St. Joseph Junior and Senior High School in Pine Bluff has been given a “year of grace” by Bishop Anthony B. Taylor to remain open for the 2012-2013 school year.
Bishop Taylor addressed the school staff and parents May 10 during his graduation speech at St. Joseph Church and told them of his decision.
 Click to read Bishop Anthony B. Taylor’s address made May 10 during St. Joseph School’s high school commencement in Pine Bluff. |
This spring, in consultation with Vernell Bowen, superintendent of schools, he asked the school to get at least 60 students pre-registered in grades 7-12 and have a balanced budget by April 30 if it was to reopen in the fall.
With the school near its enrollment and budget goals, the bishop agreed May 10 to allow the school to open under a reorganization overseen by Bowen and her staff. The school will expand to include fifth and sixth grades, which will be located in an additional building on the school grounds.
“I have decided that you are close enough to the enrollment and fundraising benchmarks to permit me to give your school a year of grace to reorganize and develop a workable strategic plan for the future providing the enrollment does not decrease, the pledges are honored and the budget remains balanced,” the bishop said at the graduation.
Under the reorganization, Bowen will oversee the academics, finances and staffing of the school. The school currently employs principal Brenda Costello and 10 teachers and staff members. Bowen will also appoint a new school board in consultation with pastor Father Warren Harvey.
Following the graduation, Bowen met with the teachers to answer their questions. In an interview with Arkansas Catholic, she said she will begin immediately meeting with the staff and looking at their qualifications and classroom configurations.
“Everyone has to pull together and work together,” she said.
Bowen and associate superintendent Theresa Hall will work closely with the teachers and staff to strengthen the school’s finances and academics and write a strategic plan.
“I will be there on a regular basis,” she said.
The school’s future beyond 2013 will be determined through the strategic plan.
“We will assess where they are in January and look at pre-enrollment in January or first of February. My hope is we can build it to be a prominent Catholic school for the Pine Bluff community.”
With the closure of St. Peter School for pre-kindergarten to fourth grade, some parents have asked if St. Joseph School could expand.
“In the strategic planning, all opportunities will be looked at for Catholic education in Pine Bluff,” Bowen said.
In March, Father Harvey appealed to parishioners and alumni to raise at least $200,000 in order to reopen the school in the fall. Father Harvey acknowledged in his March 16 letter that donors have been able to keep the school open since he arrived in 2007, but donations were down in 2011.
“Now, because of the lack of these donors, we have been brought to the point of having to make some critical decisions about the future of our schools,” he wrote. “We have a great school that is offering children in the Pine Bluff area the opportunity to be well-prepared for college.”
Tuition only covers about half the expenses of operating the school, Father Harvey said. The cost of educating one child is $7,837 a year, but parents pay about half that amount for the annual tuition. The remaining money comes from donations and fundraisers.
From 1975 to 1985 no Catholic school existed in the city. Both St. Joseph School, previously known as Annunciation Academy, and St. Peter School closed in 1975. St. Peter School reopened in 1985 but will close its doors again May 25.
After a 19-year absence, St. Joseph Junior High reopened in 1993 at the church for grades 7-8, followed by a ninth grade in 1994. In 1999 a 10th grade was added, creating St. Joseph High School. In 2000 a group of benefactors bought land and built a building for the parish in south Pine Bluff and added 11th grade. The first graduation occurred in 2002.
In 2005 the junior high classes were relocated to the high school. Enrollment at St. Joseph High School, the state’s smallest Catholic high school, has dropped dramatically since it opened. At its peak, the school had 124 students. Currently there are 61 students.
In spite of its low numbers, the school has strived to offer many of the same classes and extracurricular activities expected at a high school, such as advanced placement classes, clubs and sports like football, basketball, baseball and cheerleading.
Bowen said the school has many strengths.
“It is proven that they have good academics,” she said, noting the seniors received $240,000 in scholarships. “It is small so it is family oriented. They are opportunities for growth.”
A graduating class of four boys and two girls were given their diplomas by Bishop Taylor May 10 at St. Joseph Church. In his commencement address, Bishop Taylor said he identified with the school’s challenges. His own Catholic high school closed when he was in 11th grade and he had to graduate from the local public school in Ponca City, Okla.
“So I have a ring for a graduating class that did not exist,” he said, showing them the actual ring.
Bishop Taylor said the reorganization is necessary for the school to stay open in the future.
“It will not be … business as usual next year because it is obvious to me that very significant changes are needed for St. Joseph School’s long-term survival,” he said.
One of the key people credited with getting the “year of grace” is Sandra Taylor, a catechist at St. Joseph Church for 30 years and a grandparent of two St. Joseph students, who started the Save St. Joseph Campaign.
“The Lord just put it on my heart,” she said when she learned that the school needed $200,000 for the next school year. “I have never volunteered for a fundraiser before, never been a volunteer for anything in the community. … I just stood up and said we need to fight for the school and for the kids. … I wasn’t qualified but God can work through you if you allow him to.”
In addition to raising money for the 2012-2013 school year from parishioners, alumni and businesses, Taylor also conducted a survey to see what improvements the school needed going forward. The results were kept confidential and given to Bowen, she said.
Taylor said Catholic education has been provided in Jefferson County for 174 years. With the closure of Trinity Episcopal School in 2011 and St. Peter School this month, the two feeder schools for St. Joseph Junior and Senior High School are gone.
“The body of Christ has been weakened because of this,” she said. But the bishop’s decision to keep St. Joseph open “has caused renewed hope for our church and our school.”
She said she has only heard positive feedback from parishioners and parents who heard the bishop’s address.
“We all thought that was the last graduation that night,” she said.
