
There was the economic bubble that seemed like it would last
forever. Wiser folks held their breath and
waited for the bubble to burst. And it
did.
That is the way I feel sometimes about our parish and our
parish school. It is strong at the
moment and we are surrounded by parishes with schools almost entirely. But can that much saturation last?
The Diocese of Cleveland is the 11th largest
diocese in the United States, but it has the 5th largest system of
schools instructing approximately 47,000 students. Chicago, which population wise blows
Cleveland out of the water, instructs 85,000.
So we have a lot of schools.

Many of those factors no longer exist. Not as many families have many children,
Catholics have fled heavily populated urban areas, many of the ethnic
communities have assimilated into the general population, schooling is
expensive, and while there is still an emphasis on Catholic education, it is
not what it once was.
Many our schools have red flags about them. The first sign of an ailing school is that
the student population falls beneath 200.
Around 150 students serious discussions must be made about the future of
the school. If more than 25 cents of
every dollar in the collection basket goes toward the school budget, caution
should be taken. If there is a general
trend of falling student numbers over several years, that may be a sign that
the school needs great attention.
Finally, if there is no plan, no actions being taken to raise student
numbers, reach out to the community, advertise the school, make the school more
attractive, then one should be worried.

In the mean time I continue to count my blessings that we
have such a strong healthy school and pray that it will continue to be so in
the future. But what does the future
hold for Catholic education? We are
waiting for the pioneer saint to assist us.
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