby Richmond, and FACE (Family
Aid-Catholic Education), a program of the Oakland Catholic Diocese.
A pre-admissions program monitors sixth- and seventh- grade students
who are potential recipients of scholarships for the 5% Program at Saint
Mary's, many of whom participate in the Brothers' Lasallian Educational
Opportunities (LEO) Center after-school tutoring ministry in Oakland.
Puck stresses care in recruitment of students who qualify for tuition-free
admission, however, focusing on an important part of the criteria described
in Action Item B5 – students who possess potential for academic
success. Puck says, "We want to help these young people who
have had very little opportunity in life, but it is equally important
that in our zeal, we don't set them up to fail."
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At
Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, the High Potential
Program, established in 1973, currently supports 199 students who
meet the criteria of living at or below the federal poverty level.
Some of these students participate in the College's Academic Support
and Achievement Programs, which provide individual and small group
tutoring and language assistance, the Counseling and Women's Resource
Centers, and the Better Writing Program. |
With
Profound Reverence for Their Dignity
"Anonymity
is essential to the overall success of these students," according
to Michelle Farver, Student Support Program Coordinator at Justin-Siena
High in Napa. "It's important to assure that needed resources are
funneled to these students without undermining their dignity,"
she says, which is consistent with the Lasallian principle of profound
reverence for the dignity of each student.
A
quandary about the anonymity factor was discussed at a February 2002
gathering of District schools' remedial/compensatory program coordinators.
"Our students initially do not want to be identified as tuition-free
students," says John Dennis, Director of the High Potential Program
at Saint Mary's College. "If we help them understand their presence
in the context of the Lasallian mission and how they fit into it, we
can throw off any stigma, and they are often inspired to do Lasallian
work themselves." Irene Miller of La Salle, Pasadena adds, "We
have to balance anonymity with getting information about the students
to the faculty so they can understand the problems these young people
face and are more willing to accept them." Dennis notes: "It's
important to provide opportunities for these students to share their
stories, to talk about their lives, and to honor their lives. They can
be a tremendous inspiration to others."
Student
support personnel serve as advocates for the academic, emotional, and
financial needs of students in the 5% Program, getting down to very
basic needs such as books, school supplies, prom tickets, athletic equipment,
and even lunch money. "It's critical that the students know they
have a resource for their needs – for instance, when they lose
a book and have no money to replace it," says Bernadette Crider
of La Salle High School in Yakima. At Cathedral High, David Galaz has
created a "payoff" system for tuition-free students. "I
help them find ways to earn some of the things the school provides them,
like dance tickets or books. It helps in instilling a good work ethic."
Saint Mary's Lawrence Puck stresses that the school can't always provide
an answer to every need students and their families might have, and
emphasizes the importance of directing them to resources outside the
school, such as personal and family counseling services.
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"The
school will itself tend to constitute a human community where
young people of different ethnic origins, and from different
social and family backgrounds will be able to educate one another
to mutual understanding, to have broader perspectives through
dialogue, to be realistic in recognizing the uniqueness and
limitations of each one, to acquire a spirit of service, a sense
of justice and fraternal charity."
– The Brother of the Christian Schools
in the World Today: A Declaration (1967)
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Let
Us Remember . . .
A
Lasallian school's mission consists of many parts – the call to
teach the poor, a comprehensive Christian education, an atmosphere of
genuine community. On District campuses, serious attention is being
paid to what the Lasallian school is and should be. Through the continuing
challenges and successes of implementing the 5% and remedial/ compensatory
programs, a commitment to mission prevails. Mark Warren speaks of the
need to follow the example of De La Salle's abiding trust in Providence:
"We are grateful to have the opportunity to respond to this challenge,"
he says, and emphasizes profound words from the Brothers' Declaration
of 1967: "Persons must be the center of educational systems rather
than the prestige of some academic curriculum."
