News

Release delayed on school planning report

By Patricia Kasten
Compass Associate Editor

The release of a proposal for consolidation of a Green Bay Catholic school system (GRACE) has been delayed from early November to the week after Thanksgiving.

Mark Mogilka, director for diocesan Stewardship and Pastoral Services, who serves as the diocesan resource person, said that compiling all the goals into a proposal for parishes by Nov. 1 turned out to be a bit ambitious.

Related articles: from Sept. 2, 2005 issue: • GRACE subcommittees form     Proposed plan for a unified Green Bay     Catholic school system continues to advance from July 8, 2005 issue: • Unified Green Bay Catholic school system under study     No decisions have been made from June 24, 2005 issue: • Groups ponder schools' future     Proposal considers ways to guarantee the     financial solvency of Catholic schools

"When you look at all the goals - quality of education, affordability for parents and parishes, salaries for teachers and administration and minimal disruption of the existing Catholic school sites - they still weren't at the point where we believed we had a viable plan," he said.

Plans are now to release an executive summary to parishes during the week following Thanksgiving. The GRACE steering committee will meet with parish representatives on Nov. 28. Added to the parish material will be two questionnaires - one for parish staff and one for parishioners, parents and all interested parties.

The executive summary and the general questionnaire will be released to The Compass after Thanksgiving and placed on the paper's web site at www.thecompassnews.org. It will also appear on the diocesan web site at www.gbdioc.org. Links will allow feedback from web site visitors and Mogilka hopes to get many responses.

"The hope is to give people who want to vent or share their concerns, a place to share it - rather than let it stew," he said. The feedback will also help the committee as they fine tune the report that will go to diocesan officials.

With the target of implementation the 2006-2007 school year, the original timeline of response from parishes by the end of December is still in place. This deadline will allow for presentation of parish input to the bishop's advisory councils in January and to Bp. David Zubik himself by Feb. 1.

"We still have the goal to be up and running by fall 2006," Mogilka said.

To this point, the meetings of the steering committee - which includes Dr. Thomas Joynt, Fr. Dane Radecki, O.Praem., Jeannine Leege-Jankowski and Eric Dellamater, as well as the chair people of the 13 subcommittees - have been closed. However, after the proposals are summarized, Mogilka said, all the committee reports and findings - both a 70-page summary document and 150+ pages of committee material - will be released on the diocesan web site.

"We said we wanted to keep the process closed (to keep planning manageable)," Mogilka explained, "but also that, when it was time to share, we would open up and not hold anything back."

The GRACE process began in June, when a school planning committee submitted an initial recommendation for all schools to be consolidated into one system. GRACE began formally in August. The planning for Green Bay Regional Association of Catholic Education - GRACE - is being done in conjunction with all other Catholic schools as part of the diocese's school planning process.

GRACE includes 13 schools and 22 parishes. It covers 2,363 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The schools involved are Resurrection and St. Matthew, both in Allouez; Holy Cross, Bay Settlement; Our Lady of Lourdes and Notre Dame, both in De Pere; St. John the Baptist, Howard; and Holy Family, Prince of Peace, St. Bernard, St. Joseph, St. Philip, St. Thomas More, and Trinity Catholic, all in Green Bay.