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In Philadelphia: Plans to shut 2 Catholic schools prompt sadness

10 October 2009 31 Comments

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In Philadelphia, plans to shut 2 Catholic schools prompt sadness and a lot of screaming protests from the students. One of my nephew, my brother’s son, goes to one of these schools. With unemployment in America now creeping on double-digit numbers, one wonders where the recovery is headed and if the stimulus program is really working because now, it is now hitting the Catholic schools, right in my neighborhood.

The plan to close Cardinal Dougherty High School in East Oak Lane and Northeast Catholic High School for Boys in Frankford was received yesterday with an intimate grief normally associated with family deaths.

That’s not surprising, alumni said, given the emotion, triumph, and hard times that high school can represent, not to mention the importance and influence of two schools that helped shape so many successful Philadelphians.

“High school is a fragile, fearless, hopeful time,” said 1971 Dougherty graduate Mary Lou Quinlan, now chief executive officer of the Manhattan women’s marketing company Just Ask a Woman but once a high school girl with big dreams. “It’s a coming of age. And you can never not be bonded with the people you were with back then. We were all rowhouse kids, pure Philadelphia.”

Follow the story here.

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reynz is one Uragon and a Filipino-American, has many years of public accounting & auditing, broadcast investments, housing tax credits and equity investments as his background. Based in the US, he maintains his personal and humor blog at reyna elena dot com. A graduate of Aquinas U, he went to GWU and Temple U in the United States.

31 Comments »

  • darbs says:

    Dito napunta ang pera dahil sa kalibogan nila.

    The dioceses in which abuse was committed or in which abuse allegations were settled out of court found it necessary to make financial settlements with the victims totaling over $1.5 billion as of March 2006

    • reynz says:

      I’m sure those legal problems could possibly have exacted a toll on the church. Ilan bang mga priests yong nahuli sa Amerika. Medyo marami rin sila. But seriously, I doubt if this was the single reason kaibigan.

      I believe it’s the fact that the unemployment is putting a lot of pressure on most parents to move their kids to public schools that’s why the enrollment in Catholic schools went drastically down.

      • darbs says:

        I agree. Mas may katuturan ung explanation mo.

        I believe it’s the fact that the unemployment is putting a lot of pressure on most parents to move their kids to public schools that’s why the enrollment in Catholic schools went drastically down.

        I’m just being naughty.

  • darbs says:

    In fact, may balita pa na ang palabigasan ngayon ng ibang oders of congretions dito sa states ay galing ang pera sa pinas.

  • darbs says:

    I mean haka-haka pala na ung pera na sumusuporta sa iilang congregasyon dito sa states ay galing pinas. yes, haka-haka dahil alam nyu na closely guarded ang finance pag simbahan ang pinag-uusapan.

  • darbs says:

    by the way, public school pala nag-aaral ang kaisa-isa kong anak. dahil free.

    Ang Catholic School pala ay magbabayad ka ng at least $500.00 dollars monthly? not sure. pero parang ganoon na nga.

    • darbs says:

      Nagbabayad lang pala ng $10.00 dollars a month para sa FREE BREAKFAST and FREE LUNCH na courtesy of NEW YORK PUBLIC SCHOOL.

      • reynz says:

        ngak! ano yon?! hindi na free yun! actually dun sa yearly na bayad mo kasama na dun ang lunches and breakfast nila. kami, pinag-pipili na lang nang kung anong lunch.

      • darbs says:

        “Why public school?”, tanong ni misis nang mag-umpisang mag-aral ang bata.

        dapat doon ipa enroll sa Catholic just like us. Philippine Catholic School graduates.

        Reason?

        This is not Philippines.

        We paid our taxes. Did you see how much the kaltas of our sweat and blood sa taxes?

        Do you know how much of our taxes spend for public education?

        Meron nang FREE EDUCATION mula sa kinaltas na taxes magbabayad na naman? Ah! call it frugal… I call it practical.

        What’s the difference between Catholic School and Public School?

        You tell me?

        Sorry, we are no longer in the Philippines.

        If this is the Philippines then I will tell you the difference.

        Sosyal pag Catholic School.

    • reynz says:

      $500 per month? mahal nun. I was paying about $2,500+/yr sa pangkin ko sa grade school. of course, pataas nang pataas yun habang tumataas ang grade. kumpara sa International School sa pinas, mas mura pa yan.

      • darbs says:

        $500 per month?

        Baka mali ung presyo ko. i-check ko na lang po ang tamang price. My guess is ung $2,500/per year make sense.

        • reynz says:

          Marami dito sa neighborhood ko na nilipat na nila kids nila sa public schools. They don’t like it but no choice. Ang hirap nang buhay dito. It was funny, dahil topic of conversation namen yan nang neighbor ko yesterday and she was asking how many students daw per class sa Pinas.

          Sabi ko, depends on what schoool. Eh nagkataon yon isa kong pangkin isa teacher sa JRU sa may bandang Rizal and he told me na ang isang klase nya has about 60+ people. Shock ako. Sabi nya oo daw, mistulang rock concert ang class nya. Ewan ko lang kung totoo to noh?

          But here sa Catholic School naman nung isa ko pang pangkin, they have about 35 in one class. Andami na daw nyan. So, I don’t know kung how many kids were in one class before. Now the 35 will swell dahil sa mga transferee na galing sa ibang Catholic school. Imagine this as happening here. Grabe!

          • Emmeline says:

            $350 to $500 per month un catholic schools plus the books and other fees. Un $500/mo. exclusive school ata un.. un high end naman na catholic school aabot na $1,000/mo. nglalay off din un catholic schools. I know someone who teaches in a catholic school in the Bay Area who was laid off dahil sa kulang enrolees.

  • darbs says:

    Matanong lang ung $2,500+/yr na ibinayad, tax deductible ba un at the end of the year?

  • darbs says:

    Siguro kung makikita ung funding na yan sa mga Pilipinas politisyan tulo ang laway nila… andaming kukurakutin di ba?

    • reynz says:

      sabagay New York naman kayo. kami dito, leche, maproblema din ang parokya namen especially sa Philadelphia noh. ilan din ang pari dito na nadali nung scandals. bayad sila nang bayad pati.

  • annie says:

    dito sa amin sa canada, catholic schools and public schools walang bayad, pero ang private duon mga mayayaman….pero practical na rin talaga ang ibang mga magulang….bakit nga naman nila ipapasok sa private school? iyung tuition nila sa private eh di ipunin na lang for university ng bata….pero depende na rin talaga yan sa sitwasyon financially.
    dito sa amin madaming catholic schools, kaya lang dahil sa mahirap na talaga ang buhay, isinasara na rin ang iba at pinag memerge na rin, pero kahit ganon pa rin, dito sa school ng mga anak ko 25 students ay madami na sa isang klase…at heto pa, one section lang sila sa bawat grades.nag sisimula ang french subject pag grade one, pero sa ngayon nang hihingi na rin sila ng bayad para sa mga papel at project na ginagawa nila.
    libre nga pala kami hanggang mag high school ang mga bata. kaya dapat lang mag-ipon pang college o university ng bata.

    • reynz says:

      ganun din sa amerika. libre till high school – pag public school. kaya lang, negative masyado ang pangalan na public school dito kaya karamihan sa mga parents puro catholic school.

      well, baka nga dahil sa hirap nang buhay ngayon, gumanda na ang public school image nila here.

      sa college naman, me mga community colleges na magaganda rin ang turo and is very cheap also. kaya lang dapat resident ka nang community bago ka maka-avail nang benefits nung community college.

      • darbs says:

        ganun din sa amerika. libre till high school – pag public school. kaya lang, negative masyado ang pangalan na public school dito kaya karamihan sa mga parents puro catholic school.

        Sa New York State of mind, I don’t think I will agree na negative ang pangalan ng Public School.

        Think of these Public High schools…

        Stuyvesant High School
        Bronx Science High School
        Brooklyn Tech High School

  • annie says:

    dito hindi naman ganun ang epekto pag sinabing nasa public ka…kasi sa public iba-iba ang religion o mas malawak ang multiculturalism nila. at syempre sa catholic schools at least pare-parehong christian at medyo pino ang ugali ng mga bata.

  • [...] United States of America: One Nation, Diverse Culture. How did we live together without dos-por-dosing- each other – or using the words such as; “Bakit nyu tinuruan ng Bisaya ang bata, dapat tagalog para Pinoy!” or Dapat sa Catholic School pinapaaral para Sosyal. (my rhetoric is taken from this blog entry “…Plans to shut down 2 Catholic schools”) [...]

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