by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
All Saints Academy of St. Joseph and St. Cloud, as well as many other Catholic schools in the greater St. Cloud area, will soon be included in what will be known as a combined organization called “Catholic Community Schools.”
Organizers hope to have CCS operational starting in the 2017-18 academic year.
The goal of CCS is to bring all area Catholic schools under the guidance of one organization that can collectively strengthen all the schools with wise financial management and top-quality academic and spiritual standards. It’s hoped the CCS can get a long-term grasp on rising costs and fluctuations in enrollments.
St. Cloud Diocese Bishop Donald Kettler announced formation of the CCS after reviewing the 12-member steering committee’s recommendations.
“It’s an important desire of mine that all of our Catholic schools work together in every way possible, and this is the way to go forward,” Kettler stated in a press release. “The steering committee did superb work over the last year looking at the possibilities and putting together a good plan.”
A CCS corporate board was formed and will appoint a board of directors to oversee major CCS decisions in the areas of finances, programming and human resources. The board will be comprised of pastors and lay people from all the parishes involved.
Other schools slated to participate in CCS are Cathedral (St. Cloud), St. Francis Xavier (Sartell), Holy Cross (Pearl Lake), St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (St. Cloud), St. Katharine Drexel (St. Cloud), St. Mary Help of Christians (St. Augusta) and St. Wendelin (Luxemburg).
Each school site would maintain its own site council, which would serve the CCS board in a consultative role.
As part of its work, the steering committee reviewed and adopted “National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools.” The standards were created by the schools of education of Boston College and Loyola University in Chicago in cooperation with the National Catholic Educational Association.
Throughout the process, the committee emphasized there is no intent to close school buildings or change the individual cultures of schools as part of the CCS process. The goal is to fill classrooms and revitalize Catholic education.
A finance sub-committee drafted an initial budget that the steering committee presented to Kettler for further review.
St. Cloud Diocese Bishop Donald Kettler.
