Education Deform Takes It Toll On Catholic Schools Too

DNAinfo looks at a rally to save some Bronx schools the Archdiocese of New York wants to close to save money:

BRONX — When St. Jerome School first opened its doors in Mott Haven in 1871, Abraham Lincoln had been dead only a few years, Thomas Edison had yet to perfect the electric light bulb and The Bronx was not part of New York City.

“This school has been here for 141 years,” principal Joseph Puglia said at a rally Wednesday to fight plans to close it.

“If we lined everybody up that graduated from this school, it would go from here all the way down to the Archdiocese of New York," he said, pointing toward its headquarters in Manhattan.

In the Soundview section of The Bronx, Blessed Sacrament School took root more than 75 years ago and counts Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor among its famous alumni.

Yet for all their history, both schools fell on a list of 26 Catholic elementary schools — eight of them in The Bronx — and one high school that the Archdiocese of New York is considering closing next year as part of a restructuring effort to shore up its budget.

“These are difficult, but necessary decisions,” Archdiocese Superintendent Timothy McNiff said in a statement last month when the list was announced.

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But at separate rallies Wednesday, supporters of St. Jerome and Blessed Sacrament assailed this offer as unrealistic and said the schools’ financial woes stem from the low-income communities they serve.

“How do you explain to elementary school children that because we are a poor community, Blessed Sacrament will no longer serve as their safe haven?” principal Herminia Roman, who did not participate in the rally, wrote in a letter to families.

“140 years it took to build,” St. Jerome parent Kelvin Ramirez said at that school’s rally. “Misguided and ill-informed people will destroy it in 30 days.”

Schools closures in Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York City - almost all in poor neighborhoods, almost all serving poor communities, minority communities.

Public, Catholic, it makes no difference - the neo-liberalism train is coming and running over anybody who gets in the way.

These kids need to go to for-profit charter schools owned by some EMO or a "non-profit" charter like one run by Geoffrey Canada or Eva Moskowitz, where the rule is, the larger the enrollment, the larger the free real estate allotment from the city is.

 

Make no mistake, these kinds of schools are being targeted by Evil Eva and For Profit Geoffrey as much as the public schools are.

I wonder, would Jesus close these schools and send the kids to "No Excuses!" charters where they can go from being taught as humans to being taught like prisoners?

 

Just asking...