COLLABORATION OF A RELIGIOUS ORDER AND A PUBLIC SCHOOL CHARTERING AUTHORITY
______
By JOSEPH D. HOLLOWELL
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A DISSERTATION IN PRACTICE
Submitted to the faculty of the Graduate School of Creighton University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Interdisciplinary Leadership ______
Omaha, NE (April 18, 2016)
Copyright 2016, Joseph D. Hollowell
This document is copyrighted material. Under copyright law, no part of this document may be reproduced without the expressed permission of the author. iii
Abstract
In 2005, after a six-year period of discussion and discernment, the Institute of the
Brothers of the Christian Schools collaborated with the Chicago Public Schools to establish two charter schools known as the Catalyst Schools. Collaboration of religious organizations and local charter granting authorities for the establishment of charter schools is a new phenomenon. Recent research finds the Catalyst Schools succeeding at this collaboration because of the “faith-inspired” nature of the schools founded by two members of the Lasallian Christian Brothers. This qualitative case study investigated the collaboration and discernment among leaders of CPS and the Christian Brothers that allowed this successful partnership to be established. The aim of the study was to develop a series of evidence-based recommendations that can be used by similar organizations as a guide for establishing similar faith-inspired charter schools. Collection of data was accomplished through interviewing leaders, gathering documents, participating in shadowing experiences, and multiple observations. The pivotal moment of the discernment was provided by the former Superior General of the Christian Brothers who documented the world-wide commitment of the order to work with a variety of governmental agencies to educate poor children. Subsequently, the Christian Brothers developed a faculty formation regimen unique among charter schools that inspires the work of the Catalyst Schools to be carried on in a way that is consistent with the charisms of the order. The study concludes with the evidence-based recommendations and a reflection on the principles of leadership relevant to executing the recommended steps.
Keywords: Leadership, charter schools, urban Catholic schools, Catalyst Schools iv
Dedication
This dissertation is dedicated to my wife and children who fill my life with love, meaning, and joy – and to Jesus Christ – the second person of the Holy Trinity whose life, death, and resurrection inspired St. Ignatius of Loyola and gave rise to the establishment of the Society of Jesus and Creighton University.
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Acknowledgements
I want to extend my thanks to the following saints who are known for their scholarship and to whom I prayed for intercession at the beginning of each session of writing for this dissertation - St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Ignatius of Loyola. I am certain their intercession carried me through many times of uncertainty and ambiguity as progress was slowly made.
I am also grateful to my advisor Dr. Barbara Brock and the past ILD program chair Dr. Isabelle Cherney for their prudent and exceptional guidance. It was such a pleasure to get to know both of them. Additionally, I am grateful for the insights and focused efforts of my Committee Chair, Dr. Leah Georges. She is an inspirational professional and I am blessed to have had her guiding me through this process. Two other members of my committee - Dr. Tim Cook and Fr. Thomas Simonds, S.J. have ably assisted Dr. Georges. Thank you all for being my Dream Team!
I also want to acknowledge my supervisors at my day job who have both helped and encouraged me over the past four years. I am so blessed to work with both of you –
Annette “Mickey” Lentz, the Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, and Gina
Kuntz Fleming, the Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
Thank you both for your support and for your patience as I gave attention to this program of studies.
My extraordinary colleagues at Roncalli High School are to be commended for picking up the slack when multiple demands and responsibilities occasionally required us to “bring the lefty out of the bullpen” in order to complete the essential tasks that keep our school in the position of being one of the finest in the country. Special thanks go to vi
Vice-President of Institutional Advancement Terese Carson, Vice-President for Finance and Facilities Dave Gervasio, Vice President for Mission and Ministry Bob Tully,
Principal Chuck Weisenbach, and my extraordinary Executive Assistant Lora Mascari. It gave me great peace of mind to know that during the occasional periods of focus on this program, Roncalli was in the capable hands of such a wonderful team of leaders. I am so blessed to work with each of you. Thank you all for your patience.
Additionally, I am blessed to have worked with Kim Striby who provided proofreading and editing services in the final stages of writing this dissertation. Her suggestions were always spot on and were offered in a way that allowed me to maintain my self-confidence as a writer. I am grateful to have learned from you!
Finally, I am so grateful to our children and my beautiful wife for their ongoing support. Our family is a great blessing to all of us but especially to me. It was good to be a college kid again but now I am ready to get back to being a full time Dad and a full time husband.
AMDG!
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Table of Contents
Page
Abstract ...... iii
Dedication ...... iv
Acknowledgments...... v
Table of Contents ...... vii
List of Tables ...... xii
List of Figures ...... xiii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ...... 1
Introduction and Background ...... 1
Statement of the Problem ...... 4
Purpose of the Study ...... 6
Research Questions ...... 6
Aim of the Study ...... 7
Methodology Overview ...... 7
Definition of Relevant Terms ...... 8
Delimitations and Limitations ...... 10
Leader’s Role and Responsibility in Relation to the Problem ...... 10
Significance of the Study ...... 12
Summary ...... 16
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 17
Introduction ...... 17
Roots of the Educational Reform Movement ...... 17 viii
Competition In Education – New Options Emerge……………………………………...20
Vouchers and Charters Begin to Appear ...... 20
Vouchers – The Courts Begin to Speak ...... 21
Rapid Expansion of the Charters School Option ...... 22
Charter School Research ...... 23
Analysis of Both Innovations Continues ...... 26
Legal Questions Slowly Resolved ...... 27
International School Choice ...... 31
Sweden………………………………………………………………………...…34
India……………………………………………………………………….…...... 35
New Zealand……………………………………………………………………..35
Australia……………………………………………………………………….…38
The Rise of Religious Charter Schools in the United States ...... 40
Conversion of Inner City Catholic Schools to Charter Schools ...... 42
Catholic Schools – The Fullest and Best Opportunity?....………………….....…45
Observable Benefits………………………………………………………...……48
Problems Arise With the Conversions………………………………………...…48
Catalyst Schools – A New Model ...... 50
Summary ...... 53
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ...... 55
Introduction ...... 55
Research Questions ...... 57
Research Design...... 58 ix
Study Participants ...... 58
Data Collection Tools ...... 61
Data Collection Procedures ...... 62
Ethical Considerations ...... 64
Summary ...... 65
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND THE EVIDENCE-BASED SOLUTION ...... 66
Introduction ...... 66
Presentation of the Findings...... 67
Conceptual Development ...... 69
St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle…………..……………………………………….…69
Establishment of San Miguel Middle School……………………………….…...69
The CEO Comes for a Visit……………………………………..…………….…72
The Charter Proposition – Discussion and Discernment………………………………...74
The Midwest District……………….…………………………………..…….….74
Rationale for a Decision……………………………………………………....…………78
Brother Johnston’s Memorandum…………………………………………….…78
The Cardinal Objects But the Catalyst Movement Is Born…………….…….….83
Leadership Issues………………………………………………………………………...84
Paradigm Pioneers…………………………………………………………….…84
Leadership Is Proactive and Philanthropic………………………………………87
Overcoming Obstacles…………………………………………………………………...88
Board Clarity………………………..……………………………………………89
Union Resistance………………………………………………...………………90
x
Regulatory Burden……………………………………………………………….90
Current Challenges for the Pioneers……………………………………………..91
The Catholic Ethos……………………………………………………………….………93
Faculty Hiring and Formation for Mission……………………………….…...…93
Values Curriculum…..……………………………………………...…….…...…95
A Faith-Based Community Partner……………………………………….…...…96
A Wraparound Spiritual Formation Program…………………………….…...…99
The Ideal Charter Granting Authority………….……………………………………….102
Analysis and Synthesis of Findings ...... 104
Summary ...... 107
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 109
Introduction ...... 109
Purpose of the Study ...... 110
Aim of the Study ...... 110
Proposed Solution – For Charter-Granting Authorities ...... 110
Proposed Solution – For Religious Organizations ...... 112
Step One – The Lasallian Platform ...... 112
Additional Evidence-based Recommendations ...... 115
Support for the Solution ...... 119
Factors and Stakeholders Related to the Solution ...... 126
Potential Barriers and Obstacles to Proposed Solution...... 127
Financial Issues Related to Proposed Solution ...... 128
The Leader’s Role In Implementing the Proposed Solution ...... 130 xi
External Implications for the Organization ...... 131
Evaluation and Timeline for Implementation and Assessment ...... 132
Change Theory ...... 133
Practical Implications...... 135
Implications for Future Research ...... 136
Implications for Leadership Theory and Practice ...... 137
Final Observations About Leadership ...... 139
Summary of the Study ...... 140
References ...... 142
Appendix A – Four Elements ...... 159
Appendix B – Interview Questions ...... 165
Appendix C – IRB Approval Letter ...... 168
Appendix D – The Johnston Memorandum ...... 170
Appendix E – The Duncan Platform ...... 176
Appendix F – The Lasallian Platform ...... 177
Appendix G – Letter From Sr. Immacula Wendt ...... 179
Appendix H – Reflection on the Virtue of Humility for Lasallain Teachers ...... 183 xii
List of Tables
Page
Table 1. International Survey of School Choice Programs ...... 33
Table 2. Frequency of Coded Themes ...... 68 xiii
List of Figures
Page
Figure 1. Decline In Total Numbers of Catholic Schools by Decade ...... 1
Figure 2. Catholic School Enrollment for the Past 50 Years ...... 2
Figure 3. Growth In Charter Schools Since Turn of the Century ...... 23
Figure 4. The Essential Ingredients for the Catholic Ethos ...... 101
Figure 5. Proposed Recommendations for Developing Faith-inspired Charter Schools. 119
Running head: COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 1
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Introduction and Background
We live in a time of convergence of two intersecting trends. Over the past 50
years more than half of the Catholic schools around the country have closed as a result of
declining enrollment (McCloskey & Harris, 2013). Figure 1 demonstrates the seriousness
of this decline.
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000 Number SchoolsCatholic of Number
0 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2015 Schools 11,926 13,292 9,993 9,220 8,250 7,589 6,568
Figure 1. Decline in the total number of Catholic schools by decade. Private school enrollment (2014).
Even though these school closures have affected most demographic groups
around the country, they have most significantly impacted students and families from
center-city socioeconomic groups (McDonald & Schultz, 2009). Along with the decline
in the number of schools over the past 50 years, there has been a similarly proportional
decline in the number of students served by Catholic schools. As Figure 2 indicates on
the next page, Catholic schools have lost over 3,330,000 students since 1965. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 2
6.00
5.00
4.00
3.00
2.00 Enrollment (Millions) Enrollment 1.00
0.00 1955 1965 1975 1985 1995 2005 2015 Enrollment 4.27 5.27 3.41 2.82 2.70 2.40 1.94
Figure 2. Catholic school enrollment for the past 60 years. Snyder, T. D. (1993). In spite of efforts to turn the tide through marketing, new partnerships, and
revised governance structures, Catholic schools continue to close at an alarming rate
(Brinig & Garnett, 2014). Because of the increasing availability of mechanisms to form
charter schools, the second of the converging trends arises with the conversion of under-
resourced inner city Catholic schools to charter schools in order to stabilize the
enrollment declines and the subsequent financial problems these declines cause. This
phenomenon of the Catholic-to-charter conversion is expected to occur with increasing
frequency throughout the country (McShane & Kelly, 2014).
Hernandez (2009) notes that there is disagreement among leaders in the Catholic
community as to whether or not such conversions are a prudent way to fulfill the
Church’s mission to the poor. The most contentious issue is that, as charter schools, these
new schools can no longer offer mandatory religious instruction which many consider to COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 3 be the heart of the mission of Catholic schools (Ristau, 2009). Catholic leaders must give appropriate time to discern the proper path in decisions of this sort. Good stewardship of the investment made in Catholic education over the centuries requires that Catholic leaders combine their best thinking and best efforts to propose a solution that serves these urban communities in a way that best meets their needs.
While the phenomenon of the conversion of Catholic schools to charter schools has not yet been widely implemented, the study of these schools is beginning to unfold
(Brinson, 2010; Carr, 2014; Horning, 2013; McShane & Kelly, 2014; Smarick, 2010). As predicted by Ristau (2009), emerging evidence indicates that these newly formed charter schools lose the benefits of the shared religious mission and practices that are common in most Catholic schools (Brinson, 2010; Carr, 2014; Smarick, 2010). According to these researchers, the resulting charter schools have not been a satisfactory solution in the eyes of Catholic leaders. However, recent research (Proehl, Starnes, and Everett, 2015) indicates that a new sort of model has emerged as the result of the collaboration between the Chicago Public School (CPS) system and the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian
Schools (Christian Brothers) religious order. Proehl et al. (2015) indicates that the
Catalyst Schools are successfully operating as “faith-inspired” charter schools that show great promise as a model of collaboration between a public chartering authority and a religious organization desiring to serve the poor in the secular setting of a public school while at the same time maintaining fidelity to the founding religious charisms of the organization.
This research study will build understanding of important issues surrounding the dialogue and negotiations among the leadership teams of these two organizations – the COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 4
Chicago Public Schools and the Christian Brothers - as they sought to understand and accommodate the other’s concerns. Through interviews of the leaders involved in these negotiations and discernment, increased understanding of this collaboration will help inform other diocesan and religious leaders around the country as well as leaders of public chartering authorities as they seek to determine if the formation of faith-inspired charter schools merits consideration in their unique locations.
Statement of the Problem
There is grave concern among Catholic school leaders regarding the rapid rate of closure of Catholic schools that serve impoverished communities (McDonald & Schultz,
2009). Some metropolitan Catholic school systems have begun to employ a solution that closes a center-city Catholic school and reopens that facility as a charter school. In 2008, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. used the available mechanism for forming charter schools to avoid the outright closure of seven Catholic schools by converting them to charter schools (Turque, 2008). Since that time, both the Archdiocese of Miami and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis have employed similar strategies in attempts to continue to serve students and families in the inner city. Unfortunately, the resulting charter schools have not been a satisfactory solution in the eyes of Catholic leaders
(Brinson, 2010; Carr, 2014; Smarick, 2010). For example, dealing with public school bureaucracies as well as a heightened emphasis on standardized test preparation gave rise to a definitive change in school climate that led to the resignation of many teachers from the Catholic school who had been retained during the first years of the conversion to a charter school (Brinson, 2010; Carr, 2014). Furthermore, Carr (2014) cites the lack of shared times of prayer and the sense of community among faculty that results from that COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 5 prayer as an additional negative consequence of these conversions. Recently, as a result of its dissatisfaction with the resulting product of the conversions, the Archdiocese of
Indianapolis ended its five-year experiment with these converted charter schools (Glavan,
2015).
Recent research (Proehl et al., 2015) indicates that a new model of collaboration between a religious order and a public charter-granting authority has emerged which has garnered strong approval from all stakeholders. In a unique partnership between the
Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (Christian Brothers) and the Chicago
Public School system (CPS), the Christian Brothers, after a six year period of discernment and dialogue, eventually made a decision in 2005 to accept the offer of partnership with CPS and open two “faith-inspired” charter schools called “Catalyst
Schools” in 2006. According to Proehl et al. (2015), parents, students, teachers, and administrators all indicate a level of satisfaction with the Catalyst Schools that surpasses the results of other such partnerships with religious organizations and charter-granting authorities. Understanding the processes, rationale, and key elements of the organizational discernment experienced by the Christian Bothers can inform leaders of other religious organizations regarding critical elements for consideration by those considering such a conversion. If optimal approaches to these conversions can be identified, this new faith-inspired model of charter schools might be a viable option as diocesan leaders and leaders of other religious communities evaluate the merit of converting inner city Catholic schools to charter schools.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 6
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this case study was to understand the process of conceptual development, negotiation, reasoning, and discernment among organizational leaders that led a large metropolitan school system and a religious order to collaborate on the establishment of two publicly funded “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban neighborhoods.
Research Questions
Both Carr (2014) and Smarick (2010) discovered the surfacing of significant disappointments following the formation of a charter school after the closure of a
Catholic school. There is a perception of decline and loss held by school personnel who had been with the schools both before and after they were converted to charter schools.
While veteran teachers, administrators, and staff initially had great hopes that the distinguishing characteristics of the Catholic school - high standards, good discipline, and a commitment to teaching virtue and character - could be retained after the conversion, their lived experience left them deeply troubled by the climate and culture of the newly formed charter school. Elements of a shared culture ingrained in the students through the day-to-day operation of the Catholic schools that bound both the students and faculty in a shared mission were not adequately replaced by the optional afterschool religious education programs offered to the students (Smarick, 2010). However, recent research by
Proehl et al. (2015) indicates that a new model of charter school formation has emerged that is showing previously unparalleled results in retaining what Proehl refers to as the
“Catholic ethos,” the retention of which is important to leaders of Catholic secondary and elementary schools along with their superiors at the diocesan level. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 7
The following research questions guided this case study:
Research question #1: How do leaders of a public school chartering authority and a religious order describe the process of discussion, negotiation, and discernment that led to the agreement to collaborate on the establishment of two “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban neighborhoods managed by the religious order.
Research question #2: What have been the obstacles, successes, and future opportunities presented since the establishment of these two schools?
Aim of the Study
The aim of this study was to create an evidence-based series of recommendations that can be adopted by religious organizations and public charter granting authorities to facilitate collaboration in the establishment of “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban areas.
Methodology Overview
In order to understand the nuanced dialogue among participants, evaluate the educational philosophy driving the decision-making of leaders, and to analyze the ideas expressed in written communiqués among all parties, it was determined that a qualitative approach was most appropriate for this research. The majority of the data was compiled in the form of transcribed personal interviews with those leaders who were most instrumental in the formation and adoption of this new approach to establishing “faith- inspired” charter schools. In addition to the interviews of leaders, some of the participants were able to provide archival documents that are pivotal to understanding the rationale for the approach these leaders took in establishing this new genre of charter schools. The participants were selected because of their familiarity with the decision-making processes COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 8 and deliberation that led to the formation of the Catalyst Schools. The interview data was electronically recorded and subsequently transcribed by a professional. Additionally, documents such as minutes of CPS Board meetings, internal memos, email messages circulated among leaders, charter applications, and position papers written by the
Christian Brothers leaders provided an important complement to the data unearthed in the interviews.
Definition of Relevant Terms
Charism: A charism is understood by Christian theologians to be a gift given by the Holy Spirit to a person or group for a particular work in the world (Catechism of the
Catholic Church, 1994, n. 799).
Charter school: Charter schools are public schools that are given a charter by an authorized public agency such as a public university, the office of an elected official such as a mayor, or a state agency such as the state board of education. A charter is typically granted for three to five years and gives the school permission to operate with more flexibility than the traditional public school. Each charter school defines its own mission and method of operation consistent with the philosophy of educating a student held by those who form the school and apply for the charter. The charter application details the mission, organizational goals, and learning plan for the school. Laws that allow for the establishment of charter schools have been passed in 43 states and the District of
Columbia (Center for Education Reform, 2015).
Charter-granting authority: A charter-granting authority is the governing body or agency, usually identified by charter legislation, that has the authority to evaluate an COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 9 application to open a charter school and subsequently grants or denies an applicant permission to open a charter school.
Faith-inspired charter school – a phrase developed by Catalyst School founders to designate that even though a particular faith is not part of the written curriculum, the principles of instruction are based upon the instructional methods and proper attitudes developed by Jean-Baptiste de La Salle who founded the De La Salle Christian Brothers over 300 years ago. The primary focus of the order is the operation of schools. Today, the order runs 560 schools in 80 countries serving approximately 900,000 students. The
Lasallian Christian Brothers teacher training and formation programs are centered on the life and writings of St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle along with reflections on social justice proposed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Teachers in faith-inspired charter schools are given the opportunity to be formed by this Lasallian training as well.
Religious order: For the purposes of this study, a religious order is a group of men or women who live under religious vows. The three vows commonly taken are poverty, obedience, and chastity. Religious orders are most commonly found in the Eastern
Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The Franciscans, Jesuits, and the
Little Sisters of the Poor are all examples of religious orders active in the United States.
School choice: School choice refers to an assortment of options that expand the number of choices that a student has in terms of the school they will attend. The expansion of choice is most commonly attained through the offering of school vouchers, education tax credits, educational savings accounts, and the opening of public charter schools.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 10
Delimitations and Limitations
There are other Catholic schools around the country that have been converted to charter schools, but time and fiscal constraints preclude the study of all of the models of religious charter schools that are evolving. A delimitation of this particular study is that it will solely focus on the dialogue and decision making processes that took place between
CPS and the Christian Brothers from the period of 1999 and 2005. The study will also consider the results of these decisions once it was determined that two Catalyst schools would open in 2005.
A limitation of this study is that since the formation of the Catalyst Schools took place over 10 years ago, those who were interviewed occasionally had some difficulty recalling certain aspects, facts, and timelines related to the questions surrounding the details of the establishment of the schools explored during the interviews. When such uncertainty was expressed, comments by participants were triangulated and confirmed by other sources provided.
Leader’s Role and Responsibility in Relation to the Problem
Lowney (2003) provides a reflection on "love-driven leadership" which he describes as the ability of a leader to see each person’s gifts, talents, potential, and dignity that are often accompanied by a commitment to unlock that potential. The encouragement of Ignatius of Loyola to “refuse no talent or any man of quality” is the foundation of the entrance of the Jesuits into the field of education – a work of leadership that continues around the world today. This commitment to love-driven leadership lies at the heart of the Jesuit’s efforts to educate the poor. Education is intended to awaken the student to his or her own possibilities. It fosters the ability to communicate, learn, reason, critically COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 11 analyze, plan, and dream in ways that those who lack sufficient education are unable to do. A thriving democracy depends upon well-educated citizenry willing to provide leadership for the next generation. Finally, many scholars argue that the most successful strategy for breaking the cycle of generational poverty is through providing more opportunities for education of our impoverished brothers and sisters (Ladd, 2012; Ng &
Rury, 2006; Payne, DeVol, & Smith, 2006). By developing a practical solution to the difficulties that Catholic leaders face in maintaining an educational presence in impoverished urban areas, this Dissertation in Practice holds promise to assist and aid the
Church’s mission to develop more "people of quality" to bring about the flourishing garden of life that can be the fruit of the work of educating the poor and marginalized.
Additionally, it is incumbent upon leaders to seek bold strategies and innovations that chart new paths for others to follow. The analysis of the attitudes, behaviors, and decisions the leaders of the Christian Brothers and CPS displayed in this case helps shed light on the vital role that leadership can play in charting a new direction in the relationships between religious orders and public school authorities. The work of
Christensen, Horn, and Johnson (2011) along with that of Rogers (2003) emphasizes the critical role of leadership in the process of directing and implementing societal change through innovation. Early adoption of new innovations is made easier for those reluctant to embrace change when research sheds light on expected outcomes. The formation of these faith-inspired charter schools is the result of the mutual collaboration of the leadership of two organizations that required change and innovation on the part of both parties in how they conducted their business. The documentation and results provided by this study offer a source of reflection for school leaders everywhere. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 12
Embracing the lessons generated from this innovative approach to charter schools in Chicago can help leaders across the country ascertain how to better serve children in impoverished communities who cannot afford to fully support a private education but would benefit from the values, attitudes, and habits taught at a “faith-inspired” charter school. The decisions to do the work necessary to apply for a charter, to fund a charter, and to provide expertise by serving on governing boards of these schools are all tasks of leadership – both at the public school level and among institutional leaders of religious organizations. Adding to the body of knowledge related to these faith-inspired schools will help inform leaders of the best practices that have emerged since the establishment of the Catalyst Schools in 2005.
Significance of the Study
As Catholic diocesan school systems consider the option of converting some of their inner city schools to charter schools, the debate surrounding this issue among leaders of the Catholic community continues to unfold. There is often a perception that the newly formed charter school will retain the discipline, high expectations, rigor, and personal attention for which Catholic schools have become known (Trivitt & Wolf,
2011). However, evidence recently published indicates that these newly formed charter schools evolve into schools that do not match this perception (Carr, 2014; Smarick,
2010). Carr’s study indicates that although there were enrollment increases at both newly opened charter schools in Indianapolis and that the financial benefits gained by the parishes and the archdiocese were substantial, the overwhelming demands of the public school administrative bureaucracy led to a loss of strong organizational identity.
Diocesan administrators in Carr’s study acknowledged that while the new model did COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 13 allow the parish to offer a more financially sustainable option for the education of inner city students, the optional religious education programs intended to retain and foster
Catholic culture within the school could not mitigate the “sense of loss” of Catholic identity that faculty and school leaders felt once the conversion to a charter school had been completed.
This current study is also informed by the researcher’s experience while participating in a practicum at the Office of Catholic Education for the Archdiocese of
Indianapolis in the Fall of 2014 as a part of Creighton University’s Interdisciplinary
Leadership doctoral program. This experience confirmed the presence of dissatisfaction with the results of the two charter conversions that had taken place in Indianapolis in
2010. One of the researcher's primary duties in the practicum was to work with the parish community of St. Anthony Catholic Church after archdiocesan officials had decided it would no longer host a charter school. Instead, the archdiocese withdrew its sponsorship of Padua Academy (one of the charter schools opened in 2010 after closing St. Anthony
Catholic School) and reopened St. Anthony Catholic School in August of 2015. At the same time, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis also announced its decision to withdraw its role as the Charter Management Organization for Andrew Academy which was located on the grounds of St. Andrew Catholic Church and to ask the City of Indianapolis (the charter granting authority) to look for another Charter Management Organization to take over the operation of the charter school that would remain on parish grounds. The researcher’s conversations with archdiocesan leaders during the practicum revealed a level of dissatisfaction with the Indianapolis charter school experiment that led to the decision to withdraw its sponsorship of these two charter schools. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 14
In spite of the disappointments encountered by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, the financial realities of inner city parishes around the country have not changed over the past five years, and these parishes continue to face extraordinary economic stress. It is anticipated that other diocesan leaders around the country are considering alleviating these financial stresses by sanctioning similar charter school conversions to take place under their auspices. Recent work by Brinig and Garnett (2014) make a compelling case for the importance of Catholic schools in creating stability in impoverished neighborhoods. Therefore, it is important to continue to learn more about the successes as well as the shortcomings of the charter schools that result from these conversions of
Catholic schools. Additionally, it is important to understand the subsequent impact of these conversions on their sponsoring parishes and dioceses.
The recently published research by Proehl et al. (2015) on the Catalyst Schools demonstrates that a new and innovative model of collaboration between leaders of religious schools and a public school chartering authority has emerged. According to
Proehl et al. (2015) parents, students, teachers, and administrators all indicate a level of satisfaction that has been elusive in the Catholic-to-charter conversions that have been attempted. Equally as important, the sponsoring religious organization, the Christian
Bothers, is deeply satisfied with the results of the Catalysts Schools and believes they are maintaining fidelity to their founding charisms with the establishment of these schools
(Quinio, 2012). A new perspective of understanding and executing the mission of
Catholic education is being developed and refined in the Catalyst Schools. This perspective and its underlying philosophy have deep meaning for all leaders in Catholic education. The publication of the results of this study allows for: COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 15
1) understanding from the perspective of a potential sponsoring religious
organization of the ways in which a “faith-inspired” approach to the establishment
of a charter school can attain results that maintain fidelity to the purposes of their
organization
2) understanding from the perspective of the public-school chartering authority of
the best practices in collaborating with religious organizations to establish charter
schools that can successfully work with children from impoverished
neighborhoods
3) the development of a set of best practices that can help guide diocesan and
religious order leaders as they make decisions regarding the potential viability and
effectiveness of a newly formed charter school on their grounds
4) the development of a body of literature that helps identify issues related to this
new class of schools that merit additional study.
Inner city Catholic parishes often serve the poor, the immigrant, and the marginalized. Martin (2010) is one of many authors who trace the history of the Jesuits and their commitment to give such people the tools and education necessary to lift them out of poverty. If optimal conditions can be identified in which the parishes hosting the newly formed charter schools can offer a high quality values-based education, this new faith-inspired model of charter schools might be considered a viable option as diocesan leaders evaluate the merit of converting inner city Catholic schools to charter schools. It is in the tradition of the Society of Jesus to foster study of all potential avenues to aid those in need. Completion of this study on the conditions, dialogue, policies, and COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 16 discernment that led to the formation of the faith-inspired Catalyst Schools will, in some small way, add to that tradition.
Summary
A solution to some of the fiscal challenges facing inner city Catholic parishes has emerged in the form of converting some of their parish schools to publicly funded charter schools. The hope of the diocesan leaders who sanction these conversions is that the newly formed charter school will retain the positive characteristics of discipline, high expectations, rigor, and personal attention that many perceive to be common in Catholic schools. However, evidence has begun to emerge that indicates that these newly formed charter schools have not lived up to this promise, and Catholic school leaders find this result disappointing. However, a new model of a “faith-inspired” charter school has emerged that offers promise. Qualitative data was gathered primarily through the process of interviewing public school leaders, leaders of religious orders, Catalyst School founders, and board leaders involved in the formation of the Catalyst Schools. The aim of this study was to create an evidence-based series of recommendations that can be adopted by public chartering authorities as well as religious organizations to facilitate collaboration in the establishment of “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban areas. This research is intended to provide a possible way forward in solving one of the most intractable problems of our time - the education of those living in urban poverty.
It is a problem that has long drawn the attention of Jesuits. It is expected that the results of this case study will add to that tradition of support for these impoverished communities.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 17
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
In order to understand the philosophical underpinnings and organizational principles around which the Catalyst Schools are formed, it is necessary to review the societal pressures and the surrounding culture that gave rise to the possibility of establishing these schools. For over three decades now, government, business, and educational leaders have collaborated to work aggressively to improve the quality of schools in the United States. It is important to understand these pressures and the responses to them in order to gain a full appreciation of the options for schooling that have developed as a result. This “education reform” movement, as it is sometimes called
(Hart, 1990), has led to a dynamic environment that has been filled with innumerable successes along with some colossal failures. The market tests these ideas and scholars work diligently to study them. Today, the research on education is extensive. It is in that environment that the following review of the literature is developed.
Roots of the Educational Reform Movement
The philosophical roots of the school choice movement are many-faceted but there is no doubting that Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman’s classic essay “The
Role of Government in Education” (1955) belongs on any list evaluating the relative importance of events, court cases, and foundational documents that have established the current appetite for reform. Friedman drew a critical distinction between activities that it was appropriate for the government to administer versus activities that it was appropriate for government to finance. Friedman argued that parents would make better choices with the funds for the education of their children than would the “monopoly” (p. 133) COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 18 represented by public school districts. Consequently, an idea was born that remains a foundational tenet of education reform today.
Not long after Friedman’s essay was published, the idea of expanding options for parents and students began to emerge in the speeches, writings, and platforms of political candidates of both major parties. In 1968, 1972, and 1976, Democratic presidential candidates Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, and Jimmy Carter all proposed the idea of tuition tax credits to offer support to families choosing private schools for their children (Matus, 2015). In 1978, the underlying philosophy of these political proposals was eloquently expressed in an essay written for Harpers by the Democrat senator from
New York, Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Moynihan, a highly respected scholar and statesman, wrote about a bill that he proudly noted had received bipartisan sponsorship from half of the Senate (26 Republicans and 24 Democrats) to provide tax credits to help pay the tuition costs of parents with children in nonpublic schools, colleges, and universities. Moynihan (1978) made an impassioned argument that “government has got to stop choking the life out of institutions that compete with it” (p. 28) and that private education was “crucial to the vitality of the nation” (p.29). He called these nonpublic schools an important resource for the nation that allowed for a source of innovation and experimentation in educational advances that would benefit all. Additionally, Moynihan’s essay articulated an attitude that was developing around the world. This attitude held that it is in the diversity of educational systems and thought that a nation’s strength is built. I will explore the global implications of this attitude in a section of this review that follows. However, Moynihan’s legislation ultimately failed to pass because no COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 19 companion legislation was proposed in the House. Nevertheless, the proposal laid significant political and philosophical groundwork for further reform.
A seminal moment in the reform of the American education system occurred with the publication of “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform” (1983) by the National Committee on Educational Excellence. With its famously dramatic phrasing, the report noted, “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people”
(p.1). This clarion call to action awakened Americans to the crisis in our schools and the poor performance of our students relative to previous generations of Americans and relative to international benchmarks. Education historian Diane Ravitch deemed the report as "the most important education reform document of the 20th century” (as cited in
Toppo, 2008). Recommendations were made for improving schools, including the return to focus on a more basic curriculum with an emphasis on science, math, literature, writing, and computer science. A longer school day and a longer school year (200-300 days) were also part of the recommendations. In order to procure and retain excellent teachers, the committee advised developing higher standards for teacher-preparation programs, setting teacher salaries that were professionally competitive and based on performance, providing more incentives for drawing highly qualified applicants into the profession of teaching, and creating mentoring programs for novice teachers. Goodlad
(2003) recounts the explosion of private foundation support for initiatives aimed at implementing the recommendations the report. In many ways, A Nation at Risk served as the catalyst for the launch of an education reform movement in the United States that is now over 30 years in the making and seems to be growing in intensity. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 20
Competition In Education – New Options Emerge
After A Nation at Risk was published, a conceptual framework embracing the value of competition emerged using the ideas of Friedman as a template. This framework guides much of the strategic thinking and practices that state and local government leaders have employed with increasing frequency over the past few decades. The introduction of “market forces” to the educational arena, along with the competition that those forces bring, is seen by many in the United States and around the world as a way to force schools to seek continual improvement or face closure (Boyd, 2007; Patrinos,
2000). Multiple avenues now exist to introduce these market forces by supporting a broader set of options for the schooling of students than were available 20 years ago.
These alternative methods of funding education result from legislation that introduced more choices for students and their families (Furtick, 2014). These options now include public school choice, charter schools, magnet schools, educational savings accounts, tax credit scholarships, individual tax credits for tuition, and school vouchers for use at private schools (Burke, 2013).
Vouchers and Charters Begin to Appear
Though there are now multiple avenues being utilized in the United States to expand school choice, two basic methods clearly stand out in terms of frequency of use:
1) the adoption of programs that distribute public funds to parents through school vouchers and, 2) the establishment of publicly funded charter schools. While these two solutions both offer new competition for traditional public schools, they differ substantially. The voucher solution increases competition by a different mechanism than charter schools in that a state or other local governmental agency gives the money to COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 21 parents who can then use those funds at the school of their choice - including private religious schools whose missions are grounded in religious beliefs, practices, and traditions. On the other hand, charter schools are still public schools funded by public dollars, and they generally receive their charter as a result of an application process that normally consists of defining a philosophy of teaching and learning along with a unique mission around which the school will operate.
The debate over the value of school choice gained momentum in the early 1990s.
With the publication of Politics, Markets, and American Schools (1990), Moe and Chubb proposed a new set of contemporary arguments for a solution to an old problem – how to improve schools. Moe and Chubb traveled the country giving seminars, talks, symposia, and presentations arguing that the public education establishment was incapable of reforming itself. They argued that the powerful union system of tenure made the reform of the basic units of education - the classroom - seem to be a hopeless cause in public schools (Loveless, 2000). Other alternatives were needed. Not coincidentally, the same year that Moe and Chubb’s book was published in 1990, the nation's first voucher program was established in Milwaukee by Wisconsin's state legislature (Molnar, 1999).
In 1992, the nation’s first charter schools opened in Minnesota (Bailey & Cooper, 2009) after that state’s legislature authorized such schools. A beachhead was now established for both the voucher and charter school options to begin to transform the landscape of education in the United States.
Vouchers - The Courts Begin to Speak
In 1998, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld Milwaukee’s new voucher program determining that the program served a primarily secular purpose. Once the COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 22 constitutional questions were answered, the Milwaukee voucher program began to flourish, and it now serves over 20,000 low-income students (Carpenter & Kafer, 2012).
The development, legislative approval, and implementation of voucher programs has unfolded at a more deliberate pace than the charter school option, in part due to some states’ concerns over Church and State separation issues prior to 2002 when the Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002) decision was rendered. Zelman clarified that it was constitutional for states to provide financial support for vouchers that parents could choose to use at private and religious schools as long as the state’s constitution did not prevent it. Once that precedent was established, states were free to develop a multitude of school choice programs that impacted students from all schools, public and private.
According to the Friedman Foundation (2015), there are now 14 states that are offering
25 voucher programs and the number continues to grow with each passing year.
Rapid Expansion of the Charter School Option
Minnesota passed the nation’s first state legislation to allow for the establishment of charter schools in 1991. California followed the next year. Since then, 40 other states and the District of Columbia have passed laws that allow for the establishment of charter schools. Today, there are over 6.4 million students in over 6,600 charter schools nationwide (National Center for Education Statistics, 2014).
At times, the growth of charter schools has come at the expense of the closure of a local public school (Fitzsimon, 2016). In a similar tale of decline of one type of schooling as a result of the rise in availability of charter schools, Lackman (2012) found that 30% of the students lost from Catholic schools in the New York City metropolitan area left those schools in order to attend charter schools. In addition to the competition that charter COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 23 schools provide, other researchers have found that they operate at less expense to the taxpayers than traditional public schools (Gronberg, Jansen, & Taylor, 2011). Figure 3 shows the steady growth of this increasingly popular option for schooling.
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000 Number of Charter Schools Charter of Number
1,000
0 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 Number of Schools 1,524 2,348 2,977 3,780 4,388 4,952 5,696 6,440
Figure 3. Growth in the number of charter schools since the turn of the century. Rebarger, T., & Zgainer, A. C. (2014).
Charter School Research
In spite of the popularity and rapid growth of charter school enrollment, a public debate rages as to whether or not the charter school option leads to improvement in the overall quality of schools in the United States. Since their arrival as an available option for schooling, charter schools have been the subject of multiple studies, a sampling of which will be detailed here. The results of these studies are both mixed and frequently disputed. The disputes arise among both academics and political factions. Unfortunately, some of the results of research intended to study the effectiveness of school choice as a COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 24 means of reform appear to be prone to compromise based on the inherent biases of the researchers. Effectiveness seems to be in the eye of the researcher. Ravitch (2011) notes that often research sponsored by those agencies that have a vested interest in the advancement of traditional public schools shows that charter schools and voucher programs have little measurable success, while Henig (2008) found that research sponsored by entities that have a vested interest in demonstrating the positive effects of voucher programs generally produce favorable findings for these programs.
Charter school research asks two fundamental questions: 1) Do charter schools help their students achieve at a higher level? 2) Does the competition that charter schools generate lead to increased achievement for students in the surrounding traditional public schools? Like much school choice research, the results of inquiries related to these two questions are mixed. Contrary to the assertions of school reformers who argue for the benefits that competition brings to all students, Bettinger (2005) found no increase in the academic performance of surrounding public schools in Michigan. In a later study, Ni
(2009) determined that charter schools in Michigan actually had a negative impact in terms of long-term academic performance of local public school students. Conversely,
Winters (2012) found a substantial positive effect of charter schools on achievement in local public schools in New York City. This pattern of contradiction is representative of much of the literature on charter schools.
The academic performance of students actually enrolled in the charter schools also sees mixed results in the literature. Tuttle, Gleason, and Nechtel (2012) found numerous academic benefits for students enrolled in the Knowledge Is Power Program
(KIPP) charter schools - one of the nation’s largest charter school providers. Others, such COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 25 as Xiang and Tarasawa (2015), analyzed test scores from multiple geographic regions to ascertain that charter school students perform consistently better on standardized achievement measures than their traditional public school peers. In other cases (Allen,
2013; Barr, 2006; Gray, 2014), no net positive effects of charter schools on student achievement were found. These researchers all pointed to the difficulty of isolating variables that would allow an accurate assessment of the value added by the charter school environment.
An oft-cited comprehensive literature review and analysis of charter school student achievement by Betts and Tang (2008) points to the mixed nature of the results as possibly emanating from the multiple ways that students enter charter schools such as self-selection, lotteries, and parental withdrawal from the local public school because of perceived habitual underperformance of the student. Pointing to a possible source of much of the conflicting data coming from charter school research, Betts and Tang rejected many charter studies for their meta-analysis because they often did not “take into account the relatively disadvantaged backgrounds of students who attend charter schools”
(p. 3). Therefore, they caution, many studies on students in charter schools may not be representative of the charter school’s impact on academic achievement. As the number of charter schools continues to expand and as more traditional public schools close as a result of lost enrollment to competing charter schools, the debate will likely rage on regarding the effectiveness of these schools. However, for now, many students and families are voting with their feet as this popular form of schooling expands throughout the country.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 26
Analysis of Both Innovations Continues
The impact of these two fundamental methods of introducing competition into the education market - charter schools and school vouchers - has been profound. In the years that have passed since the establishment of the voucher program in Milwaukee, researchers have attempted to identify and authenticate whether or not the voucher programs raised the level of performance on the part of individual students, schools, and the local public school systems that now had increased competition. Witte, Wolf, Cowan,
Carlson, and Fleming (2014) found the nation’s original voucher program to be successful in fostering substantial academic growth in high stakes testing. While by no means the last word, a peer-reviewed meta-analysis of charter, private, and religious school research by Jeynes (2012) points to a significant academic advantage, narrower achievement gaps by race, ethnicity, and income, along with better student behavioral outcomes for students in faith-based schools compared to those in traditional and charter schools. Jeynes concludes by lobbying for the support of faith-based schools as an effective means of school reform.
Clearly, the ongoing debate regarding the effectiveness of voucher programs and the establishment of charter schools in improving achievement of students is not settled in the literature. Nor does it seem to be a debate that will be settled in the near future. The reality is that education is a long-term process generally requiring 12 years to complete the elementary and secondary years. Though growing rapidly now, the number of voucher programs and charter schools that have existed long enough to analyze longitudinally is limited. Additionally, the differences in achievement may be subtle if not imperceptible – even after 12 years. Given the small number of longitudinal studies, COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 27 more research is needed. Further complications arise because the motivations of researchers can impact the results of the studies (Blazer, 2010; Henig, 2008; Ravitch,
2011). Work remains to be done that focuses on objectively analyzing the degree of student learning and achievement in these various means of school reform. But for now, the public appetite for school choice seems to have been validated by the research of
Belfield and Levin (2002) who found, “Increased competition and higher educational quality are positively correlated” (p.297).
Legal Questions Slowly Being Resolved
There are a host of legal questions that surround the issue of funding educational options for students who attend private schools. The issue at the heart of the legal arguments is whether or not vouchers pose a threat to the wall of separation of Church and State. A closely related question is whether or not any type of support of religious schooling violates the establishment clause of the U. S. Constitution. These and many other questions along with their infinitely variable and unique micro-issues have been working their way through local, state, and federal courts for decades (Alexander, 2008;
Hillman, 2008). Clarity has been gained through the establishment of key legal precedents, but legal challenges remain a part of the unfolding dynamics of school choice programs.
The roots of disagreement on the practice of using government funds for religious purposes are deep and can be traced to the founding of the country by many who escaped various forms of religious persecution. For the purposes of the review of today’s legal environment, it seems appropriate to begin after the tumult of the Civil War. In 1878, based on the previous efforts of President Ulysses S. Grant, U.S. House Speaker James COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 28
Blaine proposed a constitutional amendment prohibiting states from funding religious schools. Blaine’s proposed amendment fell four votes short of passage in the Senate. The
Senate’s rejection of Blaine’s proposed constitutional amendment prompted all but 11 states to add similar amendments to their state constitutions. Today, 37 of these state constitutional provisions remain in place and are known collectively as Blaine
Amendments (Duncan, 2003). However, each is written with subtle differences and applies only to the laws of the individual state and are not applicable nationwide. It is worthy to note that there has yet to be a federal court that has found that a Blaine
Amendment violates the U. S. Constitution. With this state-to-state disparity of the legal foundation for public support of religious schools, the issue is ripe for frequent appeals to the U. S. Supreme Court (Duncan, 2003).
Several noteworthy Supreme Court cases illustrate the evolution of the legal precedents related to the broader issue of school choice. The first of these cases is Pierce v. The Society of Sisters (1925). The state of Oregon passed a law requiring all students to attend a public school. The Society of Sisters had been operating a private school in the state since the 1880s. The Sisters took Oregon to court challenging a state law that was passed requiring that all students must attend a public school and only a public school.
The Supreme Court found in favor of the Sisters, thereby establishing the precedent that parents have the right to decide what sort of school they want their children to attend and essentially guaranteeing the right of all private schools to exist as a legitimate option to meet the educational needs of students (Woodhouse, 1992). Parental rights had found a legal foothold. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 29
The next landmark decision was a case involving a New Jersey statute that allowed reimbursement to parents of fees charged to bus their students to both public and private schools. In Everson v. Board of Education (1947) a 5-4 majority held that the
New Jersey bus subsidies did not violate the Establishment Clause because the subsidies primarily benefited the parents and schoolchildren, not the religious schools. The majority opinion articulated what came to be known as the “child benefit theory”, that the beneficiaries were individuals and not religious institutions (Lupu, Masci, Merriam, and
Tuttle, 2009). It is this precedent and legal theory established in Everson that formed the foundation of later decisions that upheld the constitutionality of providing funds in the form of tuition vouchers for parents to use a school of their choice – religious or not.
Though a few minor cases related to funding of programs in religious schools made their way to the Supreme Court over the next two decades, it was not until 1971 that the famous Lemon Test was developed by the Court. The case involved two similar but separate programs in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island that indirectly aided religious schools by paying part of the salaries of teachers who taught secular subjects. In Lemon v.
Kurtzman (1971) the court developed a three-pronged test to determine if a program provides excessive entanglement of government funding of religious programs. In applying the Lemon Test, the courts analyzes whether the government program or policy
1) serves a secular purpose, 2) advances or inhibits a religious cause, and 3) creates an excessive entanglement of the government with religion (Carr & Decker, 2015).
Applying the newly developed Lemon Test led the Court to decide that the two state programs in question did indeed violate the Establishment Clause. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 30
Mueller v. Allen (1983) took the Court one step further away from the strict wall of separation of Church and State. Based on the “child benefit theory” of Everson, the
Court reviewed a Minnesota statute that allowed parents to deduct from their state income taxes money spent on tuition, textbooks, or transportation for their children attending public and private schools. The program was ruled constitutional because the benefit did not go directly to the schools but to the families and children. According to the court, the families were making a private choice. Additionally, this program did not represent excessive entanglement when analyzed by the Lemon Test (Lupu et al., 2009).
As a result, legal precedent was now set for rulings on programs that involved substantially greater amounts of public funding.
The final landmark case that merits review is Zelman v. Simmons-Harris (2002).
Its ramifications have literally transformed and solidified the options available to leaders involved in the education reform movement. The Zelman case involved a program that gave various types of aid to students in Cleveland, Ohio. Some of this aid came in the form of vouchers for low-income students to use at any eligible and accredited private school - the majority of which were Catholic. However, the aid also supported those seeking aid to attend public magnet schools and charter schools that far outnumbered the
Catholic schools that students could have chosen. In a 5-4 decision, the majority formed it arguments under the principle of “private choice” that the court had articulated in
Mueller. In Zelman, the court found that a government program that funds religion indirectly is constitutional if the funding goes to individuals who have true “private choice” in deciding whether to use the funding for religious purposes (Hicks & Barnett,
2005). Since the vouchers could be used at a wide range of schools, both public and COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 31 private, they were not considered to be directly supporting religious instruction. At the time the Zelman decision was rendered, only Cleveland, Milwaukee, and the state of
Florida had voucher programs that allowed students to choose religious schools (Athens,
2002). Following the clear precedent established by Zelman, the way was paved for more states to consider school voucher programs, and the battle shifted away from the court room to the legislative arena in states from coast to coast.
It is in this legal environment that schools and education reformers still operate today. The Zelman ruling removed boundaries that were in place a little more than a decade ago. This new-found freedom to consider creative options for funding schools has given rise to the many methods previously listed that allow parents and students to choose schools in a way that was rarely experienced in the United States 15 years ago.
While school leaders of all stripes learned to adjust to the rapidly changing legal posture toward public funding of students in private schools in the United States, developments around the world shaped and provided impetus for the reform of education in American schools.
International School Choice
Since public funding of school voucher programs in the United States is a relatively new concept only enacted 25 years ago, many people in America tend to think of it as a new and innovative idea at the cutting edge of education reform. The reality is that the United States is far behind many nations in the implementation of this program that allows parents to choose the school that their children attend. As early as the mid-
1990s a study by West (1997) identified 20 countries around the world that offered school vouchers. The group of countries reported by West included many that, at that COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 32 time, were not considered to be industrialized nations, including Bangladesh, Belize,
Lesoto, Guatemala, and Puerto Rico. West also concluded that many of the potential negative effects that had been projected - destruction of the public school system, discrimination against the poor, and the utter decay of all inner city school systems that serve the impoverished - were not to be found in any of the countries that he studied.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) surveyed its 34 member countries and partner countries for its annual Education at a
Glance (2013) report. The OECD’s report shows that, of the 53 survey participants, 25 countries’ governments provide vouchers and/or tuition tax credits for students to attend private schools. As evidence of the scope of the global adoption of these two types of programs, Estonia, Germany, Spain, and Thailand (along with the United States) report to the OECD as having both vouchers and tuition tax credits available for students and their families. A sampling of the same report lists Belgium, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Israel,
Lithuania, Macao-China, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Qatar, and Turkey among those countries that offer vouchers for their students to attend private schools. Clearly, the
United States is not piloting this style of supporting education in a vacuum but does so with an eye toward similar developments around the world. As nations learn from each other and as the results of these school choice programs are studied, one would expect these programs to continue to be on the rise as long as positive results are demonstrated.
Table 1 on the next page is compiled from the data reported in that survey. The PISA ranking indicates the country’s performance on the Program for International Student
Assessment which is administered every three years.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 33
International Survey of School Choice Programs
Table 1
2012 PISA Country Vouchers Tuition Tax Credits Ranking Singapore Public Only No 1 Korea No Yes 4 Chinese Taipei Yes No 6 Estonia Yes Yes 8 Macao-China Yes No 10 Poland Yes No 12 Germany Yes Yes 16 Australia No No 18 Belgium Yes No 19 New Zealand Yes No 20 Scotland No Yes 21 France Yes No 24 Norway Yes No 27 Unites States Yes Yes 29 Italy Public Only Yes 30 Luxembourg No Yes 30 Spain Yes Yes 32 Portugal No Yes 33 Lithuania Yes No 36 Israel Yes No 40 Slovak Republic Yes No 41 Turkey Yes No 43 Serbia No No 44 Cyprus No No 45 Romania No No 47 Bulgaria Public Only No 48 Thailand Yes Yes 49 Chile Yes No 50 Montenegro Public Only No 54 Brazil No Yes 57 Argentina Public Only No 59 Indonesia Public Only No 63 Qatar Yes No 64
Table 1. International survey of school choice programs. How does school choice work in other countries? (2015).
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 34
In addition to the OECD survey, a review of the literature also reveals that policies supporting school choice are sweeping the globe. In countries on every continent, governments have decided that giving parents options for the education of their children is an appropriate response to the perceived problems in education. After compiling studies from eight separate researchers in Chile, New Zealand, England, Sweden,
Australia, South Africa, China, and post-communist Central Europe, Plank and Sykes
(2003) note that “in virtually no country is there a serious effort to expand the role of the state in educational provision or to restrict the educational choices of parents” (p. 9). The parallels to the reasoning used to establish these international school choice programs when compared to those proposed the Unites States are instructive.
Sweden
Duan (2003) goes straight to the heart of the competition argument made by
Friedman in 1955, noting that until Sweden freed itself from the restrictions and impediments set up to protect the security and workload of teachers, there was little chance of improving the schools in that country. However, Duan also points to decades of sluggish economic performance as the critical motivating factor for the uncharacteristically rapid changing of educational policy in that country that began in the
1980s in spite of the entrenched forces of the labor movement and ruling Socialist
Democratic party. Not only was a program of school choice instituted throughout the country, but decision making was decentralized, moving from the national parliament level to local municipalities. Duan notes that after eight years of implementing school choice programs, the number of students in Swedish private schools had tripled.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 35
India
Forsey, Davies, and Walford (2008) compiled school choice research from around the world as well. School choice programs in countries such as Israel, Canada, Argentina,
Singapore, China, Tanzania, India, and Japan were analyzed, and the history of the development of these choice programs was traced. Perhaps the most instructive of these was the research done in India by Srivastava (2008) on disadvantaged groups and “low- fee private schools” for the poor in that country. Srivastava conducted extensive research on the factors influencing the choice of schools by disadvantaged populations in India.
These “low fee private schools” were developed with a particular goal of targeting students from lower income families that had traditionally low rates of participation in formal schooling. Srivastava found that even though females are generally not given priority when determining a family’s allocation of resources for education in India, within the population that she studied, both male and female children were allowed equal access to the low-fee private school education. Her work challenged popular notions in existing literature about the schooling decisions of poor parents in developing countries.
She demonstrated that when females are given an opportunity to participate in affordable options for their education, they will take advantage of it.
New Zealand
The student mobility described by Srivastava’s work stands in mild contrast to the result of choice programs in New Zealand studied by Fiske and Ladd (2003). These researchers found that the program of school choice implemented in New Zealand was effective in making the options of all forms of schooling more available. However, their research found that in populations that were determined to be from “lower-decile” COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 36 schools (a New Zealand method of measuring schools by the number of disadvantaged clientele the schools served) there was a lower probability that these students would select the “higher-decile” (well-funded upper class) schools when given the chance. This finding is notable because one of the fundamental arguments of those who lobby for expanding choice in schools is that such choice provides a way for families to escape the cycle of poverty that extends from one generation to the next. Many times, these lower performing schools are in the most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Opportunities to attend better schools lead to a better foundation for students to attain the next level of their education. However, Fiske and Ladd (2003) found that even though the opportunity to attend a higher performing school was made available in New Zealand, a higher number than expected declined to take advantage of it.
Furthermore, Fiske and Ladd (2003) found that the choice programs in New
Zealand ultimately led to a system that served to polarize enrollments along ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. These results support the arguments of others who note that school choice is not a panacea that solves all of the problems associated with educational opportunity and attainment (Bracey, 1994; Henig, 1994; Smith and Meier,
1995). Fisk and Ladd (2003) argue that the design of the choice program in New Zealand, which led to further segregation of populations, was flawed in that it gave individual schools and their boards control over the enrollment policies of the school that they governed. This allowed the governing boards of these schools to establish policies that eliminated the likelihood of less desirable “hard to educate” students being admitted.
They concluded that any market-based system is likely to create “losers” unless the COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 37 government takes explicit action to improve teaching and learning in lower performing schools.
The findings of Fiske and Ladd (2003) raise several questions such as what sort of barriers are present in New Zealand that kept the more disadvantaged students from taking advantage of selecting the better schools. Another reasonable question is whether or not disadvantaged students did not select the better schools because of the enrollment policies, or were there barriers related to transportation, education level of the parents, perceived priority of the importance of education by individual families, or some other factor. Finally, Fiske and Ladd wondered whether or not more government intervention was the best answer in a system that attempts to lessen government control.
Some answers to these questions are provided by Pearce and Gordon (2005).
Their research focused on how school systems in New Zealand attempted to deal with the increasing popularity of private religious schools that led to an oversubscription of students desiring admission to schools with limited capacity. Such research is important because the growing popularity of school vouchers in westernized democracies dictates that unless equitable systems of awarding highly coveted spaces are developed, support for these programs will wane due to the perception of inequity. Pearce and Gordon
(2005) indicate that, when left to themselves, schools will seek to maximize their middle- class composition in a process they define as “cream-skimming" (p. 153) that denies admission to lower performing students. Indeed, the researchers conclude that one of the reasons that there is pressure to move away from the “free market position" in New
Zealand is that “there were demonstrable market injustices in the free market system” COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 38
(p. 154). In spite of these problems at the time of the study, the school choice program is thriving in New Zealand today. Stubbs and Strathdee (2012) analyzed data that show that periods of greatest instability in enrollments occurred around the time of change in regulations to make the schools more market driven. Analysis by Thomson (2010) indicated that 46% of parents sampled in Christchurch, New Zealand did not send their child to the school they were zoned for, indicating a willingness of many parents to exercise choice in selecting the school best suited for their children’s needs. The perceived lack of availability of quality charter schools for all populations and the potential for racial segregation remain issues, not only in New Zealand, but frequently surface as allegations made by charter school opponents in the U. S. as well (Miron,
Urschel, Mathis, and Tornquist, 2010). This seems destined to remain a hotly contested issue among charter proponents and detractors.
Australia
Many of the school choice programs that have evolved around the world provide government support for private religious schools. Many countries, unencumbered by submission to the principle of separation of Church and State which seems to be in our civic DNA in the United States, have been more free to develop choice programs that support all schools whether they be public, private, or religious. And these countries have been free to do so for many decades. One country that has developed its structure along western democratic principles provides an example. State funding of private schools has been a fact of life in Australia since the 1970s (Angus, 2003). The founding and political history of Australia is vastly different from that of the United States. However, lessons COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 39 from this English-speaking democracy may provide clues as to what might be possible in the United States.
Furtado (2009) has traced the political history and key legislative components of the development of the school choice movement in Australia. Furtado constructs a narrative of the key cultural contexts, political philosophies, religious leaders, and political actors in the legislature to fashion a detailed picture of the roots of the development of Australian educational policy today. That policy now provides for the near total funding of Catholic schools in Australia that educate nearly 30% of the students in that country (Furtado, 2009).
While Furtado’s research focuses exclusively on the history of policy development that allowed for government funding of Catholic schools, Symes and
Gulson (2008) offer insights into the political forces and personalities that were at play in
Australia in the early 1970s. Those forces became a powerful partner for the Catholic leadership lobbying for government support of private schools. These researchers trace the rise of a pedagogy championed by "New Christian Schooling" leaders, who were motivated by the belief that there must be a strong counteraction to the rise of a competing pedagogy in Australia “in the guise of so-called secular humanism that threatened the Christian foundations of Australian society" (p. 235). It is instructive to consider that, like proponents of school choice in the United States today, Symes and
Gulson (2008) note that in Australia, parents are viewed as having the inherent right of being free to select whichever type of school they desire for their children. The argument for school choice is positioned in terms of the rights of parents to educate their children as they see fit - just as was argued in Mueller v. Allen here in the United States. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 40
Another parallel to popular arguments for school choice made in the United States today emerges when Symes and Gulson (2008) point out that in Australia, “state teachers are painted as the captives of political correctness and state schools are places of ‘little learning’ and ‘dangerous knowledge’” while government schools are “derided as values- neutral while at the same time ignoring traditional values” (pp. 237-238). Indeed, this impression of state teachers is currently used today in simplistic caricatures that frame the debate over school choice in the United States. This phrasing dredges up recollections of an iconic image of teacher ineffectiveness and public school waste in the United States regarding the existence of “rubber rooms” in New York City that house over 700 tenured public school teachers daily who simply went to the rooms, sat all day, and were paid as a result of perceived incompetency or insubordination (Matthews, 2009). This image of public waste is frequently used to galvanize action in the United States to enact school reform measures.
Finally, Symes and Gulson (2008) concern is that the issue of state funding for these “New Christian” schools is a crucial issue in the ongoing contest over Australia's social and educational future. Symes and Gulson lament that the nature of the values taught in the New Christian schools stand at odds with their own philosophical position as secular humanists. Such commentary stands as a reminder that schools will always be a place where community values are forged and opinions toward others and society begin to take shape.
The Rise of Religious Charter Schools in the United States
The research by Fiske and Ladd (2003) offers confirmation that the issue of oversubscription and the lack of availability of seats in schools that are perceived to be of COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 41 good quality need attention if school choice programs are to thrive and transform any society. The proposed benefits of market-based increases in competition will not emerge if there are policies in place that 1) discourage the development of more seats in the better schools or 2) discourage the development of more schools of good quality. The important role that charter schools can play in providing these additional seats may prove to be critical for the overall improvement of educational options for students around the world.
To that end, pressure continues to build to expand options in the United States (Gintis,
2004; Scott, 2009).
A recent development born in the wake of the charter school movement and the drive by governmental entities to provide more viable options for students and families is the rise of the religious charter school (Horning, 2013). These schools are often formed by groups of parents and others who share a common vision of education as a way to transmit values shared by a culture where religion is central to their identity. An example of such a school is Ben Gamla Charter School South in Plantation, Florida (Mulvey,
Cooper & Maloney, 2010) which promotes itself as the first Hebrew-English charter school in the United States that teaches not only the Hebrew language but Israeli culture, traditions, and history as well. It is impossible to explore Israeli culture and history without delving into the roots of the religious beliefs of the Jewish people. Their history is embedded in the sacred writings that appear in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Bible. This school and others like it have had their share of court battles as a consequence of tiptoeing near or over the lines of separation of Church and State and the conflicts are not yet clearly resolved (Carr & Decker, 2015; Weinberg, 2014). COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 42
A subset of charter schools that seem related to the religious charter schools, the ethnocentric niche charter school, has been studied and described in the literature as well
(Fox & Buchanan, 2014). Gulosino (2014) conducted a case study of the Hellenic
Classical Charter School that explores one such ethnocentric charter school established on the site of a former Greek Orthodox school founded by a team of first generation
Greek-Americans. The case study describes a successful academic environment where students focus on classics from Greek literature written in the original language with an emphasis on how these classics reflect important elements of Greek culture. Since so many ethnic cultures are imbued with a sense of religious history and traditions, the existence of these ethnocentric schools contributes to the blurred lines mentioned by
Mulvey et al. (2010) where religion and culture are so intertwined that the study of culture in such charter schools overlaps in ways that probe the constitutional limits of separation of Church and State. The gradually expanding continuum of charter schools that test the limits of the boundaries of Church and State seems destined to become more densely packed as more charter schools open around the country.
Conversion of Center-City Catholic Schools to Charter Schools
There is another hybrid of the religious charter school that has evolved in the last
10 years or so. The issues that face the leadership of a modern Catholic diocese are many.
The challenges of an increasingly secular culture have resulted in a gradual decline in the rate of regular Mass attendance (Weddell, 2012). Most diocesan vocation offices report that the number of new seminarians discerning a call to the priesthood is not of sufficient numbers to replace retiring priests (Lipka, 2014). Furthermore, many Catholic diocesan treasuries have been depleted by numerous eight-figure settlements related to sexual COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 43 abuse charges (Harris, 2015). The pressures that diocesan leaders face as they attempt to continue to support educational ministries in impoverished urban areas by providing financial subsidies further strain resources that are already stretched to the breaking point.
Consequently, finding a new model for education that provides some relief of these financial pressures is imperative. These conditions have led to the emerging phenomenon of the closure of inner city Catholic schools followed by an immediate conversion of the closed school facility - usually on parish grounds - to a charter school.
This phenomenon comes at a time when Catholic school enrollments have dropped by over 50% of the level they were at during their peak in 1965 (Ziegler, 2011).
The National Catholic Education Association reports that the number of Catholic high schools in the nation has declined from over 2,500 in 1965 to 1,213 today (McDonald and Schultz, 2013). It is in this environment that some Catholic diocesan leaders find themselves considering the conversion of some of these Catholic schools in cash-strapped parishes to publicly funded charter schools (McShane & Kelly, 2014). The literature reveals this phenomenon has begun to be studied but it is also clear that more study is needed.
The aforementioned closures of Catholic schools have affected most demographic groups around the country, but they have most significantly impacted students and families from inner city socioeconomic groups (McDonald & Schultz, 2009). In spite of efforts to turn the tide through marketing, new partnerships, and governance structures,
Catholic schools continue to close at an alarming rate (Goldschmidt & Walsh, 2013) much to the detriment of the communities they once served. Coleman (1990) was one of the first researchers to identify the presence of what he termed “social capital” as one of COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 44 the primary strengths of these values-oriented Catholic schools. Recent work by Brinig and Garnett (2014) make a compelling case for the important role of Catholic schools in impoverished neighborhoods because of the social capital they provide. These researchers note the value that these schools bring to the social and behavioral network of these fragile urban communities. When the Catholic schools close in center-city neighborhoods, discernible negative effects follow and the neighborhoods along with the people in them suffer.
The aforementioned financial pressures continue to push Catholic educational leaders toward appropriate ways to configure their schools to adopt new governance models and practices resembling that of charter schools. Indeed, some diocesan offices have already ceded control of their inner-city schools to those who have a deep well of experience in the charter school world. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, commenting on the decline of Catholic schools in his Archdiocese of New York, famously commented that
Catholic leaders could no longer continue adopting a “hospice mentality” as they waited for their local Catholic school system in the United States to wither and die (Dolan,
2010). Cardinal Dolan advocated that new methods were needed to meet current challenges in New York and around the country. In response to Cardinal Dolan’s impassioned plea for new ideas and leadership, the Partnership for Inner-City Education was formed to take responsibility for six Catholic schools in Harlem and the South
Bronx. The Partnership, whose chairman is Russ Carson, a specialist in equity capital who helped build KIPP charter schools in New York, assumes responsibility for the management of the six schools (Zinsmeister, 2015). The Partnership operates independently from the diocesan office. It hired its own superintendent and principal, and COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 45 reserves the right to change academic programming as it deems necessary. The group studied the best practices of the most successful charter school operators with experience in managing inner city schools (Smarick & Robson, 2015). After overcoming initial concerns that Dolan had about turning over responsibility for the schools to an outside agent, the Partnership raised and then invested $9 million for the improvement of buildings, the purchase of classroom materials, and the training of teachers - a move that gave Dolan and other diocesan leaders confidence in the possibilities for success
(Smarick and Robson, 2015). The model is now providing new lessons for other Catholic leaders faced with the challenge of declining enrollments in their urban schools.
Driven by both the financial challenges of sustaining Catholic schools in areas of impoverishment, the conversion of under-resourced inner city Catholic schools to charter schools is a phenomenon that is expected to become more commonplace (McShane &
Kelly, 2014). In 1997, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. formed the Center-
City Consortium and used the available mechanism for forming charter schools to avoid the outright closure of these Catholic schools by converting them to charter schools
(Smarick, 2010). Since that time, both the Archdiocese of Miami and the Archdiocese of
Indianapolis have employed similar strategies in attempts to continue to serve students and families in the inner city.
Catholic Schools – The Fullest and Best Opportunity?
Hernandez (2009) notes that there is disagreement among leaders in the Catholic community as to whether or not these Catholic-to-charter conversions are an advisable way to fulfill the Church’s mission to the poor while adhering to the Church’s broader commission from Jesus to “go therefore and teach all nations” (Matt 28:19). The most COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 46 contentious issue is that, as charter schools, these new schools can no longer offer mandatory religious instruction, something many consider to be the heart of the mission of Catholic schools (Brinson, 2010; Ristau, 2009). In 1990, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) issued a pastoral letter Renewing Our Commitment to
Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools (USCCB, 2005) that reiterated a clear position from previous pastoral letters that “Catholic elementary and secondary schools are of great value to our Church and our nation” (p.1). More significantly, the letter went on to state:
These Catholic schools afford the fullest and best opportunity to realize the
fourfold purpose of Christian education, namely to provide an atmosphere in
which the Gospel message is proclaimed, community in Christ is experienced,
service to our sisters and brothers is the norm, and thanksgiving and worship of
our God is cultivated. (p.1)
After decades of hearing the “fullest and best opportunity” mantra from the
Bishops and other diocesan leaders regarding Catholic schools, it is easy to understand why many school leaders would not embrace the possibility of charter schools fulfilling this mission as declared by the USCCB. Given the secular orientation of charter schools, it is difficult to imagine how three elements of the “fourfold purpose” - spreading the
Gospel, developing community in Christ, and the worship of God - would be accomplished in a charter school. Leaders understandably question whether or not the remaining purpose of Christian education proposed by the Bishops - service to our brothers and sisters – is a sufficient reason to put forth the enormous effort required to run a school system. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 47
This question about the mission and purpose of Catholic schools lies at the center of the disquiet Catholic leaders feel regarding these charter conversions. Prothero (2014) notes that one such leader is Sr. Carol Cimino, Superintendent of the Diocese of Buffalo, who offered the following comments on Catholic-to-charter conversions:
It's not good news for the Catholic schools. Charter schools try to be Catholic
school-like: uniforms, local control, a lot of parental involvement, a little more
rigor in their curriculum. They take the veneer of a Catholic education: What's
lost is the ability to tell a child to respect others because we're all created by God.
(para. 10)
Clearly, the perceived loss of the ability to evangelize and catechize students with a specific mention of God is at the heart of the problem Catholic leaders face.
In addition to the concerns over the loss of the professed mission of Catholic education as expressed by the Bishops, many Catholic school leaders consider charter schools to be one of the main sources of their enrollment problem, often draining students and funds from Catholic schools. Indeed, there is much evidence that validates this perception (Buddin, 2012; Chakrabarti & Roy, 2010; Toma, Zimmer & Jones, 2006).
Chakrabarti and Roy (2010), for instance, found that in Michigan, 13 percent of charter students were drawn from private schools and that the most negative effects were on
Catholic school enrollments. In a similar study on charter schools in Michigan, Toma et al. (2006) estimated 17 percent of charter students were drawn from private schools.
Unquestionably, Catholic leaders are rightly concerned about charter schools being one of the factors contributing to loss of enrollment.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 48
Observable Benefits
Although the conversion of Catholic schools to charter schools has not yet been widely implemented, the study of these schools is nevertheless beginning to unfold
(Brinson, 2010; Carr, 2014; Horning, 2013; McShane & Kelly, 2014; Smarick, 2010).
Initial research has shown that there are positive benefits that result from such conversions. One of the consistently demonstrated benefits is that the newly formed charter schools, which do not charge any tuition, show an increase in student enrollment that has the effect of stabilizing the school (Carr, 2014, McShane & Kelly, 2014). A benefit related to this enrollment growth is that the Catholic parish that hosted the former
Catholic school leases the school building to the charter management organization in exchange for compensation that can amount to $80,000 or more each year (Carr, 2014).
Both Brinson (2010) and Smarick (2010) found that this new revenue stream for the parish allows long-delayed facility repairs to be addressed in a way that would not have been possible prior to the conversion of the parish school to a charter school. Another anticipated benefit that was realized was that these new funds allowed some parishes in
Miami to pay off staggering long-term debt that would have led to parish closure
(Brinson, 2010). Finally, the new charter schools no longer need sustaining subsidies from the parish to service debt, which thereby has the effect of stabilizing other archdiocesan parishes and schools in the surrounding areas (Smarick, 2010).
Problems Arise With the Conversions
In spite of these benefits, researchers have also documented problems with these conversions. As predicted by Ristau (2009), evidence has begun to emerge that indicates that the newly formed charter schools sometimes lose the benefits of the shared religious COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 49 mission and practices that are common in most Catholic schools (Carr, 2014). For example, researchers note that dealing with public school bureaucracies as well as a heightened emphasis on standardized test preparation gave rise to a definitive change in school climate that led to the resignation of many teachers from the Catholic school who has been retained during the first years of the conversion to a charter school (Brinson,
2010; Carr, 2014). Furthermore, researchers cite the lack of shared prayer as an additional negative consequence of these conversions. Additionally, former teachers and principals of the Catholic schools who were retained by the new charter school, frequently cite the increased regulatory burden and accountability protocols that require accompanying documentation as detracting from their satisfaction with the environment of the new charter school (Brinson, 2010; Carr, 2014; Smarick, 2010).
Clearly, the charter schools resulting from these conversions have not been a satisfactory solution in the eyes of many Catholic leaders who have been directly involved. Recently, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis ended its five-year experiment with these converted charter schools as a result of its dissatisfaction with the resulting product of the conversion (Glavan, 2015). After the Indiana legislature expanded the school voucher program, the Archdiocese decided to convert one of the charter schools back into a Catholic school believing it to be once again viable. The other charter school closed after the Archdiocese decided not to seek renewal of the charter following its initial five- year commitment. The parish and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis have once again assumed full responsibility for the empty school building and the financial burdens associated with it.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 50
Catalyst Schools - A New Model
Recently published research by Proehl et al. (2015) on the Catalyst Schools in
Chicago demonstrates that a new model of collaboration between leaders of religious organizations and public school chartering authorities has emerged. The Catalyst Schools have been successful in operating as “faith-inspired” charter schools that show great promise as a model of collaboration between a public chartering authority and a religious organization committed to serving the poor. Perhaps owing to the fact that the schools were established as charter schools from the beginning, Proehl et al. (2015) reports that parents, students, teachers, and administrators all indicate a level of satisfaction that has been elusive in the Catholic-to-charter conversions.
Equally as important, the sponsoring religious organization, the Christian Bothers, appears to be deeply satisfied with the results of the Catalysts Schools. There is clear evidence that the leaders of the Christian Brothers feel as if they are retaining fidelity to their founding charisms with the establishment of these schools (Quinio, 2012). First reported by Meyer (2011) in the popular literature as a public charter school based on the philosophy of educating in the Lasallian tradition, the Catalyst Schools show promise as a model that takes advantage of both the faith-inspired orientation of its teaching as well as the funding administered by the local public school system.
The Catalyst Schools were founded after multiple inquiries from two former
CEOs of CPS who both asked the Christian Brothers to consider establishing charter schools to serve the same populations. Both CEOs, Paul Vallas in 1997 and Arne Duncan in 1999, were familiar with the establishment and operation by the Christian Brothers of two tuition-free Catholic schools - the San Miguel Schools - that were serving in high- COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 51 crime high-poverty neighborhoods in Chicago (McLaughlin, 2005). The Christian
Brothers told Vallas “no” because the charter schools would compromise the authenticity and integrity of their mission (Quinio, 2012). However, with the passage of time and the growing pressures of raising every dollar used to operate the San Miguel schools every year, new CEO Duncan resumed the conversation with leaders of the Christian Brothers and gradually found a willingness by the Brothers to continue these discussions over a period of six years. Finally, in 2005 the Christian Brothers agreed, in cooperation with
CPS, to establish two K-8 charter schools - Catalyst Howland and Catalyst Circle Rock - that would be operated as “faith-inspired” schools (Goldschmidt & Walsh, 2013).
Howland opened in 2006 and Circle Rock in 2007. In the years that followed, a third
Catalyst School - Catalyst Maria - was opened in 2012. Now in its fourth year of operation as a K-12 charter school, Catalyst Maria - a Catholic-to charter conversion - has over 900 students today and is thriving. As a result of multiple challenges to be mentioned later, a decision by the Catalyst board to close Catalyst Howland was made in
2015. The school was closed in May of that same year. Consequently, ten years after opening the original charter schools, two Catalyst Schools still operate on firm footing today.
After ten years of operation, the remaining Catalyst Schools have experienced significant success. Proehl et al. (2015) reports that the Catalyst Schools use a longer school day and a longer school year than the typical public school in Chicago to attain exemplary academic results when compared to other schools of similar socio-economic composition. In addition to exceeding local standardized testing results for the Northwest
Evaluation (NWEA) assessments, Catalyst leaders report a graduation rate of 99% from COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 52 the two K-8 schools operating in 2013. This compares extraordinarily well to the 63% graduation rate for all CPS students (Proehl et al., 2015). Though the first two Catalyst
Schools were started from scratch as opposed to being born from a conversion of a
Catholic school, it seemed reasonable to look for comparative academic results. In reviewing the literature on these schools, a Catholic-to-charter conversion could not be found with such strong academic results.
Another unique feature of the Catalyst Schools is the approach to faculty formation. Proehl et al. (2015) reports that the life, philosophy, and writings of St. Jean-
Baptiste de La Salle, the founder of the Christian Brothers and long-considered the patron saint of Catholic school teachers, formed the basis of reflection for teachers at the
Catalyst Schools. Teachers are given the opportunity to participate in a summer institute lasting at least two weeks that is offered every August. Rooting the formation of charter school teachers in the writings of a Catholic saint is unreported elsewhere in the literature and may provide the underpinning of the presence of the “Catholic ethos” that Proehl concludes pervades the school.
Conversely, like other researchers studying Catholic-to-charter conversions,
Proehl et al. (2015) discovered that many teachers and leaders felt that the operation of the Catalyst Schools as charter schools brought its own set of sustained headaches. Proehl found the ongoing pressure of high-stakes testing, meeting compliance requirements of accrediting agencies, and the perceived negative impact of the CPS culture on the
Catalyst culture as negative experiences impacting the work of teachers in the Catalyst
Schools. This sentiment was so strong that Proehl offered a series of recommendations to COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 53 avoid the institutional pressure on the Catalyst Schools to grow into simply another bureaucratic actor in the CPS structure.
Summary
Problems in the American education system have led to the emergence of a philosophy that challenges schools to improve their performance by competing for students in a market-driven system. In response to this desire for more competition in education, legislators have developed two primary methods, school vouchers and charter schools, which are vehicles that allow schools to compete with traditional public schools for educational dollars by attracting more students. Over the same time period that these two options have evolved, Catholic schools have seen extraordinary declines in enrollment in the United States. These declines have been particularly staggering in inner city parish schools.
As the United States court system has gradually provided more accessibility for public funding of religious schools and for their students and families, religious leaders have begun to weigh the merits of opening religious charter schools. Three Catholic diocesan systems in Indianapolis, Miami, and Washington D.C. have all closed Catholic schools and immediately reopened charter schools in the buildings on their parish grounds. While providing some financial benefits to the parishes and diocesan office involved, there has been a level of dissatisfaction in the degree to which these new charter schools are able to meet the written mission of Catholic schools as communicated by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Recent research by Proehl et al. (2015) has documented a new model of “faith- inspired” charter schools that is not only yielding excellent academic results but has also COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 54 shown promise in meeting the religious and evangelizing purposes for which Catholic schools are operated. To date, Proehl is the only researcher to have published in a peer- reviewed format. Given the extraordinarily positive results of the Catalyst model and the stark financial challenges facing Catholic leaders around the country who are trying to serve impoverished neighborhoods, this Catalyst model is ripe for further study and analysis. The results of this case study will build understanding of important leadership issues and decision-making processes surrounding the operation of faith-inspired charter schools. Increased understanding will help inform other diocesan leaders and Catholic school systems as they seek to learn the best practices of forming charter schools in their unique locations.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 55
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
Introduction
As described in the literature review, there has only been one peer-reviewed study of the Catalyst Schools (Proehl et al., 2015). Given that there are no other charter schools operating under the same principles, it was determined that a qualitative case study fit the situation best. Such a case study will serve as a springboard for identifying issues for further analysis of this groundbreaking innovation.
One of the most compelling and interesting aspects of the operation of the
Catalyst Schools is the degree to which the traditions and charisms of 300 years of
Lasallian education in Catholic schools have been incorporated into many of the schools’ programs. In previous studies on Catholic-to-charter conversions (Brinson, 2010; Carr,
2014; Smarick, 2010) there were indications that the operators of these schools had every intention of seeing that the schools and their programs had no hint of religious affiliation or instruction. Upon personally visiting the Catalyst Schools, it was apparent to me that the situation was ripe for a case study because of the unique approach to faculty training, motivation, and formation that seemed to be yielding exceptional results. Strake (1995) notes that a case study should be considered based on what it is that is likely to be learned that will lead to a more profound understanding of a broader phenomenon. The scarcity of previous research along with the profoundly different approach to charter school education represented by the “faith-inspired” foundation of the Catalyst Schools makes a qualitative case study a logical choice.
My participation in a practicum as a part of the Interdisciplinary Leadership doctoral program at Creighton University led me to work in a previously established COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 56
Catholic-to-charter conversion in Indianapolis. As a long time Catholic educator who knew many of the people involved in this particular Catholic-to-charter conversion, I was surprised by the slavish adherence to issues of separation of Church and State imposed on these school leaders by the charter granting authority of the Mayor’s office in
Indianapolis. These were Catholic leaders of honor who were simply working in accordance with the direction that had been given to them by the Mayor’s office and leaders of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis in what was essentially a pilot program for both parties involved. The question immediately occurred to me, “Were there other fundamentally important elements of Catholic education that could make a difference for the students in this charter school?” Furthermore, “Could not the boundaries of what is and is not legally permissible be probed to a greater degree to take full advantage of faith- based elements essential to effective teaching and learning?” The research by Proehl et al.
(2015) provides the answer to that question and the answer is yes.
That answer, however, immediately begs another question which is how were the founders of the Catalyst Schools able to integrate so many more elements of traditional
Catholic education and faculty formation into their charter school than in the Catholic-to- charter schools previously reported in the literature. The answer to that question is critically important to many Catholic leaders and is at the heart of this study.
Therefore, the purpose of this case study was to understand the process of conceptual development, negotiation, and discernment among organizational leaders that led a large metropolitan school system and a religious order to collaborate on the establishment of two publicly funded “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban neighborhoods. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 57
Research Questions
Following an initial period of optimism and hope about the possibilities of
Catholic-to-charter conversions, disappointments emerged in newly formed charter schools that have been opened following the closure of a Catholic school (Brinson, 2010;
Carr, 2014; Smarick, 2010). While veteran teachers, administrators, and staff initially had great hopes that the distinguishing characteristics of a Catholic school - high standards, good discipline, and a commitment to teaching virtue and character - could be retained after the conversion to a charter school, their lived experience left them deeply disappointed. The day-to-day operation of the Catholic school that bound both the students and faculty in a shared mission was not adequately replaced by the optional afterschool religious education programs offered to the students (Carr, 2014; Smarick,
2010). However, recent research by Proehl et al. (2015) indicates that a new model of charter school formation has emerged that has shown unparalleled results in retaining what Proehl refers to as the “Catholic ethos”, the retention of which is critically important to leaders of Catholic secondary and elementary schools along with their superiors at the diocesan level.
The following research questions guided this case study:
Research question #1: How do leaders of a public school chartering authority and a religious order describe the process of discussion, negotiation, and discernment that led to the agreement to collaborate on the establishment of two “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban neighborhoods managed by the religious order?
Research question #2: What have been the obstacles, successes, and future opportunities presented since the establishment of these two schools? COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 58
Research Design
This qualitative case study explored the interactions among leaders involved in two organizations that collaborated to form two faith-inspired charter schools. Qualitative data obtained from interviews with leaders of the charter granting authority and leaders of a religious order helped clarify the dialogue, negotiations, and discernment that took place over a six-year period of collaborative conversation. Additionally, the documents gathered from the minutes, letters, emails, and other means of communication between these collaborating leaders helped shed light on the process of decision-making and discernment in the formation of the Catalyst Schools.
The rationale for conducting the case study of these particular schools was based on the fact that little research on these schools has been reported. Consequently, researchers have not yet begun to identify the particular questions and issues that need to be explored in these schools. Therefore, a case study was well suited as an approach that empowered the leaders who formed these schools to share their stories while at the same time laying the groundwork for further inquiry (Creswell, 2011). While the void in the literature related to these unique faith-inspired charter schools indicates more understanding is needed, this study provides new insights regarding the critical elements of their establishment.
Study Participants
A phone conversation with Dr. Rebecca Proehl in July of 2015, the author of the only peer-reviewed research article that has been published on the Catalyst Schools, led me into direct contact that same month with the founders of the Catalyst Schools, Ed
Siderewicz and Gordon Hannon, who had also collaborated to found the original San COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 59
Miguel schools in 1995. The San Miguel schools had attracted the attention of CPS leaders originally and led to the initial proposal of partnership from CPS to the Christian
Brothers. Since this is a study of dialogue and discernment at the leadership level of an organization, their participation was critical.
As a result of an initial conversation with these founders, along with a subsequent visit to Chicago and discussion with other leaders of the Catalyst Schools, I was assured of the willingness of the leaders of the Christian Brothers to participate in the study.
Additionally, our original conversations led to identifying key volunteer lay leaders, each of whom played a critical role in the process of establishing these schools. Because of these leaders’ participation in the conversations that took place on multiple levels of the organizations, interview participants were sought who were thought to have a recollection of the discussions related to the origin of the schools. Since the inspiration for the
Catalyst Schools was the tuition-free San Miguel Catholic schools founded by the
Christian Brothers in 1995, and since many of the discussions about the Christian
Brothers possibly working with CPS took place at San Miguel board meetings, it was important to look for participants who had the experience of seeing how the San Miguel schools evolved into faith-inspired charter schools as well as the experience of participating in the discussions that led to this decision. A document was developed expressing the key elements of the proposed study and was sent by Siderewicz to each participant in advance of me contacting them requesting their participation. This “key elements” document can be found in Appendix A.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 60
There were multiple attempts to gain direct access to the leaders of the Chicago
Public School system who were involved in the initial proposition of the partnership to establish the Catalyst Schools. At the beginning of the study, the person from CPS identified as most critical to the success of establishing the charters, former CPS CEO
Arne Duncan, was nearing the end of a seven year term of serving as the Secretary of
Education for the United States. As the study progressed, Duncan announced his resignation, which took place on January 1, 2016. His subsequent return to Chicago allowed contact to be established and he agreed to be interviewed for the study. Duncan’s participation, along with that of Ron Huberman, the CEO whose term followed Duncan’s in Chicago, add breadth to the study by providing a balance of perspective offered by the charter granting authority.
The demographic breakdown of the interview participants is as follows:
• two founders of both the San Miguel schools and the Catalyst Schools (Gordon
Hannon and Ed Siderewicz)
• one current Christian Brother who was serving as provincial leader of the
Midwest Province of the Christian Brothers at the time the Catalyst Schools were
formed (Br. Frank Carr)
• one current Catalyst board member who had previously served on the San Miguel
board (Terry Toth)
• three former Catalyst board members who previously served on the San Miguel
board (Lou Ebling, Pat Wier, and Gary Wood)
• two current Catalyst teachers who had previously served at the San Miguel
schools (Kathy Donahue and Sharon Morgan) COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 61
• one current Assistant Archdiocesan Superintendent who was in the same position
at the time the Catalyst Schools were formed (Sr. Margaret Farley)
• one current Christian Brother who has documented the formation of the Catalyst
Schools and is currently completing a book to publish his findings (Br. Michael
Fehrenbach)
• one current principal of a Catalyst School (Dawn Sandoval)
• one former principal of a Catalyst School and current Catalyst network leader
(Michael Kasang)
• one former Superior General of the Sisters of St. Casimir (Sr. Immacula Wendt)
and one additional member of the order (Sr. Margaret Zalot)
• one wraparound spiritual formation program leader (Amy Eckhouse)
• two former CPS CEOs (Arne Duncan and Ron Huberman).
These participants represent all aspects of the decision making process at the leadership level - founders of the schools, religious order leaders, archdiocesan leaders, board members, and CPS leaders who were present for the discussions and discernment under analysis. The sample size was also deemed sufficient based on the common understanding among qualitative researchers conducting interviews that sufficiency is reached when the researcher begins to hear the same information reported and is no longer learning anything new that could justify exploring different dimensions of the issue being studied (Seidman, 2013).
Data Collection Tools
Collection of data began with conducting personal interviews at a site of the interviewee’s choosing. The interview questions are detailed in Appendix B and the COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 62 questions were generally asked in the sequence listed. Occasionally, it was necessary to ask follow-up questions for the purpose of gaining further clarity regarding some of the answers. Sharing the stories of people in their own words and making thematic connections among their experiences is a fruitful way of conducting and reporting research in many of the social sciences (Seidman, 2013). Thus, the personal interview was selected as the primary means of collecting data for the study.
However, additional data was collected from other sources. Yin (2014) notes that it is possible to collect six different types of data for qualitative studies. These types of data include:
• Documentation such as letters, memoranda, emails, and other personal documents
• Archival records such as organizational records, budgets, and minutes of meetings
• Interviews
• Direct observations
• Participant observation
• Physical artifacts.
In this particular case study, all of these types of data were gathered except for physical artifacts.
Data Collection Procedures
Each participant, with the exception of the founders, was introduced to me through an email recommendation from one of the founders requesting participation in the case study. All 18 of the individuals invited to participate agreed to do so without hesitation. With the exception of three interviews by phone, the personal interviews were face-to-face and took place in the metropolitan area of Chicago from November 2015 COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 63 through March 2016. Each interview lasted between 60 and 90 minutes. With the permission of each participant, the personal interview data was electronically recorded and subsequently transcribed by a transcription professional. The data was properly secured on a home computer.
In addition to the interviews, a sampling of the other types of data gathered in each of the categories described by Yin (2014) includes:
Documentation – a memorandum from the former Superior General of the Christian
Brothers across the world, a letter from the Midwest Provincial of the Christian Brothers giving the rationale for his suggestion to move forward in partnering with CPS, agendas and notes from presentations given to other dioceses around the country regarding the possible formation of Catalyst Schools in other states, a booklet regarding the mission and philosophy of education and discipline prepared for potential Catalyst School teaching candidates, and Catalyst School promotional materials designed to inform prospective students and their families. Additionally, I was given the most recent draft of a book that traces the history of the formation of the Catalyst Schools. Publication of the book is scheduled for April 2016.
Archival Records – a copy of the first charter application submitted to CPS highlighting the planned mission and objective of the schools if granted a charter, minutes of the CPS
Board of Education meeting when the first Catalyst charter was granted, and yearly budgets for Catalyst School operations.
Direct observations – I was granted the opportunity to observe classes in action and to observe teachers interacting with students in non-classroom settings. I was invited to observe a “Leadership Summit” of Catalyst School leaders in August of 2015 which COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 64 gathered approximately 30 teachers, administrators, and board members for the purpose of reflecting on the mission of the schools as a means of serving students in high crime, high poverty settings. Additionally, in August of 2015, I was granted an opportunity to shadow one of the founders for a wall-to-wall day of meetings with other administrators, foundation leaders with an interest in spreading the Catalyst model around the country, and a few random visits from current and former board members.
This entire collection of data was gathered over the course of multiple email exchanges along with five separate visits that took place from August 2015 through
March 2016. These visits were also used to conduct the interviews and to tour each campus where I was allowed to speak informally to many of the teachers, administrators, and staff.
The multiple sources and types of data served to provide general assurance of the validity of the findings of the study. Data source triangulation (Strake, 1995) represents the most obvious path toward this assurance in a case study such as this one. Therefore, the method of triangulation was used repeatedly throughout the evaluation of the data and the interpretations that were made.
Ethical Considerations
All research participants were informed of the nature of the study through the presentation of the “Four Elements” document in Appendix A. I then followed up the introduction by contacting each participant with a personal phone call and email. It was determined by the Institutional Review Board of Creighton University that participants would not be required to sign an Informed Consent document. The IRB Approval Letter can be found in Appendix C. Finally, my dissertation committee helped determine that COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 65 the public profile of each participant and the nature of the subject matter did not require anonymity according to appropriate ethical standards of Creighton University.
Summary
The strength of a qualitative case study methodology is that many sources of evidence can be used and multiple sources did indeed become available. Given the lack of peer-reviewed studies on the Catalyst Schools, it was also determined that this qualitative case study will provide an opportunity for the discovery of new dimensions of the Catalyst Schools to be explored by future researchers. Interviews with leaders responsible for the discernment, dialogue, and decisions to form the Catalyst Schools comprise the bulk of the data but the ability to ascertain the validity of the data through triangulation results from an ample supply of other types of data from a variety of sources. Approval of the research was obtained from the Institutional Review Board and all ethical standards expected of Creighton University doctoral researchers were followed. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 66
CHAPTER FOUR: FINDINGS AND THE EVIDENCE-BASED SOLUTION
Introduction
In an effort to address financial pressures posed by inner city Catholic parishes serving impoverished areas, some Catholic leaders have opted to alleviate some of these pressures by closing Catholic schools in these parishes and immediately opening a charter school on the parish grounds. Evidence has begun to emerge that indicates that the newly formed charter schools lose the benefits of the shared religious mission and practices that are common in most Catholic schools (Brinson, 2010; Carr, 2014). Proehl et al. (2015) indicates that a new sort of model has emerged as the result of the collaboration between the Chicago Public School (CPS) system and the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian
Schools (Christian Brothers) religious order. Proehl’s research shows the Catalyst
Schools have been successful in operating as “faith-inspired” charter schools that show great promise as a model of collaboration between a public chartering authority and a religious organization striving to maintain fidelity to the founding charisms of the organization - a result that previously established Catholic-to-charter conversions have not fully attained.
The purpose of this case study is to understand the process of conceptual development, negotiation, reasoning, and discernment among organizational leaders that led a large metropolitan school system and a religious order to collaborate on the establishment of two publicly funded “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban neighborhoods. The aim of this Dissertation in Practice study was to develop a series of recommendations that can aid and inform leaders of other religious orders and diocesan education offices as they consider the possibility of opening charter schools in COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 67 impoverished areas that are experiencing a severe decline in enrollment and possible closure as a result of the financial pressures associated with these declines.
Presentation of the Findings
The following research questions guided this qualitative case study:
Research question #1: How do leaders of a public school chartering authority and a religious order describe the process of discussion, negotiation, and discernment that led to the agreement to collaborate on the establishment of two “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban neighborhoods managed by the religious order.
Research question #2: What have been the obstacles, successes, and future opportunities presented since the establishment of these two schools?
Preliminary conversations were held with the two founders of the Catalyst
Schools to identify a pool of possible participants who had witnessed the evolution of the
Catalyst Schools concept from an historical perspective. Sixteen other participants were identified, and every one of them agreed to participate. The interviews were conducted from November 2015 through March 2016. The interviews yielded 183 pages of transcribed text.
Dedoose qualitative analytic software was used to review the interview text and to begin to understand themes that evolved as participants discussed their perspectives and recollection of events as they unfolded. Significant passages were excerpted and given appropriate codes based on content relative to the issues identified by the research questions. Table 2 shows the identified themes and their frequency of occurrence, based on the number of coded excerpts that emerged from the transcribed interviews.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 68
Frequency of Coded Themes
Table 2
Theme Passages Coded
Community Partners 7 Conceptual Development 41 CPS Relations 21 Discussion and Discernment 51 Future Opportunities 50 Inspiration 23 Leadership 55 Mission 11 Obstacles 30 Rationale 25 Successes 8 Values Curriculum 12
Chapter Four presents the results obtained from the analysis of the 18 interviews, the researcher’s observations during the five site visits, and review of multiple sources including documents, minutes, letters, email messages, memoranda, and manuscripts. A review of the 600-plus pages of documents gathered, along with review of the field notes taken from my observations and shadowing experiences, informed the synthesis of all of the data into seven major themes which are presented in this chapter along with examples of evidence for each major theme.
The seven sub-headings based upon these major themes are:
• Conceptual Development
• The Charter Proposition – Discussion and Discernment
• Rationale for a Decision
• Leadership Issues
• Overcoming Obstacles COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 69
• The Catholic Ethos
• The Ideal Charter Granting Authority
Conceptual Development
It is instructive to learn the background from which the concept of the Catalyst
Schools developed. The founders of the school recognize the establishment of the
Catalyst Schools represents a radical departure in normative thinking about education offered by religious organizations in the United States. Appreciating the organizational culture from which this idea emerged is essential to fully understanding the energy that drives it forward today.
St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle. It is impossible to understand the particular case of the establishment of the Catalyst Schools without an understanding of the life and work of St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle who founded the Institute of the Brothers of the
Christian Schools and dedicated his life to educating the poor and abandoned children of
France. Founded in 1680, the Christian Brothers now run 560 schools for 850,000 students in over 80 countries based on the principles De La Salle laid out in “The
Conduct of the Christian Schools”, which was published posthumously in 1720. In 1950,
Pope Pius XII declared him to be the Special Patron of all Christian Educators. Today there are over 5,000 brothers actively engaged in the operation of schools and other education centers around the world (see LaSalle.org, 2016).
Establishment of San Miguel Middle School. Chicago is a hub of operations for the Christian Brothers. In addition to Lewis University, the Midwest Province of the
Christian Brothers operate nearly a dozen high schools, elementary schools, retreat centers and camps to serve the youth of the metropolitan area. It was in this setting in COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 70
1994 that Brother Edmond Siderewicz returned to the United States after eight years of working to establish schools for impoverished Mayan Indians in Guatemala. In a conversation over lunch with Brother Michael Fehrenbach, Siderewicz was encouraged to listen to what the Spirit was saying as he contemplated the next phase of his ministry.
It is from that exercise of listening and contemplation that Brother Ed collaborated with
Brother Gordon Hannon to establish the San Miguel School in honor of St. Miguel
Febres Cordero, a Christian Brother who served the people of Ecuador and was canonized in 1984. The San Miguel School, which is still open today, is one of a handful of tuition-free Catholic schools in the country. San Miguel students come from inner city
Chicago neighborhoods. Through small class sizes, an extended school day and year, and a low student-to-teacher ratio, the San Miguel School has attained remarkable success in terms of the academic performance and graduation rates of its students. It is truly a labor of love and a passion for not only the Christian Brothers but also for the active group of benefactors and board members who provide governance and leadership for the school.
The San Miguel School thrives as result of an energetic team of volunteer board members who commit time and energy to informing others about the mission of the school, inviting others to participate by sharing their skills and expertise in areas needed to run a school, and soliciting financial support for the school. The tradition of extraordinary volunteer leadership goes back to the school’s founding and has been maintained over the past 20 years. One of the interviews I conducted took place the morning after the annual Stewardship Dinner celebrating the generosity extended by benefactors over the past year. This particular person, who had been on the board for the past 20 years, was enthusiastic about the successes of the school and hopeful about its COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 71 prospects for the future. The Annual Report she brought to the interview boasted of San
Miguel’s first student who was a child of a graduate of the school. Incredibly, a positive tradition is beginning to take root in an area mainly known for its crime and poverty.
Over the years, the enthusiasm for the work that the San Miguel School does has grown among the Chicago community. This enthusiasm is best exemplified by the establishment of a second San Miguel campus through a gift from Gary Comer, a wealthy philanthropist who founded Lands End clothing company out of his garage in Chicago.
Whereas the original San Miguel campus serves a population consisting primarily of
Latino students, the new campus would serve a predominantly African-American population. The establishment of the new campus brought both new challenges and new opportunities, but the schools continued to gain a reputation of getting results where no other schools could. The Catholic schools that had once existed in the surrounding neighborhoods had all closed because the families in the neighborhood could no longer afford tuition. The public schools in the neighborhoods served by the two San Miguel campuses had abysmal academic performance records (McLaughlin, 2005).
Consequently, the San Miguel schools quickly emerged as the preferred option for many families.
However, the constant pressure of raising funds to support San Miguel is an enormous challenge even in a city with as much wealth and as many people as Chicago.
Donor fatigue has taken its toll. Every current and former San Miguel board member that
I interviewed mentioned the enormity of this fundraising challenge. It was frequently indicated that board members felt that a limit had been reached in terms of the number of students that could be served by San Miguel. As one participant explained, “Part of it was COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 72
San Miguel couldn’t grow. It’s tuition free...We were raising $3 million a year just to keep the schools going. It was a great mission model but a bad business model.” This growing sense of limitation that developed was key to establishing a context for what was to happen next. (G. Wood, personal communication, December 9, 2015)
The CEO comes for a visit. Gary Comer, as mentioned previously, an influential supporter and benefactor of San Miguel, brought then-CEO of CPS, Arne Duncan, to see the good work that the school and its teachers were doing. Duncan was so impressed by what he saw and the results of the school’s performance on standardized tests that he asked Hannon and Siderewicz to consider a proposition. As Siderewicz recalls, “Arne sat right there and looks at me. ‘Brother if you can get your Brothers behind this I’ll get my team behind it. I’ll make sure it works. Could you guys bring what you’re doing into the public sector?’” This was not the first time that the question had been posed to the
Brothers. Previous CPS CEO, Paul Vallas, had asked the same question of Siderewicz back in 1999. Siderewicz recalls that his first response was, “No way that could be done.
We are a Catholic school.” However, Duncan’s inquiry came nearly 5 years after Vallas had first presented the idea. By this time, after years of allowing the idea to marinate among the members of the order, the Brothers were ready to consider the CPS request in earnest as a result of Duncan’s enthusiastic and repeated encouragement.
Duncan’s enthusiasm could have been in no small part due to the launching of the
Renaissance 2010 project by Chicago Mayor Richard Daley in 2004. The primary emphasis of Renaissance 2010 was that Chicago schools would be renewed through the creation of at least 100 new charter schools by the year 2010. The new charter schools were to be aimed primarily at serving Chicago’s low-income neighborhoods. Duncan was COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 73 not only charged with steering the implementation of the Mayor’s plan, he was an ardent supporter of school reform and had been personally involved in establishing charter schools before becoming CEO of CPS in Chicago.
Before making the proposal to Siderewicz and Hannon, Duncan had visited the
Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago, Francis George, to inquire about the Cardinal’s interest and willingness to partner with CPS to establish a number of charter schools throughout the City of Chicago. As Duncan relates,
They were closing Catholic schools, as you know, due to underenrollment and for
me when the school closes the parish often closes. It’s just another loss to
decimated communities. So, I pushed the Archdiocese very very hard to have
their schools with declining enrollment to become charters. We could fund them
publicly and give them the income they desperately needed. Our per pupil was
more than what they were charging so it would be a huge increase in their revenue
and they could use that to serve more kids. We had a couple meetings and
candidly I failed. (A. Duncan, personal communication, March 9, 2016)
The Cardinal was concerned about not being able to teach religion in the schools and according to Duncan, “I could never get the Archdiocese to buy into that as planned.”
On the other hand, Duncan found a more receptive ear with Siderewicz. In
Duncan’s words,
Ed was just much more flexible. He said what do you do about teaching religion?
And I said we can teach it as a voluntary thing from 8 o’clock to 9 o’clock in the
morning, start school at 9 and do it before school…. Basically, rather than finding
a way to say no he found a way to say yes. And it really was his leadership, COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 74
courage, creativity, and ingenuity that led to it. (A. Duncan, personal
communication, March 9, 2016)
The question was now officially on the table for the Brothers to consider and
Duncan’s persistent inquiries would not be ignored. Siderewicz recalls his continued encouragement by Duncan to give his proposition serious consideration. Siderewicz could only promise him that he would take it to the Brothers for it to receive a full exploration by the leaders of the Midwest Province.
The Charter Proposition - Discussion and Discernment
Both Hannon and Siderewicz recall that their immediate response to the idea of starting a charter school to try to replicate the San Miguel schools was negative in nature.
Both men were products of a lifetime of Catholic education in the Lasallian tradition.
Their paradigm of Catholic schooling had been formed both in their role as Catholic school students and then as Catholic school teachers. It is no surprise then, that once the idea was broached with the leadership of the Midwest Province of the Christian Brothers, it was also met with a good deal of skepticism.
The Midwest District. As mentioned previously, the De La Salle Christian
Brothers are a religious order that spans the globe and is present in 80 countries. In order to more effectively manage the order, the Christian Brothers separate themselves according to geographic location around the world. The Midwest District is one of four districts that encompass all of North America. The Midwest District is comprised of eight states and includes three universities, 14 high schools, three middle schools, one elementary school, four retreat centers, two publishing houses, and one provincial office.
The provincial office is located in Burr Ridge, Illinois which is a suburb of Chicago. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 75
Within the District, there are currently 148 brothers and hundreds of lay partners who work together to fulfill the mission of the Brothers (see Lasalle.org, 2016).
There was uncertainty between Siderewicz and Hannon as to what the proper venue was for discussion of the opening of a charter school as proposed by Duncan. One of the obvious places for formal discussion was the San Miguel School board. As co- founders of the schools, both men had close relations and regular reporting responsibilities to the board. Since the concept was merely in the idea phase, there was no preconceived governance structure that would serve in a trusteeship role for any newly formed charter school. Hannon recalls the tenor of the first discussions. “For Ed and I it was like for good or bad, yeah, why not?” The board chair (an influential member of the
Chicago real estate community) couldn’t quite integrate the idea. He replied, “That’s not possible. We are a Catholic school.” Though no formal vote was taken at the time, it was clear that many members of the San Miguel School board had similar reservations.
However, as Hannon recalls, “The question was just in the air and Ed really drove the question to the Board and to the Brothers and said well why not? Isn’t there some way we can do this? Why can’t you do it?” This fundamental question would not go away.
Another concern was legal in nature. One former San Miguel board member who later went on to serve on the Catalyst board noted, “I thought they were going to come after us with tremendous fervor to take us down” referring to leaders of the teachers’ union. “But they ended up not doing that because they were fighting their own issues on multiple fronts.”
The San Miguel board could come to no definitive resolution right away. In fact, the members were not even sure that it was the appropriate body to approve such a move. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 76
They thought that it seemed to be a matter more appropriately handled by the administrative leadership of the Christian Brothers.
Given the proximate location of the provincial office to the proposed location of the new charter schools, there was immediate access to the leaders of the Midwest
District. Since the San Miguel board could not come to a definitive resolution,
Siderewicz and Hannon brought the matter before the Provincial Council. The Visitor (a formal Christian Brother title for the head of the Midwest District – also frequently referred to as “the Provincial” in many religious orders) had immediate concerns. Brother
Frank Carr held the position at that time. He told me,
We were sort of open to it, but we had to maintain good relationships with the
Archdiocese and the Cardinal. There were times when we had to tip toe because
we didn’t want his wrath coming down on the five of our schools in the
Archdiocese at that time. (F. Carr, personal communication, December 4, 2015)
Similar to the concerns expressed by San Miguel Board members, reservations were also expressed about the legalities and constitutional challenges that may come to the Brothers if they were to be associated with such a school. In light of this concern, there was a hesitancy to “own” the establishment of the schools through a directive emanating from the Provincial Council.
Since neither governing body would make a definitive decision either approving the establishment of a charter school or declining to do so, both bodies continued to discuss the issue with no clear resolution. In fact, the scope of the community conversation grew to include many others. A former teacher on the San Miguel faculty recalls, COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 77
We had a three-day think tank meeting with all the community people of San
Miguel. There were 60 of us at DePaul, and we discussed what it would be like to
have a charter school. Basically, all of the stakeholders were invited. I was a
teacher. Board members were there along with parents. (S. Morgan, personal
communication, November 19, 2015)
Another former teacher recalled, “It was like a think tank or strategic planning session.
Can we co-exist together? Can we do an umbrella organization that runs 2 different networks? It was a lot of conversation.”
As the months passed and the discussion intensified, both Siderewicz and Hannon began to believe that the charter proposal from Duncan should be taken up. Siderewicz described the process like this,
The San Miguel Board was looking at it and one day they would say, yeah, you
should consider this, and then the next day they’d say no we can’t do that, and we
just kept kind of going around in a circle. We went around that circle for 6 years.
We kept saying “No”, but it ended up being a “No, not yet.” But we didn’t know
that at the time. It just kind of kept working on our minds and hearts, and I think
after going around that circle long enough I think a couple of us just came to the
conclusion we are going to keep going around this circle till we try it. Then we
know. Either it’s going to work or it’s not going to work. (E. Siderewicz, personal
communication, November 19, 2015)
Siderewicz had similar discussions with the Brothers. He explains,
We said, “What’s there to lose?” If it works it’s a breakthrough. It’s a
breakthrough for our order; it’s a breakthrough for society to say, hey, it doesn’t COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 78
have to be this either/or kind of thinking - it’s this or that. It’s about kids. It’s
about bringing the gifts and traditions and legacies to the table in a way that
works and yet I just keep thinking the Holy Spirit could walk through walls and
barriers. Isn’t that what we are called to with our lives? (E. Siderewicz, personal
communication, November 19, 2015)
Indeed, a barrier was about to be breached in the form of a thoughtful leader who was coming back home.
Rationale for a Decision
As the discussion and discernment continued within the community and among the Christian Brothers, opinions began to become solidified. Again Siderewicz recalls,
I know there were Brothers that were opposed to it. Leaders, I can’t say for
certain. I’m sure there were because people just fell on all sides of this since it
was new and they never knew this experience in this country. I’m sure there were
some that saw possibilities right out of the gate and really encouraged it. But we
were swimming upstream in general. (E. Siderewicz, personal communication,
November 19, 2015)
Brother Johnston’s memorandum. In the midst of this confusion and indecision came the return of Brother John Johnston to Chicago and the Midwest District. Brother
Johnston was no ordinary brother. He had an unmatched depth of international leadership experience having served 10 years in Rome as the Vicar General for the Christian
Brothers (second in charge throughout the world) and another 14 years in Rome as the order’s Superior General (the top position in the world within the hierarchy of the order).
Twenty-four years in Rome seeing the Christian Brothers from a global perspective gave COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 79
Brother Johnston the lens needed to see this charter proposal in light of what was happening around the world. At the first District Council meeting Johnston attended after his return, discussion turned immediately to the charter proposal Arne Duncan had made to the brothers. According to Siderewicz, Brother Johnston left no doubts about his thoughts on the matter. Johnston clearly felt that accepting Duncan’s proposal was within the scope of the worldwide mission of the Christian Brothers. He offered many examples of Brothers collaborating with local and national governments for the funding of schools that were operated by the Christian Brothers.
Brother Johnston gave a previously unparalleled measure of clarity of thought on the matter. It was determined that he would put his thoughts in writing so that they could be accurately distributed to others who had been involved in the charter discussion but were unable to be present for the meeting of the District Council and his expression of support for the charter proposal. On February 9, 2005 (the day the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of San Miguel Febres Cordero), Brother Johnston distributed a memorandum. The memorandum was prepared as a summary of positions that Brother
Johnston had presented orally at a previous meeting of the Council. The entire memorandum represents a unique synthesis of the experiences of the Christian Brothers over the past Century. Any serious student on the matter should read it. The memorandum is included in its entirety in Appendix D.
Brother Johnston expressed his thinking on the matter by making the following points:
I spoke to the proposal out of my international experience, 10 years as Vicar
General, 14 years as Superior General. Through the lens of that experience, I said COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 80
that I see no important reasons why we should say no to the proposal and that I
see important reasons why we should say yes. (Johnston, 2015)
After acknowledging that there may well be legal challenges that would work their way through the court system, Johnston writes:
As far as I know, neither Church law nor Church practice discourages
collaboration with governments. On the contrary, the Church frequently and
consistently argues that governments are obliged to fund education for everyone -
including those in schools with religious orientations. (Johnston, 2005)
Explaining what he has seen from a global perspective, Johnston wrote:
Internationally, the Institute of the De La Salle Christian Brothers has
collaborated for many years with governments and continues to collaborate today
in numerous countries… relationships with governments are of three kinds: 1)
those imposed by law or edict that effectively exclude the Institute from
involvement in educating youth through schools; 2) those imposed by law or edict
that permit the Institute to function only within certain parameters; 3) those that
the Institute enters into freely, accepting both the advantages and disadvantages of
the arrangement. (Johnston, 2005)
Johnston goes on to give examples of the three types of arrangements with governments around the world. He notes that, “Today the Brothers are effectively excluded from educating youth in schools in Cuba, Vietnam, and Myanmar.” Similarly,
“until the collapse of communism in Central Europe, the same was true in Poland,
Romania, and Czechoslovakia. In Slovakia today, we have a school in which the teachers are paid at least partially by the State.” COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 81
Johnston continues,
Our schools in Sri Lanka were nationalized some 40 years ago and no school
could any longer charge tuition. The Brothers and former students decided to find
financial support for a few schools and passed the other schools to the
government. Some 45 years ago, France enacted laws that enabled the Institute to
conduct its own network of schools and receive government support for salaries
(lay and brothers) as well as other operating expenses. A similar arrangement
exists in Belgium. In both countries, the teaching of religion is permitted.
The Socialist government in Austria began paying teachers salaries in all
schools some 20 years ago. At approximately the same time, the two districts in
Great Britain took advantage of the opportunity to enter the government system
and receive financial assistance the teaching of religion is an integral part of the
curriculum.
When the Socialist party won national elections in Spain some 20 years
ago, the government soon offered to provide funds for all schools K-10 where the
teaching of religion and pastoral activities would be permitted.
In India, we run schools for the poor in which the government pays the
salaries of most of the teachers, including the Brothers.
In Argentina, students in our schools are categorized according to family
income and receive tuition assistance accordingly.
In other countries, such as Thailand, we cannot teach the Catholic religion
in the school building to the very small number of Christians. We teach religion,
however, in the Brothers’ residence. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 82
About 25 years ago, our Institute in France made the decision to withdraw
the brothers from Turkey. When the Vatican heard that we intended to end a
presence we had maintained since 1841, Reaction was decisive and swift. The
Vatican pleaded with us to maintain our presence. There was no expectation that
we would “proselytize” and try to convert Muslims to Catholicism. Not at all. The
hope was that we would continue to make Christ’s loving and saving presence a
visible and effective reality through well-run, highly regarded educational
institutions, while respecting totally the religion of others. The Institute reversed
its decision and continues to serve Turkish youth, nearly all Muslims, today.
(Johnston, 2005)
Many other salient points are made in this persuasive and authoritative document.
It closes with an introspective one sentence summary which declares, “I suppose the bottom line question is whether or not God, in the words of St. De La Salle, is confiding such children to our care… or not.”
This was the question before the Brothers in Chicago in 2005, and, after Brother
Johnston expressed his thoughts on the matter, resolution was not long in coming.
Reflecting on that pivotal meeting of the District Council, Siderewicz offers:
The conversation was a fascinating moment. It’s kind of like again, here’s
something new. It’s not a Catholic school, we don’t know this experience,
but then John spoke up at that meeting. He’s the first word after our
presentation and he said this is not a radical proposal, we do this in this
country and that country and ticking them off and it’s true. (E. Siderewicz,
personal communication, November 19, 2015) COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 83
Siderewicz continues, “Another brother spoke up after that and said, ‘This is where religious communities have been historically - on the margins.’ Essentially, it’s out there but we’ve always been out there. That’s what we are created to be.”
Brother Frank Carr, the Provincial, basically said, “go for it” according to
Siderewicz. None of those interviewed recalls a vote being taken. There was some sense that one of the reasons that no vote was taken was because the legal implications were unclear. Constitutional issues of church-state separation were still unclear. The actual makeup and constitution of the school’s governance structure were also unclear. None of the brothers really knew the exact details of what it was to which they were agreeing.
They simply moved forward with a spirit of faith at Brother Johnston’s urging, because that is what the order had always done since its founding by Jean-Baptiste de La Salle.
Siderewicz recalls that, “This would not be a sponsored school of the Brothers where there’s a direct legal entity and that’s how we did that. I’m convinced we did that because there was a healthy dose of fear along the journey.”
The Cardinal objects but the Catalyst movement is born. Brother Carr did make one request of Siderewicz. “Make sure Cardinal George is aware of it and others at the Archdiocese.” Siderewicz recalls traveling with Brother Mike Fehrenbach to Cardinal
George’s residence on a cold January morning. The Cardinal was adamantly opposed to the proposition and wrote a letter to Frank Carr the following week expressing his disappointment. The last line of the Cardinal’s letter read, “I regret this endeavor.” In spite of the Cardinal’s disapproval, the Brothers determined to move forward. Indicating the blurred lines of accountability that sometimes exist between religious communities COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 84 and the local bishop, one of the interview participants commented, “It is one of the blessings of being a religious order.”
Six years after a suggestion had been made by CPS CEO Paul Vallas to Brother
Ed Siderewicz, it was determined that members of the Christian Brothers would be working with CPS to establish a charter school.
Leadership Issues
This case study looked at the formation of the Catalyst Schools through the eyes of the leaders who made the decision to move forward with this new paradigm of a faith- inspired charter school. The participants chosen were all in leadership positions of the various organizations involved - the Christian Brothers, Chicago Public Schools, the San
Miguel board, the Archdiocese of Chicago, the current Catalyst board, the founders of the school, and the current Chief Executive Officer of Catalyst Schools. Given the research questions and the perspective of the participants, it is only natural that leadership issues would emerge as a team of their comments during the interviews.
Paradigm Pioneers. In the 1990s, a concept emerged that was popularized by leadership writer and speaker Joel Barker identifying the role of what came to be called the “paradigm pioneers” - people who were going into territory previously unknown
(Barker, 1993). Since the paradigm pioneers were leading organizations that were attempting to go into previously unchartered terrain, it could be expected that there will be an enormous amount of energy consumed based on the “trial and error” nature of the path they were attempting to forge. Decisions are made based on the best understanding of the information that is currently available but it is expected that, like the pioneers of the past, a number of wrong turns may be taken until the best path forward is clearly COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 85 identified. Others that follow reap the fruits of the time-consuming, energy-sapping, stress-filled efforts of the paradigm pioneers. The “settlers” who followed the pioneers owe a debt of gratitude to those who found their way through the new territory.
In reviewing the data, it became immediately obvious that the path the leaders were trying to discern was indeed unclear. No one had ever taken it before, and they would walk down many blind alleys of thought and practice before they were to define that clear way forward. Some examples of the comments from research participants demonstrate this sense of uncertainty.
These leaders knew from the beginning where they wanted to go. As one participant said, “We wanted to provide a gratuitous education for kids most in need and we relied on Divine Providence to do it. We said that’s what we are going to do which didn’t make any sense. Not in today’s world.” This was the initial idea from the San
Miguel model. It was not being done anywhere else in the country in 1995. As
Siderewicz noted, “all this was kind of coming together in what seemed like a not so orderly fashion.” However, during the course of my research, I became aware of the
NativityMiquel Coalition that now represents the combined efforts of the Christian
Brothers and the Jesuits to provide services in 44 Schools across 18 states, Canada, and the District of Columbia (see NativityMiguel Coalition, 2014). The settlers are now finding a home in the path blazed by these pioneers who did not fully understand how they were going to get to where they wanted to go.
Once the Brothers arrived at the decision to allow Siderewicz and Hannon to go forth and partner with CPS, similar uncertainty filled the days and early years that followed. Discouragement was not unusual in the early stages of the process. Siderewicz COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 86 reflected this sentiment: “If we are deeply discouraged, then maybe the work of God is getting done. That has given me deep comfort over the years because you do get discouraged.” He likened the process of developing the Catalyst concept to giving birth.
“It’s kind of that birthing experience that we will never know as males, as hard and difficult painful as that is, yet in some ways, I feel we do know that experience.” Further explaining the experience he notes: “That birthing experience brings incredible pain and doubt and many other things, but it also brings incredible joy when the life is brought into the world. That’s the way I feel about things.”
Gordon Hannon spoke in similar terms. “Others who are looking at this kind of thing - you have to be willing to live with ambiguity. It does test you and you question yourself over and over.” He offers a further observation on this issue of the uncertain nature of the enterprise, “You are going to be living with ambiguity for quite a while.”
Thinking about this further he offers, “I always took it personally. How come I can’t figure this out? I was able to figure it out in other areas of my life much more quickly than this is coming to me.”
Frank Carr expressed the same sort of feelings of ambiguity as he recalled the early days. “We just weren’t sure how to proceed. We just knew we wanted to exercise caution.” Brother Mike Fehrenbach spoke in similar terms. “Arne Duncan told us you don’t have to lose your identity. We can push the envelope. Be who you are.” While
Duncan’s assurance gave the Brothers some initial confidence, Fehrenbach recalls, “Does anyone know if this will work? Is anybody else doing it? No, nobody else is doing it. Do it! Find out!” With this spirit of going forth into uncharted waters, combined with the COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 87 strong sentiment that the San Miguel Schools could not grow further because of the fundraising challenges, the Brothers launched their partnership with CPS.
Leadership is proactive and philanthropic. When considering the data in its entirety, there are repeated instances of leaders who took proactive steps. In no particular order these steps include:
• Jean-Baptiste de La Salle deciding to commit his life to the education of the poor
• Ed Siderewicz learning to educate the poor in the highlands of Guatemala
• Gordon Hannon recognizing his call to serve the poor
• Arne Duncan not accepting the status quo as to what a charter school might look
like in Chicago
• Pat Wier turning her attention from running the North American operations of the
Encyclopedia Britannica to share her business expertise with the Brothers
• Gary Comer inviting Arne Duncan to see the good work of San Miguel
• Lou Ebling and Terry Toth bringing their extraordinary volunteer energies to help
provide better opportunities for the education of children living in poverty
• Brother John Johnston bringing his global perspective of Lasallian education to
bear on local issues facing the Christian Brothers in Chicago.
These are all leaders with an exceptional level of commitment who took proactive steps to meet an apparent need that was in front of them. Additionally, they took these steps with a great spirit of generosity in terms of the sharing of their time, their prodigious talents, and their expertise. These leaders gave of themselves over an extended period of years and, for many of them, decades. Never was there any indication in speaking with them that there were any regrets for having extended themselves in this COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 88 fashion. Nonprofit organizations thrive on this type of leadership, and the birth of the
Catalyst Schools is no exception.
Overcoming Obstacles
Another theme that emerged from the interviews was the consistent presentation of obstacles that arose in the development of the Catalyst Schools concept. Gordon
Hannon recalled that there were obstacles even from the beginning years of San Miguel.
This new school would be taking students who had previously been in public schools and could not afford the tuition at a Catholic school. Reducing the number of students in the public school, no matter how small as in the case of San Miguel, was perceived to be a threat by the teachers’ union. Fewer students meant fewer dollars. Furthermore, even though the fire department had already given the green light for the San Miguel School to open in a building that had previously served as a convent he noted, “the fire department came a couple days before school began and said you can’t use the convent because it’s not up to code.” Hannon perceived this as political harassment stemming from the teachers’ union objection to the new school, but nevertheless the founders soldiered on.
“We started school on a Thursday and had our first half day in the gym. The second day was a field trip. That weekend, we still didn’t know where we were teaching classes on
Monday.” Hannon was not to be deterred. “I remember sitting in the convent with Jean (a volunteer). We pulled two big nun tables together in the dining room and said here’s our classroom. So we taught in that dining room for the entire first year – 18 kids.” This was the beginning of a long tradition of overcoming obstacles.
Board clarity. Once the decision had been made by the Christian Brothers to give
Hannon and Siderewicz the freedom to move forward with establishing a charter school COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 89 in partnership with CPS, there was immediate uncertainty as to what form a governing body should take. There was already a clear indication from the Provincial that he did not want the Christian Brothers to bear responsibility for the operations of the school because of legal concerns that he and others shared. Hannon and Siderewicz were given the freedom to work with CPS, but it was up to them and others to determine how that partnership would look and what sort of governance structure would be developed.
Several Catalyst teachers expressed the uncertainty surrounding this governance issue in the early days. One noted, “San Miguel is like our sister school. We thought we were all going to keep the same Board.” But, as another Catalyst teacher added, “It just didn’t work out with the boards. It was a very amicable divorce.” Another participant brought a humorous perspective to this development: “San Miguel got the logo and
Catalyst got the money.”
A key player in the final decision to move to two separate boards appears to be
Sister Margaret Farley, who is an Associate Superintendent with the Archdiocese of
Chicago and also a charter member of the board that provided governance for the San
Miguel schools. She still serves on the San Miguel board today. Siderewicz noted that Sr.
Farley had “done some research and brought a position paper on it.” Sister Farley’s research gave the impetus to separate the governance of the San Miguel schools from the governance of the Catalyst schools. This sort of collaboration and influence from officials at the Archdiocese of Chicago demonstrates that, in spite of Cardinal George’s original misgivings about the formation of the Catalyst Schools, there was still a willingness to provide strategic support as these leaders worked through issues as they arose. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 90
Union resistance. The earlier story of perceived resistance by the teachers’ union related by Gordon Hannon was one of several shared regarding union resistance. A current Catalyst faculty member reflected on the early efforts to recruit students for the first Catalyst School: “Charter schools are normally put into areas of need where people need choices. But the teachers’ union goes in and tries to convince the neighborhoods that bringing in the charter school is wrong because charter schools are for making more money.” Another issue related to the resistance of unions that was spoken to by a number of participants was that of gentrification. There was some feeling among Catalyst faculty members I spoke to that this was a concern that was promoted by the teachers’ union. A teacher now on the Catalyst faculty who was originally a teacher at San Miguel spoke to this idea of gentrification most clearly. She told me, “The argument goes that they want to bring in charter schools so there can be better schools for the white people who will move back into the neighborhood.” Participants also told me that this was a general strategy of rebuttal against Mayor Daley’s plans launched in the context of the
Renaissance 2010 initiative. This obstacle seems to have been overcome over the past decade because there has been no noticeable change in the racial composition of the neighborhoods that these schools serve. One teacher told me, “We have been here for 10 years and there hasn’t been an influx of white persons yet.”
Regulatory burden. Previous research (Brinig, 2010; Carr, 2014) noted that teachers who had previously taught in Catholic schools that were then converted to charter schools found the pressures of dealing with the public school bureaucracy to be overwhelming when compared to their previous experience of working in a Catholic school. Confirming the research by Proehl et al. (2015) who referred to the phenomenon COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 91 as “the specter of CPS”, current Catalyst teachers who started in the San Miguel Schools had the same experience. Hannon recalls, “The administration of the charter schools is radically different than the administration of a private Catholic entity.” Hannon goes on to expound upon other problems in dealing with a public school authority: “They don’t understand the values. The system doesn’t understand what we know about human growth and formation. Human growth and formation has to lead to a more just and peaceful world.” This does not seem to be the focus of CPS. At least, CPS does not put it into these terms. When asked about his impressions of what CPS does care about Hannon replied, “They care about show me the growth on your math score - which is also important.”
Other participants expressed similar concerns. A long time board member related,
“There is a huge administrative burden. You have lots of reports, and they are constantly changing. Some of it is questionable as to whether it’s charter law or something the district wants.”
Current Catalyst teachers expressed concerns along these lines as well. One of them told me, “It’s not for the faint of heart.” She noted that the original charter application required nearly 500 pages of documentation. Additionally, Siderewicz has noticed a change in the relationship with CPS over the years. “Arne’s administration was the most friendly. They have gone between less friendly to antagonistic.”
Current challenge for the Pioneers. Finally, the data also reveals an obstacle in the form of an unresolved challenge that lies ahead for the Christian Brothers and the
Catalyst Schools. At the time of the founding of the Catalyst Schools, both Gordon
Hannon and Ed Siderewicz were Christian Brothers. Therefore, even though the Christian COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 92
Brothers were not formally in a position of ownership or governance over the Catalyst
Schools, there was always the presence of one of the brothers in the operation of the schools. This presence served as an active linkage to the Lasallian charisms that inspired these men in the operation of the school and the training of its teachers. Gordon Hannon articulated this ongoing concern by stating, “If I get hit by a bus tomorrow, I don’t know if the board or leadership would necessarily pick it up (referring to the espousing of
Lasallian tradition and charisms). There’s nothing compelling them other than integrity to stay faithful to founding purpose.” Hannon stated, “Somehow it needs to be institutionalized.” He has been pushing for a memo of understanding or some other kind of covenant between the Catalyst Board and the District Council of the Christian
Brothers. Without such a documented guarantee of affiliation and relationship with the
Christian Brothers, Hannon feels like the faith-inspired nature of the school could be at risk. He warns, “It has to get at the governance level not at the administrative level because one of us could be gone tomorrow.”
Siderewicz expounded on this same issue. He defines the problem by stating;
“This is our work for today. How do we develop that linkage?” He did note that the entire Provincial Chapter meets every four years and that the Chapter last met in 2014.
“What came out of the last Chapter is a mandate to do exactly that - to really find a way to develop linkages with the charter schools that are popping up.” This is obviously a critical issue if the Catalyst Schools are to retain a guarantee of their linkage to the
Lasallian traditions that seem to be such a positive influence on the administration, faculty, and staff. This is a task properly addressed at the leadership level of both the COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 93 current Catalyst Board and the Christian Brothers. For the long-term viability of the
Catalyst Schools as faith-inspired schools, this issue needs to be resolved.
The Catholic Ethos
Another recurring theme emerged though it was not ostensibly a part of the original research questions. Proehl’s research, combined with comments from the participants in this study, made it obvious that its emergence should have been anticipated. A question could rightly be asked regarding how is it that these schools come so close to replicating the results often seen in Catholic schools in terms of the level of satisfaction that the sponsoring entity experiences. How are the non-academic, but critically important, values transmitted from one generation to another? Many charter schools and other types of public schools have adopted various forms of character and value education programs. The Catholic-to-charter conversions in Washington D.C.,
Miami, and Indianapolis all adopted such curricula. However, only the peer-reviewed research by Proehl et al. (2015) has identified any Catholic-to-charter conversion as possessing a “Catholic ethos” when reporting on the research conducted. One reason for this appears obvious - the commitment to having teachers and administrators participate in professional development seminars, workshops, and retreats that focus on the writings of Catholic saints, thinkers, and other religious leaders as a part of the professional development exercises. To my knowledge, this is unprecedented in the world of charter schools.
Faculty hiring and formation for mission. Before hiring prospective teachers, candidates are given materials that clarify some expectations that are unique among charter schools. These materials propose that, “mission is central and of absolute COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 94 importance” and that, “mission is the foundation of Catalyst culture.” According to
Siderewicz, this understanding of the importance of mission must be taken into consideration when interviewing and selecting faculty. The materials also focus on virtue as well as teachings about social justice from the United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops. Once teachers are hired, they have the opportunity to participate in formation activities previously only used to form teachers at Lasallian schools.
One of the primary subjects of teacher formation at the Catalyst Schools is a focus on the life, writings, and teachings of Saint Jean-Baptiste LaSalle. The roots of this practice go back to the traditional formation of teachers in the hundreds of Lasallian schools operating around the world. Locally, Catalyst teachers are provided with an opportunity to attend the Huether Lasallian Conference held in Chicago, which is an annual multi-day gathering of Lasallian educators in the Midwest. Nationally, the most established of these formation opportunities in the United States is the Buttimer Institute of Lasallian Studies. The Buttimer Institute is an intensive Lasallian education and formation program that studies the life and work of St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle, the origins of the Lasallian educational mission, and the charisms typically affiliated with this mission (see Buttimer, 2016). Hannon attested to the commitment and value of these
Lasallian formation programs. “You need to be an active participant in district formation programs - which we are. In many ways we are doing more than many Lasallian schools are doing with having people involved in the Buttimer.” Hannon anticipated that at least three of his teachers would be attending the Buttimer Institute in the summer of 2016 and another 13 teachers are expected to attend the Huether Conference. Considering that these Catalyst teachers will be networking and studying with hundreds of Lasallian COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 95 educators, there is little wonder that the Catalyst Schools have such an evident similarity to Catholic schools.
When asked about his level of satisfaction with the way the charisms of the
Brothers have been retained at the new charter schools, former Provincial Frank Carr recalled, “Mike Fehrenbach was instrumental in maintaining our charism at the Catalyst
Schools in a very non-threatening and even non-denominational way, but still making sure that what the Brothers stood for was under-pinning what they are doing.” Carr went on to cite Fehrenbach for the key role that he continues to play in the formation of teachers stating, “There was a stroke of brilliance in some of his writings done in the formation pieces to help people understand the tradition and the background. Some of those are expertly done.” This level of satisfaction expressed by a leader who had expressed serious initial concerns over the formation of the faith-inspired charter schools is unprecedented in the literature regarding Catholic-to-charter conversions. It points to the fact that there are lessons to be learned on the matter, and the Christian Brothers are pointing the way when it comes to teacher formation.
Values curriculum. The current level of satisfaction with Catalyst’s fidelity to the Lasallian mission does not mean that there were not original concerns regarding how the Catalyst Schools would imbue a spiritually formative experience into its program for students. Former board member Pat Wier recalls, “It was a great concern to the Brothers that you couldn’t hang a crucifix in the school. My position is the importance of the
Catholic school is not having those icons hanging in the hallways. It’s the values we teach the kids.” Later she added, “We can teach those values in whatever building we are COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 96 in. They are not religious values. They are human values - honesty, integrity, ambition - these kids need to learn.
Having never heard mention of the value “ambition” in a character-based curriculum, I asked her if she could expound upon that further. Her reply follows:
I think that’s important and I feel that you can teach kids that they really can do
things. We will give you the means to get you there and, if you have the desire
and drive, which is what I think ambition is, to do it. There’s no reason you can’t
grow up to be a business executive…You can do it if you learn well in school and
learn more than reading, writing, history, social studies. You learn what the real
world is about. You learn how to understand what’s going on around you and
what it takes to make things happen - those kinds of things. I really think that’s
important. We’d bring in business people to talk to them about their jobs, college
people to talk to them about what they are doing in college and most of these kids
are not from college educated families. Most are not from high school educated
families. They don’t even know what it’s like to go to college. They don’t know
that they might want to go, and they have no clue. So, we try to teach them what
it’s like when you go away to college or you go to a local college. I believe you
have to teach the whole person. (P. Wier, personal communication, December 10,
2015)
I left our conversation with an appreciation of the value of ambition and convinced that it was a worthy subject to be included within any values-oriented curriculum.
A faith-based community partner. In its collaboration with CPS, three Catalyst
Schools have been opened in Chicago: Catalyst Howland in 2006, Catalyst Circle Rock COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 97 in 2007, and Catalyst Maria in 2012. Two of those schools - Catalyst Circle Rock and
Catalyst Maria - are still open and thriving. Catalyst Howland closed in the spring of
2015. One glaring difference between the two schools that are thriving today and the one that recently closed (Howland) is the degree to which the individual schools were established with a linkage to a “community partner” from its earliest days.
Catalyst Circle Rock (Circle Rock) was established in partnership with Rock
Church and Circle Urban Ministries – an evangelical Christian organization that had already been serving the neighborhood community for 30 years before the establishment of Catalyst Circle Rock. Circle Rock is housed in a building that also houses Rock
Church and is owned by Circle Urban Ministries. Prior to the arrival of the Catalyst organization, Circle Urban Ministries had been struggling to operate a private Christian school in the same space. Just like in the Catholic parishes trying to serve impoverished communities with a school, tuition-paying students were hard to come by. In the same way that some Catholic parishes have closed their schools only to reopen a charter in the same space months later, Circle Urban Ministries executed a similar conversion working with Catalyst leaders and CPS to form Circle Rock. Today the school is filled.
In a similar partnership, Catalyst Maria (Maria) was founded in collaboration with the Sisters of St. Casimir. The Sisters had operated Maria High School in Chicago for over 100 years. At one time, the all-girls school served over 1,400 students. However, recent years had seen the enrollment dip to just over 200 students and the Sisters were losing approximately $2 million a year through the operation of the school. The Sisters took the initiative to approach Catalyst leadership about a potential partnership because they still wanted to serve the neighborhood in which they had been immersed for over COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 98
100 years. Sister Immacula Wendt, General Superior of the Sisters of St. Casimir, sent a letter to the Catalyst board expressing the dreams for a possible partnership. The entire letter can be found in Appendix G. In the letter she wrote, “What a blessing this partnership, Catalyst and Maria, could be for the students, the families, the community, the city of Chicago! We greatly commend and value the mission, vision, and core educational philosophy of the Catalyst Schools.” This new partnership reflected a new hope for the Sisters. Sr. Immacula continued,
As Catalyst grows and integrates a total K-12 system, we see the building being
used to capacity for the children in our neighborhood. We have longed for the day
when Maria would once again be bursting at the seams, and we see this possibility
with Catalyst as an answer to our prayers, a gift to the surrounding community,
and a new way for us to continue to make a difference in the lives of young
people. (Wendt, 2011)
It is instructive to notice the openness of the Sisters to a “new way” of living out their ministry. In much the same way as the Christian Brothers had been discussing a new way of living out their charisms in 2005, the Sisters of St. Casimir, faced with declining numbers of students and an enormous drain on the financial resources, had to be open to new possibilities that would allow them to continue to serve a neighborhood in which they had been immersed for over 100 years. Today, the school has over 1,100 students and teams with the energy and enthusiasm for learning that the Sisters of St. Casimir dreamed about in 2011. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 99
Regrettably, this sort of community partner was not a part of the formation of
Catalyst Howland and the school suffered as a result. Catalyst board member Lou Ebling reflects,
Here’s the difference between Circle Rock and Howland. Circle Rock has a
community. There’s a church that’s been in the neighborhood for 30 years.
Doesn’t have to be Catholic but having an entity there that provides that sense of
community is critical...versus Howland, which was simply this big building with
no community. (L. Ebling, personal communication, December 11, 2015)
Many other participants perceived the lack of a partnership with a long-standing community organization as a real barrier to Howland’s success and contributed to the decision to close the school in the spring of 2015.
A wraparound spiritual formation program. What has come to be seen as a
critical ingredient of the Catholic ethos of the Catalyst Schools was suggested in
the letter that Sister Immacula sent to the Catalyst Board. In the letter, she
describes her vision of the possible use of the school’s chapel as a gathering space
for students similar to the Catholic-oriented Newman Centers found at
universities around the country. These Newman Centers serve as a home for faith-
based encouragement, reflection, and worship for students enrolled in public and
private universities that are not Catholic. Sister Immacula writes,
As we would partner with Catalyst, it would be our hope to establish a ‘Newman-
like’ Center in the former convent which is attached to the Maria school building.
This Center would provide religious instruction and formation for those who
would want to come. In time, it may also become a place for parent education, for COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 100
Maria High School Alumnae support, and as a resource for peace and justice
service to the larger community. (Wendt, 2011)
The Maria Kaupas Center (MKC), named after the founder of the Sisters of St.
Casimir, now stands as a testimony to the power of Sister Immacula’s vision for a successful way in which a religious order can best partner with a charter school. The
MKC mission is “a Catholic space where spirituality, community, and leadership merge, creating opportunities for people of all faiths to grow and develop as effective agents of
God’s love.” Today, the MKC serves as a thriving after-school ministry, staffed by a combination of sisters, professional staff, and volunteers. It provides the students with a safe place to gather, recreate, and participate in a variety of programs such as sewing, judo, bicycle racing, billiards, painting, open mike sessions, cooking, photography, choir, service learning projects, and movie nights. Additionally, students are offered an opportunity to gather for a non-denominational prayer circle on the altar of the former chapel of Maria High School to reflect on their victories, struggles, and daily concerns.
The program is still evolving and the future includes plans to offer an overnight retreat experience in the coming years.
Operation, funding, and strategic direction of the MKC is provided by a governing board that consists of members of the Sisters of St. Casimir, the Christian
Brothers, and other key volunteers. As symbolized by the six-foot wooden cross at the entrance to the center, those who enter are exposed to the living witness of the staff and volunteers who serve there and are inspired by the motto of Mother Maria Kaupas,
“Always more, always better, always with love.” COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 101
The operation of the MKC and other wraparound programs like it at religious charter schools is a tool of evangelization that represents a form of new work in the
Church. Like many new movements, its potential is palpable. However, both experience and additional research are needed to understand the best way to fulfill that potential in partnership with a charter school.
Figure 4 demonstrates the critical combination of the elements of the operation of the Catalyst Schools that give rise to the sense of Catholic Ethos so important to the identified stakeholder satisfaction. Some of these elements have been present in the
Catholic-to-charter conversions studied previously. However, only the Catalyst Schools have combined all five of these elements. The results have been exceptional.
Optional Spiritual Formation Lasallian for Students Faith-Based Faculty Community Formation Partner
The Hiring for Values Mission Catholic Curriculum Ethos
Figure 4. The essential ingredients for the Catholic ethos that exudes from the Catalyst Schools provide these schools with a palpably different atmosphere than the previously studied Catholic-to-charter conversions.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 102
The Ideal Charter Granting Authority
Finally, there is one other substantive element to a successful partnership that was revealed in the study. The important role that Arne Duncan played in initiating the conversation with the Christian Brothers cannot be overstated. Often, there is a since of friction between local public school administrators and their private school counterparts.
Each student that chooses to go to a private school is one less student for whom public funding is provided for the local public school system. Additionally, public perceptions can fall into stereotypes that portray private schools as elitist and public schools as being there for those who cannot afford a private education (Dynarski, 2014). Add to that the natural tension that sometimes results from local neighborhood rivalries and an environment that sometimes hinders collaboration results.
There was no such stereotype influencing Arne Duncan. One of the fundamental research questions of this study is, “How do leaders of a public school chartering authority and a religious order describe the process of discussion, negotiation, and discernment that led to the agreement to collaborate on the establishment of two ‘faith- inspired’ charter schools…?” When asked to describe his fundamental rationale for why any public charter granting authority should consider approaching a private religious school or organization in search of a partnership, Duncan had a cogent and organized response that he gave without rehearsal,
I think again we have one common enemy and that is academic failure.
We have one common goal and that’s more academic success. Whoever can
create more high quality schools, whoever can create more high quality seats for COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 103
kids, and again, let me go back, particularly focused on our most disadvantaged,
our highest poverty communities.
We need to be very very innovative, and creative and flexible and find
ways to get to yes rather than find ways to get to no. We are trying to reverse
decades of lack of education, and decades of intergenerational poverty and the
status quo of incremental change is woefully insufficient for the size of the
challenge and the urgency of the need.
So, again, on both sides, whether it’s traditional schools, bureaucracies, or
faith-based schools or whatever it is, if we truly are committed to kids and
community and service and education and opportunity, we have to find ways to
get better faster. Where there are new ideas or different ideas and innovative
approaches, we can’t be true to our mission if we aren’t willing to be more
flexible, more creative, and innovative.
So, for me it wasn’t hard work. It was a gift. It was an amazing gift that
Brother Ed and the team were willing to provide to more children on the west side
of Chicago. It would have been unconscionable for me not to try to help them
provide that opportunity. (A. Duncan, personal communication, March 9, 2016)
It seems logical to conclude that the Christian Brothers could not have found a more willing partner, nor one better suited for the work of negotiation and refinement of purpose required for two collaborating organizations that were sometimes perceived to have competing interests.
Duncan also offered a brief reflection on the posture that is sometimes taken by
Catholic leaders who close Catholic schools as opposed to attempting to work with a COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 104 charter school partnership. His words are worth consideration for all in such leadership positions within the hierarchy of the Church:
The thing for me with the Archdiocese here, with the Cardinal, I totally got it
when he basically said we can’t divorce the teaching of religion from our
curriculum or whatever. I get that theoretically but I’m giving you a chance
to keep working with kids and keep working with communities who
desperately need your service and you are choosing to walk away. That was
dead honest for me. I got the dilemma, I got the complexity, I got the
difficulty. But the choice to walk away and literally just disappear from
communities rather than find a way to be a little more creative. I had a hard
time and still have a hard time understanding that. (A. Duncan, personal
communication, March 9, 2016)
Fortunately, at least for two neighborhoods, the Christian Brothers stood in the breach.
Analysis and Synthesis of Findings
Multiple visits to the Catalyst Schools convinced me that these were remarkable places of learning staffed by passionate and competent educators. If these schools can be replicated, they hold great promise for reviving urban education in the United States.
These findings will be particularly important to religious organizations that are searching for an articulate philosophy and rationale as to why they should consider moving forward aggressively in order to develop partnerships with public chartering authorities.
Of all of the data that was unearthed in this study, the extraordinary document developed by Brother John Johnston has the most potential to transform the debate over the potential for good in the development of faith-inspired charter schools. Its arguments COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 105 deserve thorough study, contemplation, and prayerful reflection by those leaders who have the power to make decisions about whether or not an agency affiliated with the
Catholic Church can rightfully expect a partnership with a public charting authority to serve students in harmony with their mission. It is clear to me that this document represents a breakthrough in thinking about the proper place of religious charter schools in meeting the comprehensive goals of a universal vision for the role of the Church in providing faith-based education for all who desire it – especially those living in poverty.
Another significant threshold that the Catalyst Schools have crossed is in the development of the concept of faith-inspired training and formation of its teachers and administrators. While this is the norm at many Catholic schools in the United States, it represents a new advance in professional development in charter schools. Faculty participation in the Lasallian Buttimer Institute as a tool of formation for teachers represents an extraordinary departure from the normative secular opportunities that are available to the typical charter school teacher. The same can be said of ongoing reflection on De La Salle’s writings on education, the human person, discipline, and virtue. This innovative approach to formation of all in the Catalyst Schools appears to make an extraordinary difference in the daily life and culture of the schools.
Finally, the distinct Catholic nature of the MKC - the presence of a chapel, its physical attachment to the school building, and its staffing by religious sisters - combine with its nondenominational programming to provide a potential model of collaboration for other Catholic religious orders who face declining numbers. In an interview with Sr.
Immacula Wendt, she reported that the median age of the 65 remaining Sisters of St.
Casimir is 82 years old. This decline led the Sisters to proactively seek out a partnership COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 106 with the Christian Brothers and the Catalyst Schools to bring new life and a new future to an order that had over 100 years of service to Chicago neighborhoods. Through the MKC and Catalyst Maria, the sisters who remain now see a future full of promise to continue the mission of the Sisters of St. Casimir for many years to come.
This pattern of the aging and decline in membership is prevalent for many religious orders throughout the United States. The Center for Applied Research in the
Apostolate reports that in 1965, there were over 179,000 religious sisters actively engaged in ministry in the United States (“Frequently requested”, 2015). Today, that number is less than 49,000 (“Frequently requested”, 2015). This decline has left the landscape scattered with empty convents, rectories, schools, and parishes throughout the
United States. It seems logical to conclude that the partnership between the Catalyst
Schools and the Sisters of St. Casimir could be replicated hundreds of times during the next few decades. The ingredients are an empty school, a religious order in decline but with active members looking to continue their ministry, and a religious organization such as a diocese or a religious order with intent to establish a faith-inspired charter school.
The empty schools and declining religious orders are available in surplus. Currently, the limiting agents are organizations that understand this opportunity is available and that it can possibly fulfill their mission and help them live out their charisms.
These three innovations – the Brother Johnston rationale, the faith-inspired training of Catalyst teachers, and the development of robust programming in the MKC - will figure prominently in the recommendations for religious organizations that will follow in Chapter Five.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 107
Summary
The aim of this Dissertation in Practice study was to create an evidence-based series of recommendations that can be adopted by public chartering authorities as well as religious organizations to facilitate collaboration in the establishment of “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban areas. Eighteen key leaders participated in interviews. These leaders represent a cross-section of the leadership team within the
Christian Brothers and Chicago Public Schools who worked together to form two faith- inspired charter schools known as the Catalyst Schools. The interviews revealed key aspects of the collaboration when viewed from the perspective of the leaders involved.
The researcher also made five personal visits to the schools, participated in a day-long shadowing of one of the founders, gathered documents, memoranda, meeting minutes, faculty training materials, publications, annual reports, budgets, and the original charter applications. Analysis of the interviews was followed by verification of the conclusions through triangulation of the findings with other data sources.
Seven major themes were identified in the data that will inform the development of a series of evidence-based recommendations for other religious educational agencies, religious orders, and public school chartering authorities who might wish to consider a similar collaborative relationship. These themes were:
• Conceptual Development
• Discussion and Discernment
• Rationale for a Decision
• Leadership Issues
• Overcoming Obstacles COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 108
• The Catholic Ethos
• The Ideal Charter Granting Authority
Using these seven themes that emerged from the data, recommendations will be developed in Chapter Five to guide leaders of religious institutions and charter granting authorities as they discern the best course to take in their efforts to serve the educational needs of students and families living in poverty.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 109
FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
The declining number of students in Catholic schools - especially in impoverished neighborhoods – coincides with national trends that show many areas across the country are expanding opportunities for the formation of charter schools. The past 10 years have seen the emergence of “religious charter schools” around the country. Included among these religious charter schools are a small number of charter schools that have been formed immediately following the closure of a Catholic school in the same location.
These Catholic-to-charter conversions have been disappointing to stakeholders in
Washington D.C., Miami, and Indianapolis; all of whom were hoping to maintain some of the Catholic character of the original parish school once the new charter school opened. The anticipated results never materialized.
However, a new version of this model has been pioneered in Chicago resulting from the unique collaboration between the Christian Brothers and the Chicago Public
Schools. The literature on the Catalyst Schools is sparse, but research by Proehl et al.
(2015) indicated a deep level of satisfaction among all stakeholders. In particular, Proehl noted the presence of what she termed a strong “Catholic ethos” that infused the schools.
Many communities like those served by the Catalyst Schools in Chicago are faced with similar circumstances along with similar opportunities. The goal of this study is to inform those communities that an opportunity may exist to establish a similar school and should be explored by those religious organizations and religious orders that want to maintain their presence and mission in urban neighborhoods.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 110
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this case study was to understand the process of conceptual development, negotiation, reasoning, and discernment among organizational leaders that led a large metropolitan school system and a religious order to collaborate on the establishment of two publicly funded “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban neighborhoods.
Aim of the Study
The aim of this study was to create an evidence-based series of recommendations that can be adopted by religious organizations and public chartering authorities to facilitate collaboration in the establishment of “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban areas.
Proposed Solution – For Charter-Granting Authorities
The preponderance of participants in this study were involved, in one way or another, with a religious organization. This was intentional. The biggest identified limiting factor in the formation of faith-inspired charter schools are the misgivings that leaders of religious organizations have about whether or not operating such a faith- inspired charter school represents the fulfillment of their mission. In many cases this mission has been understood for decades as including an articulation of Catholic beliefs about God and how that belief is to be lived out. That sort of direct instruction about any faith tradition is not thought to be consistent with what is currently allowed in charter schools. It was important to get the perspective of the religious leaders so that understanding could be developed regarding why Proehl et al. (2015) found that there was such a high degree of satisfaction among the religious organizational stakeholders at COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 111 the Catalyst Schools compared to those involved in the Catholic-to-charter conversions studied in Washington, D.C, Miami, and Indianapolis.
However, before conclusions and recommendations are made for these religious organizations, it is important to provide a brief analysis of what was learned from leaders of the public chartering authority. As has already been discussed, the turning point for the
Christian Brothers was the rationale put forth by Brother John Johnston that essentially put an end to the discussion as to whether or not the brothers should be involved with this new form of collaboration with a local government agency. Johnston ended the debate with a compelling statement involving the worldwide affiliation of the Christian Brothers with local governing authorities around the globe. It turns out that Brother Johnston’s concise statement of beliefs and experiences has a counterpart that was succinctly expressed during the interview with Arne Duncan. The centerpiece for the proposed solution for religious organizations is based upon the acceptance of the principles expressed in an edited version of Brother Johnston’s appeal to the Christian Brothers. In the same way, the centerpiece for the proposed solution for charter granting authorities is based upon acceptance of the principles expressed by Duncan in his interview for this study and embodied by the witness of his life’s work.
The Duncan Platform, as I have chosen to call the edited version of Duncan’s philosophy that led to his collaboration with the Christian Brothers, can be found in
Appendix E. This platform is intended for use as a point of reflection for all charter- granting authorities. The principles that it expresses are tied together with a logic that grows from its appeal to our instincts to seek the best for all people regardless of color, creed, or nationality. While Duncan may not have intended it, his rationale is also COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 112 consistent with the tradition of Catholic social teaching that recommends that policies should be developed with a consideration for the “preferential option for the poor” in mind. Communities decimated by poverty lie at the heart of Duncan’s motivations for working with any organization that gives hope to these impoverished communities. It is reasonable to think that any group of public servants, including charter-granting authorities, can find motivation and inspiration in these principles.
Proposed Solution – For Religious Organizations
The recommendations that follow are for individuals, religious orders, and diocesan offices interested in establishing one or more “faith-inspired” charter schools.
The recommendations are based on the experiences of communities in Washington D.C.,
Miami, Indianapolis, and Chicago. Each of these communities has experienced both success and failure in their efforts to provide such schools in their respective communities. Each of these communities has been, in their own particular way, a paradigm pioneer. It is my intent to suggest a path forward based on the lessons learned from these paradigm pioneers.
Step One – The Lasallian Platform
The most fundamental step a religious organization can take in establishing a faith-inspired charter school, whether it be sponsored by a religious order or a diocesan office, is for that organization to understand, embrace, and internalize the mission of educating students in a charter school in a way that respects the current understanding of the boundaries between Church and State in charter schools. A lack of commitment to the critical nature of this mission saps the vitality and animating purpose of such a venture.
Objections and uncertainty about this new form of meeting the mission of Catholic COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 113 education abound. A firm foundation and philosophy is needed before any organization can move forward with a sense of purpose and mission zeal necessary to meet the extraordinary demands of establishing a successful charter school.
It is the conclusion of this case study that this foundation can be built upon the principles espoused in the memorandum that Brother John Johnston sent on the Feast of
San Miguel Febres Cordero in 2005. The original memorandum is a seven-page document written specifically for members of the Christian Brothers and is found in
Appendix D. However, its principles are readily applicable to all who engage in the mission of Catholic education. In order to expand the potential audience for the adoption of these principles, I have developed a two-page version of this document for use by all who are giving consideration to establishing a faith-inspired charter school. Through an editing process in which I have tried to preserve the original ideas expressed by Brother
Johnston and their implications, I have removed specific wording related only to the
Christian Brothers and replaced that language with references more appropriate to the universal Church. Additional editing was required to compress the document into a format that could succinctly identify the key points in a way that make them more likely to be recalled. I have given the name of “The Lasallian Platform” to the edited version of the memorandum. This Lasallian Platform can be found in Appendix F.
Early in the process of establishing a faith-inspired charter school, leaders of the initiative may find it helpful to use the Lasallian Platform as a point of reflection. Indeed, until there is consensus that these principles are worthy of adoption and integration into the fabric of the charter school, a delay in the establishment of the school should be considered. Without such consensus, it should be questioned whether or not there is a COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 114 sufficient degree of a shared sense of mission to allow for the establishment of a successful school. O’Malley (2008) notes the long-standing tradition of Jesuit educators and institutions taking ample time to reflect on the nature of their mission as a religious order. A full understanding of their mission as an order that embraces the work of education animates the lives of the Jesuits. This understanding was discerned over decades of reflection in the early years of the order. Tapping in to the same power of shared mission would not necessarily require decades before starting a faith-inspired charter school. However, some period of time should be given to discern whether or not the religious organization considering the “faith-inspired” charter school option willingly embraces the Lasallian Platform with the passion necessary to implement the steps required. Internalizing this outlook on mission is essential for key stakeholders. If this foundation is not embraced, there should be open communication among leaders regarding the reason for rejecting these principles and what might bind the school together in their absence.
Reflection on the Lasallian Platform is the fundamental step recommended to any religious organization or religious order prior to the establishment of a faith-inspired charter school. Once these principles are adopted, the results of this study indicate that there are a sequence of steps that are beginning to be understood as ‘best practices” for organizations desiring to move forward in the founding of a faith-inspired charter school.
Some of these recommendations flow from a general understanding of the successful establishment and operation of all charter schools. Others are only applicable to faith- inspired charter schools. The full body of these recommendations follows in the next section. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 115
Additional Evidence-Based Recommendations
Once there is agreement that a faith-inspired charter school represents the best possible path forward for serving a community, the additional evidence-based recommendations are as follows:
1. Create a corporate or legal nonprofit entity. Such an entity will need to have a board. In order to assure that the faith-inspired mission of the school is established, begin the board formation and recruitment process. Appropriate consideration should be given to the proper composition and function of the board.
2. Appoint the leadership team. Select a chief executive early in the process. This is not normally the principal in charter schools. The tasks of financial management, strategic planning, fundraising, facility management, and human resource services will normally fall to the chief executive with some assistance from the board. The principal, on the other hand, will take care of the day-to-day management of the school, its faculty, students, curriculum, and programs. The selection of a principal should be made at least six months in advance of the anticipated opening of the school. As in most elementary and secondary schools, this is the key leadership position. This person will set the tone and example for all faculty and staff to emulate and model. The challenges in an urban school are daunting. A principal with no previous track record of success in leading a school is a long shot to succeed in such an urban charter environment. Special consideration should be given to those candidates who have had special leadership training, successful charter school experience, and professional formation that allows the acceptance of such a demanding assignment. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 116
3. Initiate a relationship with the local diocesan educational office with the hopes of building understanding of the new school that could lead to potential support.
Diocesan offices can often be a source of ideas for an enterprise of this scope. They have a broad understanding of not only Catholic organizations within the diocese but often have interdenominational contacts and an expansive network of political contacts as well that may be helpful in establishing a faith-inspired charter.
4. Using Sister Immacula Wendt’s letter (found in Appendix G) as a point of reflection, take some time to consider whether or not there may be a community organization or a religious order that might be in a position to be seeking a renewal of purpose and a sense of mission in today’s world. A neighborhood Catholic school that has diminished in enrollment or that has been closed could be a strong candidate for partnership both in terms of an adequate facility and for providing wraparound spiritual formation programming. Determination of the best possible location for the new charter school should be made with an eye toward the desired capacity of the new school as well.
Having a community partner is critical to the success of a faith-inspired charter school. If such a partner is not identified, consideration of a different location for the school is advisable. Once a potential location and facility has been determined, the charter application process can be launched.
5. Normally, if a governing entity has made provision for the establishment of charter schools, that governing entity has designated a certain group (or groups) that have the authority to grant or deny a charter to an organization. If there is more than one charter granting authority, a decision will need to be made regarding which is the preferable partner. Preliminary inquiries can be made by letter, phone, or email. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 117
However, a personal meeting is essential to understand the quality of the relationship that can be anticipated from this potential partner. Preliminary conversations and personal meetings are advised to gauge the level of interest and anticipated cooperation on the part of the charter granting authority. The leadership of these charter granting authorities changes over time. Likewise, the political inclinations and goals of these organizations can change as well. If there is more than one option, understanding the anticipated level of bureaucratic compliance of each charter granting authority may be helpful in selecting the best one to work with.
6. Once it is determined that a charter application will be made, it is helpful to begin to collaborate with the faith-based community partner in the development of the charter application. This collaboration is not a legal requirement to obtain a charter.
However, collaboration at this point will allow for the necessary sense of trust and partnership to develop that will lay the groundwork for a fruitful experience for the students that the new charter school will be serving. Once completed, the application should be submitted according to the guidelines and deadlines established by the charter granting authority. Completing this application process is the responsibility of the chief executive.
7. As budgets are being developed and potential resources are allocated, give some thought to the resources that will be necessary to provide the wraparound spiritual formation program. These resources cannot come from the funds available from the governing agency that is funding the charter school. It is helpful to identify other possible funding for ancillary programs that are critical to the fulfillment of the mission of the school to the broader community. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 118
8. Begin to hire faculty with the intent to fulfill the mission of the school. Give consideration to the types of formation experiences and teacher training opportunities that will be made available to the faculty and administration. Faculty and other administrators should begin to be interviewed and selected about 6 months in advance of the anticipated opening. Materials related to the mission of the school, its philosophy of education, the roots and charisms of the religious traditions of the sponsoring religious organization, attitudes toward the dignity of the human person, and subsequent reflection on how that attitude shapes the instructional and disciplinary program can be developed for prospective teachers to read as they consider their desire to teach in such a school.
9. Develop a marketing plan and materials to recruit and retain students. A local governing authority normally funds charter schools. The amount of funding is based upon the number of students in the school. A new charter school will need to draw a sufficient number of students from the geographic region in which it exists. Without a recruitment and marketing program to educate the community on the mission of the school and its anticipated benefits to students, it will be difficult for any charter school to open its doors and operate a school that meets payroll and provides a strong learning program for its students. There are ample resources available for educators to gain the competencies in this entrepreneurial approach to attracting students. Kotler and Fox (1985) have authored a classic in understanding the fundamentals of this marketing process and a way to best adapt these processes to schools. Though the tools and media used in marketing programs have evolved since its original publication 30 years ago, the principles of marketing espoused in the language familiar to schools, educators, and prospective parents remain fundamentally sound. Figure 5 provides a brief summary of these nine steps. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 119
7. Budget for 1. Create a legal 6. Complete charter wraparound entity with a faith- application spiritual enrichment inspired mission program
2. Appoint 5. Select charter 8. Recruit and train leadership team granting authority faculty for mission
4. Search for 9. Develop and 3. Dialogue with Community Partner execute a marketing diocese to support faith- plan for students inspired mission
Figure 5. Proposed recommendations for developing a faith-inspired charter school.
Support for the Solution
The rationale for each of the proposed steps flows from the data collected in this study. Additionally, the work of other researchers (Brinson, 2010; Carr, 2014; Proehl et al., 2015; Smarick, 2010) has contributed to the current understanding of pitfalls to avoid and areas in which strengths can be leveraged to produce a charter school more likely to experience success. This section goes through each recommended step and explores the way the results of this study and others informs the proposed solution.
1. Create a legal entity and form a board based on the faith-inspired mission of the school. As previously noted, one of the obstacles faced in the formation and establishment of the Catalyst Schools frequently mentioned by participants in the study was the ongoing lack of clarity in the early years as to who or what would serve as the governing body. This confusion can be avoided by aligning the governance of the organization to best practices in today’s nonprofit organizations. Carver (2006) has COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 120 written an acknowledged classic in the formation and operation of a nonprofit board. This book is a great resource for leaders and organizations hoping to grow in understanding of sound principles of governance for today’s nonprofit world.
2. Select a chief administrator. As in every organization, leadership is critical. It is difficult to think of an organization to which this principle does not apply. The selection of the chief administrator of a faith-inspired charter school is especially critical because there are so few well-defined models to follow. It will be necessary for the chief administrator to respond effectively to the multiple challenges that face all leaders of charter schools. The chief administrator will have to coordinate the acquisition of an appropriate facility, manage financial resources, interact and respond to board concerns and initiatives, navigate the charter application process, and attend to the development and execution of a marketing and student recruitment plan.
Following the selection of the chief administrator, the search for a principal who is interested in leading a faith-inspired school should begin. In one of the artifacts uncovered in this study, Fehrenbach (2015) describes the difficulties brought on by the selection of the wrong principal at the first Catalyst school that was opened - Catalyst
Howland. It took several years for the school to stabilize as a result of going through three different principals until some stability was attained with principal number four.
The school never fully recovered from the instability of these early years. This may have been a factor that led to the ultimate closing of Catalyst Howland in 2015. Based on these experiences, Fehrenbach and other Catalyst leaders recommend having a principal hired at least six months before the planned opening of the school. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 121
3. Establish communication with local diocesan offices with the intent of garnering support and collaboration. This case study uncovered two aspects in which the
Archdiocese of Chicago was involved in the establishment of the Catalyst Schools. The
Provincial of the Midwest District of the Christian Brothers, Brother Frank Carr, indicated his concern that the good relations the Christian Brothers had with Cardinal
George could be jeopardized if there was not sufficient communication between the
Brothers and the Cardinal. Concern for the other Catholic schools that the Christian
Brothers operated in the archdiocese was at the forefront of Carr’s desire to see this communication take place. Additionally, the involvement of the Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Sister Margaret Farley, was essential to developing a proper understanding of the role of the San Miguel board and its relation to the Catalyst Board. Taking advantage of the resources that can be provided by the local Office of Catholic Schools - both in terms of human resources and facilities - can only be maximized if there is a good relationship between this Office and the organizational leaders of the entity establishing the faith-inspired charter school.
4. Search for a religious order, parish, or other faith-based community partner that is a likely candidate to embrace the opportunity of extending its mission in an urban community. This case study found that the two Catalyst Schools that are successfully operating today have a faith-based community partner whose work is integrated with that of the charter school. Both Circle Urban Ministries and the Sisters of St. Casimir provide vital connections for the charter school to the surrounding neighborhood. Catalyst
Howland, the school that closed in the spring of 2015 had no such community partner. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 122
Many of the participants in the study identified this lack of a community partner as one of the factors that lead to closure of Howland.
5. Learn about the local charter granting authorities. If there is more than one option, attempt to determine which authority might allow the most latitude in meeting the many bureaucratic reporting requirements for charter schools. A charter granting authority that willingly partners with a faith-based organization is preferred. Repeated testimony from the participants in this study indicated that CPS CEO Arne Duncan played a critical role in offering encouragement to the Christian Brothers to consider operating a charter school. Duncan’s assurance that his office would see that the issues would be worked out with CPS was an essential feature of the Brothers’ discernment.
Had there not been the ongoing encouragement from Duncan over a period of years, it is doubtful that these faith-inspired charter schools would have opened. Carr (2014) found a similar willingness on the part of the Mayor of Indianapolis to support the Archdiocese of
Indianapolis in its attempt at two Catholic-to-charter conversions. Showing its openness to working with a religious organization, the Mayor’s Office in Indianapolis approved these two charter schools to be governed by a board that included the Auxiliary Bishop of
Indianapolis, the Chancellor of the Archdiocese, and the Chief Financial Officer of the
Archdiocese. Such openness to collaboration on the part of the chartering authority is important because there are aspects of the operation of faith-inspired charter schools which have yet to be fully explored in a way that has yielded a standard set of operational boundaries regarding Church and State separation issues.
6. Collaborate with a faith-based community partner in preparing and submitting the charter application. In the case of both Catalyst Circle Rock and Catalyst Maria, not COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 123 only did the community partner provide resources for the wraparound program of spiritual formation, these community partners also became the primary provider of an adequate facility in which to house the school. Without a preliminary discussion of the possibilities and benefits of the partnership, these schools may have never found a home for their operations. A review of the application by Catalyst Schools to CPS to open
Catalyst Maria reveals the integral involvement of the community partner, the Sisters of
St. Casimir, in the application and approval process.
7. Prepare a plan and budget for the operation of a wraparound program to support the spiritual formation of students. The funding provided by the revenue distributed to the Catalyst Schools through CPS includes only money for the operation of the charter school. Expenses for the salaries, facilities, and materials for the spiritual formation program must be covered by other means. In the case of the Maria Kaupas
Center, funds are raised through the support of foundations, private donations, and fundraising events. These are standard fundraising practices in the world of private schools. Rosso (2003) has penned an excellent resource for those new to the practice of fundraising and institutional advancement. It is advised that part of the planning for a faith-inspired charter school include a comprehensive plan to generate support according to best practices among modern day fundraisers.
8. Recruit, train, and retain faculty with an eye toward the faith-inspired mission of the school. Then plan for faculty formation and training experiences that support the
“faith-inspired” nature of the school. The first impression one gets when walking through the halls of a Catalyst School for the first time is that of order, passion, and dedication on the part of both the scholars and the teachers. The degree to which these characteristics COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 124 are observed rivals any Catholic school that I have ever visited. According to Siderewicz, this atmosphere arises from the Catalyst organization’s commitment to hiring teachers who will be a good fit for the expressed mission of the school. The Catalyst organization has produced a 36-page booklet used to inform potential teachers about the mission and guiding principles of the Catalyst Schools. The booklet is titled “The Legacy of Lasallian
Education in the Catalyst Schools” and it contains writings from the United States
Conference of Catholic Bishops on the Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching
(“Seven themes”, 2005) along with writings by St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle and those of
Brother John Johnston. A review of the titles of each section listed in the table of contents is instructive. These titles include:
• The Spirit of Catalyst Schools
• Teaching Minds, Touching Hearts
• Awakening Our Deepest Call
• Principles of a Lasallian School
• Virtues of a Good Teacher
• Underlying Philosophy of Discipline
• Guiding Themes for a Just and Peaceful Society
• Loving Our Students (Legacy of Lasallian education, 2015).
With a faculty imbued with such training, it is easy to understand how Proehl et al.
(2015) found that the “Catholic ethos” was prevalent in the Catalyst Schools she studied.
Another extraordinary resource uncovered during this case study is a draft of a book to be published in 2016. Public Schools in the Lasallian Tradition (Fehrenbach,
2016) details many aspects of the formation and operation of the Catalyst Schools over COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 125 the past 10 years. In the book, Brother Michael Fehrenbach, a Christian Brother associated with the Catalyst movement from the beginning, reflects on the role of virtue in the character of a great teacher in the Catalyst Schools. These virtues include zeal, wisdom, prudence, silence, and others. To understand and appreciate the depth of this reflection on virtue that forms the Catalyst teacher, see Appendix H for an example of a reflection on the importance of the virtue of humility in the life of a teacher.
One more piece of data informs this eighth recommendation. Siderewicz provided a Catalyst document of unattributed authorship titled “Hiring for Mission”. In selecting potential teachers for the Catalyst Schools the document proposes that, “mission is central and of absolute importance” and that, “mission is the foundation of Catalyst culture.” This understanding of the importance of mission must be taken into consideration when interviewing and selecting faculty. This document goes on to express that “any candidate must understand the connection of the school to its historic tradition” along with “the depth of its mission and core values” in order to successfully contribute to the advancement of the school.
Finally, both Hannon and Siderewicz emphasize that the ongoing formation of leaders in the Lasallian tradition through participation in professional development opportunities such as the Buttimer Institute is important. Professional development of this type keeps the issue of mission at the forefront of the hearts and minds of faculty and administrators alike. This intensive focus on the hiring and subsequent training for mission seems to be an essential ingredient for the successful operation of any faith- inspired charter school. It has worked well for the Catalyst Schools and there is no reason to believe it would not be important for other schools like them. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 126
9. Both Siderewicz and Hannon tell of their early efforts at spreading the word about the opening of the San Miguel school by walking through the neighborhood and one by one talking to people about what they were planning to do at the new school. The resulting enrollment was modest in those early years. Today, their student recruitment strategies reflect a more sophisticated approach. A review of the current promotional materials, website, videos, and printed student recruitment pieces demonstrate that a sophisticated marketing effort is now implemented by the Catalyst Schools. As a result both schools are currently at, or near, capacity.
Factors and Stakeholders Related to the Solution
The primary stakeholders who are impacted by the establishment of faith-inspired charter schools are diocesan offices of education and religious orders that run Catholic schools in high poverty areas - especially schools that are on the edge of sustainability because of mounting debt as a result of negative cash flows from operations. Typically, these negative cash flows and budget deficits are the result of two interwoven phenomena
- a declining enrollment along with a declining number of families who can pay full tuition. The proposed solution presents a definite benefit to both of these stakeholders.
Establishment of a charter school on the property of a faith-based institution becomes a source of immediate revenue (Brinson, 2010; Carr, 2014). Brinson noted that priests often told researchers, “The charter school saved my parish” (p. 15). Additional stakeholders include teachers who are fulfilling their vocation as educators in these fragile school environments along with the students who attend these schools.
Metropolitan communities are stakeholders as well. In as much as the overall quality of its schools affects a community’s ability to attract and retain residents, it is COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 127 important for all communities to be vigilant in terms of current practices and strategies that are achieving positive results in school improvement. This is the thinking that drives much of the legislation and policymaking related to education. The Catalyst Schools certainly give evidence of being one of those “strategies” that achieves positive results.
Public resources in the form of financial support have been made available to charter schools for the purpose of providing mission-centered opportunities for the education of young people. As these resources are found to be useful in fostering improved forms of schooling, it is likely that even more resources will be directed to these successful alternatives. Taxpayers are the ultimate stakeholders in all charter schools. Effective use of taxpayer funds is an exercise in good stewardship. All communities should be in search of ways to make the investment in education more productive.
Potential Barriers and Obstacles to Proposed Solution
Because collaboration with leaders of local diocesan officials and religious orders is such a benefit to the proposed steps in the solution, the primary obstacle facing those who desire to establish a faith-inspired charter school is represented by Catholic leaders like Siderewicz himself who first told Arne Duncan, “No way that could be done. We are a Catholic school.” More specifically, it is important to address the concern voiced by Sr.
Carol Cimino when commenting on Catholic-to charter conversions, “What's lost is the ability to tell a child to respect others because we're all created by God." This commonly held objection can be most successfully countered with a clear espousal of the proposed
Lasallian Platform which was developed with this purpose in mind. Until other leaders embrace the thinking and the rationale this Platform proposes, getting the helpful collaboration of local Catholic leaders is likely to be an uphill battle. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 128
Another anticipated obstacle is finding a suitable location for a faith-inspired charter school. As mentioned previously, the landscape around the country is filling up with charter schools. Charter school operators have now been searching for desirable locations for the past 20 years. Most of the “low hanging fruit” has been harvested.
Attracting students to a newly formed charter school requires a properly positioned marketing effort in a community ripe to receive it (Carpenter, 2006).
Finding a potential location with a nearby community partner makes the equation more difficult to solve. Some metropolitan entities have adopted an aggressive posture toward establishing charter schools. These entities often develop agencies that will assist organizations in the task of finding a suitable location for a charter school. Such an organization assisted the Christian Brothers in finding their first location in Chicago at which they established Catalyst Howland. Once it was understood that having a viable faith-based community partner was an important ingredient in establishing a faith- inspired charter school, it became obvious that establishing a broader network of contacts with religious organizations was the best method of finding a favorable location for the next faith-inspired charter school. This necessity reaffirms the importance of establishing a good relationship with the local diocesan authorities who may be able to assist in finding an ideal location.
Financial Issues Related to Proposed Solution
Step number six in the series of recommendations involves completion of the charter application. Every charter application process that was reviewed for this study requires that a sustainable multi-year financial plan and budget be submitted as part of the application materials. While many charter schools expend a considerable amount of COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 129 money on facility rental, in the case of the Catalyst Schools, that expense has been minimal. The same was true of the schools in Indianapolis and Miami (Brinson, 2010;
Carr, 2014). Finding a willing community partner has often yielded a facility that is being used at far below its capacity. The church, parish, or religious order frequently welcomes the opportunity to receive some revenue from renting their facility that helps defray expenses in other aspects of their operations. The new charter school assumes upkeep of the facility as a part of its operational budget, thereby removing this expense from the budget of the community partner.
The biggest expense then becomes salaries for teachers, administrators, and staff.
Many charter schools pay salaries lower than the local public school scale (Yeh, 2007).
An interview with a current Catalyst School principal indicated that today, teacher salaries at the Catalyst School are lower than the public school norm. It was the opinion of the principal that these lower salaries do lead to a decline in the level of teacher retention at the school. Properly balancing the demands of paying competitive teacher salaries with the legal restrictions on overall funding of any charter school becomes a challenge that varies in difficulty from one locality to another depending upon the funding formula stipulated in the legislation that authorizes the establishment of charter schools. The fact that this balancing act has been undertaken in over 6,000 charter schools around the country gives confidence that this task can be achieved. However, to complete this part of the charter application, it is advisable to gather a team of individuals, possibly a subcommittee of the board, who bring a strong background of financial management as a part of their skill set (“Legal and Financial”, 2006).
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 130
The Leader’s Role in Implementing the Proposed Solution
Marshaling the resources, both human and capital, necessary for the establishment of a charter school is an enormous project. Clearly, it is one that can be accomplished but those who have done it testify to the enormity of the task (Lang, 2014). Persistence is a must.
One of the ongoing obstacles to the operation of the Catalyst Schools identified in this study is the stifling bureaucratic burden emanating from CPS policies and procedures. This burden actually begins with the application process. Leaders who are not persistent in dealing with the ongoing need to comply with the incessant demands for paperwork and documentation may soon become discouraged. The encouraging news is that there are many resources that have been developed to assist and support those who choose to navigate the charter school application process. Extensive resources are available from The Center for Education Reform, The National Charter Schools Institute, and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The resources provided by these organizations and others like them have been produced and refined as a result of over 20 years of experience in the charter school application process.
Another critical task of leadership is recruiting a team of individuals interested in understanding and implementing school reform ideas. This might be the most important task for any leader who accepts the challenge of establishing a faith-inspired charter school. Though one person may be able to initiate the process, that person will never be able to complete the task without an effective organization of people who share a common goal of establishing the charter school. A sense of shared vision and purpose can serve to motivate and inspire such a like-minded group of educators to persevere through COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 131 the challenges to attain their goal. It is that power in possessing the shared mission of the new school that lies at the heart of the original proposal by University of Massachusetts professor Ray Budde in 1974 suggesting that charter schools be allowed to form (Bracey,
2000). A collaborative leader will embrace the power in a shared vision and take full advantage of that power to drive the project to completion.
External Implications for the Organization
The implications for organizations who partner with faith-inspired charter schools needs to be considered as well. These implications are nation-wide. At a minimum, over
5,500 Catholic elementary schools have closed in the past 50 years. Even if only 10% of those schools could be resurrected in the form of faith-inspired charter schools and if each of those schools matched the average size of a Catholic elementary school of 210 students, the implementation of the proposed solution could impact at least 115,000 new students who are not currently in Catholic schools. Additionally, if each new faith- inspired charter school paid an amount as small as $80,000 per year for rental of the space occupied by the now-closed parish Catholic school, an amount identified by Carr
(2014), the implementation of the solution could generate as much as $44,000,000 of revenue per year to support other ministries of inner city parishes. Over a ten-year period that would amount to a $440,000,000 investment in our inner city parishes. Imagine how many pastors across the country could echo the words quoted by Brinson (2010), “The charter school saved my parish” (p. 15).
As important as this financial impact would be, it is instructive to reflect on the work of Brinig and Garnett (2014) who showed that an analysis of crime statistics in
Chicago from 1999-2005 revealed the negative effects of the closure of Catholic schools COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 132 in those neighborhoods that lost schools. Building on the work of Coleman (1990), who was the first researcher to develop the idea of “social capital” as an advantageous element of Catholic schools, Brinig and Garnett make a compelling case for the important role that Catholic schools play in impoverished neighborhoods because of the social capital they provide. These researchers tried to test for the same effect by analyzing the impact of charter schools on neighborhoods but could not find a statistically significant correlation. However, they were unable to study faith-inspired charter schools because there were not such schools in existence at the time of their research. This begins to point the way to potential areas of future research. Nonetheless, it seems reasonable to suggest that if Catholic school closure negatively impacts a neighborhood, then how much more would the closure of a Catholic parish bring about the same or even worse negative effects for the neighborhood? It seems reasonable to conclude that keeping Catholic parishes open in impoverished neighborhoods would be an extraordinarily positive result of the implementation of the proposed solution.
Evaluation and Timeline for Implementation and Assessment
During this study, a document prepared by unidentified Catalyst leaders was forwarded to me by one of the study participants. The document describes the anticipated timeline for the successful establishment of a faith-inspired charter school for others who might be taking this idea into consideration. The recommended timeline is based upon what the Christian Brothers have found to be a reasonable expectation based on the schools they have established in Chicago. The document proposes that the implementation takes place in two stages. According to the experiences of the Brothers, it is anticipated that the first stage should involve approximately 18 months that are needed COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 133 for the visioning process and the planning for the charter application. At the end of that stage, if the charter-granting authority awards a charter, another year will be required for the implementation of the plan that culminates in the opening of the school. The opening of the school is an obvious preliminary benchmark of success.
Once the faith-inspired charter school is open, there are many assessment tools that measure the progress of the school and its students every year. Standardized testing for the purpose of individual student and school-wide assessment has become the norm for the operation of any accredited school. This testing normally takes place on a yearly basis and will provide ongoing feedback to teachers and administrators who will monitor progress. Institutional leaders, administrators, and teachers will need to carefully review these results. The data that is contained in these results will drive the development and adjustment of the curriculum in a way that seeks to improve student performance on the standardized tests. The assimilation, reporting, and analysis of this new testing data serves as a second fundamental benchmark of progress and it provides the baseline upon which future improvement will be monitored and judged by the charter granting authority.
Finally, the ultimate success of a charter school will be judged, on its ability to attract students. Therefore, enrollment must always be carefully monitored. It is recommended that recruitment strategies are developed and adjusted based upon the principles outlined by Kotler and Fox (1985), McGrath (2014), or, alternately, by using established charter support organizations with experience in the field.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 134
Change Theory
It is useful to analyze the results of this study through the lens of the “diffusion of innovation” identified by Rogers (2003). The adoption of a successful innovation takes place in stages that usually fall into predictable patterns. These innovations work their way through a society (or diffuse) as the result of communication regarding their effectiveness. The good experiences of the early adopters are key to this process if an innovation is to spread. Clearly, the development of religious charter schools began the innovation of straddling the wall between Church and State in a way not previously attempted (Horning, 2013; Mulvey et al., 2010; Weinburg, 2014). The next refinement of that innovation to attempt to “go over the wall” of Church-State separation was the ascent of the Catholic-to-charter conversion. Rogers (2003) would classify the development of this revised option as a “re-invention” (p.17) of the original innovation. The early adopters of this re-invention in Miami and Washington, D.C., were soon followed by other Catholic leaders in Indianapolis. However, neither of these innovations, religious charter schools or Catholic-to-charter conversions, proved satisfactory to the founding stakeholders of these schools. Nor were they satisfactory in terms of the improved academic achievement of their students. But a new innovation had now been proposed in urban schooling and the re-invention process was under way. It was up to a group in
Chicago to continue to fine-tune this innovation.
Shortly after the Miami and Washington, D.C. experiments began, the dialogue between Arne Duncan and the Christian Brothers ensued. Duncan’s proposal represented an attempt at innovation similar to that in Miami and Washington, D.C. However, it was not until the Christian Brothers re-invented the innovation by adapting their centuries- COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 135 long method of forming teachers to a charter school setting that another unique step forward was taken in the efforts to add elements of faith to the public school environment. In this respect, the Christian Brothers were truly paradigm pioneers. They occasionally proceeded down the wrong path - particularly in the acknowledged missteps during the formation and the early years of Catalyst Howland. However, once the value and necessity of a faith-based community partner was properly understood, the Christian
Brothers have now become poised to export what they have learned to the broader landscape of urban education throughout the country. In the language of Rogers (2003), the story of the Catalyst Schools has become a part of the “communication channel” (p.
18) necessary for the innovation to begin to diffuse throughout the country.
New information the Christian Brothers continue to learn through the operation of the Catalyst Schools, the research by Proehl et al. (2015), and the completion of this case study, all indicate that the Catalyst School innovation is moving from the “knowledge” step defined by Rogers (2003) to the next step which is the “persuasion” (p. 20). That persuasion takes place over time and must be accompanied by the continued accumulation of evidence that the innovation achieves positive results. There will likely need to be more adopters who find success with this faith-inspired model in other localities before it develops to its full potential to impact broad stretches of the country.
The experiences gained from the wrong paths these paradigm pioneers have taken over the past 10 years are now poised to yield benefits in the form of a faith-inspired renewal of education in urban communities.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 136
Practical Implications
The practical implications of this case study are that it has produced two platforms – the Lasallian Platform and the Duncan Platform - that espouse a rationale for cooperation between religious organizations and charter granting authorities. Embracing the principles delineated in these platforms will allow leaders to engage in fruitful dialogue that could pave the way for new partnerships to form that will allow for the renewal of urban education. As this renewal is being accomplished, additional life will be breathed into religious organizations that long to serve impoverished communities. The synergistic relationship that grows from this proposed partnership will strengthen communities and give a brighter future for the youth of those communities.
As an example of how these ideas will be made known to the broader community, in March of 2016, the two platforms identified in the study were presented by Catalyst founder Ed Siderewicz at an informal gathering of leaders looking at new ideas in education at a prestigious mid-western university. It is anticipated that similar opportunities for presentation of these findings to diocesan leaders, leaders of religious communities, and to gatherings of charter school advocates will occur.
Implications for Future Research
Since the study of faith-inspired charter schools is only now unfolding, the field is ripe for additional research. Many communities could benefit from a better understanding of what takes place and what is possible in the wraparound spiritual formation programs.
A review of the literature, along with conversations with practitioners in the various locales in which Catholic-to-charter conversions have taken place, reveals that these programs have not been studied in any substantive way. There appears to be little COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 137 knowledge of what is happening in these programs, the rates of attendance, budgeting practices, and other basic operational facts. It seems likely that some common knowledge related to these programs could provide the foundation for each parish and school to learn from the efforts of one another and to begin to identify some best practices in the field.
While Catalyst marketing materials tell a compelling story of the dramatic academic improvement of its students, this has yet to be substantiated in a quantitative study published in a peer-reviewed journal. A longitudinal study is likely to show the best results based on the anecdotal evidence presented on the Catalyst marketing materials that I have seen. Included in this study could be an analysis of relative high school graduation rates, college attendance rates, and student retention rates, along with the comparative results on standardized tests that measure academic achievement. Such a comprehensive study is necessary to validate the contribution these schools are making to
Chicago and to lay the foundation necessary to show this model is worthy of replication around the country.
Implications for Leadership Theory and Practice
The findings of the study validate several important concepts about the classic interplay of power and leadership and the role that each plays in organizational change.
Robbins and Judge (2012) differentiate and describe several classical styles of leadership and a modern understanding of the types of power that are used to effect change within the organizational setting. The now deceased Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago, Francis
George, a person for whom I had the deepest respect, exercised his “formal power” when he refused to take up Arne Duncan’s offer to partner with CPS to establish a number of charter schools throughout Chicago. Fearing some form of retribution against other COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 138
Lasallian high schools in Chicago (which never came), Brother Frank Carr expressed concerns about the possible use of “coercive power” when wisely requesting that an open line of communication be established with the Cardinal’s office as the Christian Brothers moved forward in establishing the charter schools. Arne Duncan was influenced by the
“expert power” that was demonstrated by the Christian Brothers as he toured the San
Miguel schools. Through the testimony of Gary Comer and based upon what he saw with his own eyes, Duncan was convinced that Siderewicz and Hannon had completely mastered the challenging task of educating youth from neighborhoods decimated by poverty. They were experts in the field and, because of their expert power, Duncan wanted to give them an opportunity to expand their influence. Finally, one can easily argue that Brother John Johnston not only took advantage of his “legitimate power” that came with having just served at 14 years as Superior General, but he masterfully exercised the influence tactics of legitimacy, rational persuasion, and inspirational appeal, to fashion a compelling argument for moving forward with this unique innovation.
It is impossible to discuss power without also taking a look at issues related to the leadership styles of the key actors in this drama. Similarly, it is impossible to look at the work done by Hannon and Siderewicz, talk to those who worked beside them through the formative years of the Catalyst Schools and the San Miguel schools before that, and watch them interact with those around them today, and not conclude that both men fit the classical definition of a “charismatic leader” as described by Robbins and Judge (2012).
Certainly there are indications, given the life and careers of Cardinal Francis George,
Brother John Johnston, and Arne Duncan that these gentlemen were charismatic leaders as well. Each of them was responsible for organizations that served hundreds of COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 139 thousands of people on a daily basis. Each of them surely had their detractors to go along with their extended resumes of success. The “visionary leadership” of Sister Immacula
Wendt is especially noteworthy. One can easily make the argument that the most successful of the Catalyst Schools has been Catalyst Maria, which was launched as a result of this octogenarian fireball’s initiative, foresight, and the desire to serve her religious community along with the broader community of Chicago.
Coming to know and understand the passion, initiative, and skill with which each of these leaders served their respective communities is a source of inspiration for me. It has been a privilege to learn more of their story and their collaboration together. I hope that in some way, telling their story will make it easier for the settlers to get the land.
These settlers are children and their families from impoverished communities around the country - each of them desperately seeking their own chance to become leaders in the way that God has made them to be.
Final Observation About Leadership
The doctoral program in Interdisciplinary Leadership at Creighton University begins with a reflection on leadership from the perspective of the Society of Jesus that points to the remarkable history of the Jesuits and their unique style of fulfilling the call to leadership. One of the most interesting Jesuit leaders who is profiled by Lowney
(2003) is Matteo Ricci. According to the records we have, Ricci is the first Jesuit to have been received and integrated into Chinese society. Others before him had been repelled and sometimes shipped home in cages. Ricci was the first Jesuit who learned the language of the Chinese and began to get a foothold into the intellectual community of COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 140
Chinese society by penning a treatise on friendship – an experience common to all humans regardless of language.
The work of the Christian Brothers in Chicago strikes me as being similar to that of Ricci. The brothers are learning the language and culture of public school bureaucracy and this allows them to enter into meaningful conversation with their students regarding basic ideas and values most human beings innately understand – honor, trust, kindness, scholarship, and perhaps even ambition. It seems reasonable to hope that just as Ricci’s life and work was ultimately able to show the Chinese people a way of life they may want to consider adopting, so will the work of the Christian Brothers bring a similar gift to impoverished communities across the country.
Summary of the Study
The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the process of conceptual development, negotiation, reasoning, and discernment among organizational leaders that led a metropolitan school system and a religious order to collaborate on the establishment of two publicly funded “faith-inspired” charter schools. With the aim of creating an evidence-based series of recommendations for religious organizations and public chartering authorities that choose to collaborate in the establishment of such schools, this study interviewed leaders from both organizations in order to understand the rationale and motivation for working together to establish the Catalyst Schools. After gathering qualitative data from observation of the both Catalyst Schools, observing a summer leadership summit of Catalyst personnel, and conducting 18 interviews with leaders of the Christian Brothers, Catalyst Schools, the Sisters of St. Casimir, and
Chicago Public Schools, the study revealed that executive leaders from both COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 141 organizations articulated visionary statements of their rationale for entering into this innovative partnership. Leaders from both organizations then acted on the principles in these statements to create a new model of faith-inspired charter schools. Additionally, a series of evidence-based recommendations were identified for any religious organization considering entering into such a partnership.
Allowance for a two-and-a-half year timeline was recommended for the execution of the proposed solution which begins with steps including recruiting a board, finding a faith-based community partner, securing a facility, developing an application that is successful in acquiring a charter, hiring and training teachers for mission, and concludes with evaluation of the results of standardized testing at the end of the first year of operation. The hiring and subsequent training of teachers according to principles, teaching theories, and writings of Saint Jean-Baptiste de a Salle represent a new innovation in the realm of charter schools in the United States. Even though similar training has been used in the 560 Lasallian schools around the world for over 300 years, translating these teacher formation techniques in a way that can be used in charter schools in the United States has never been done until now.
It is expected that the results of the study will serve to inform leaders of Catholic parishes and other religious organizations serving impoverished communities. The study presents a process to establish a viable option that allows these organizations to better serve their communities by providing faith-inspired charter schools. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 142
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COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 159
Appendix A
Four Elements of a Dissertation in Practice Proposal – Joe Hollowell
Problem Statement
We live in a time of convergence of two intersecting trends. Over the past 50 years more than half of the Catholic schools around the country have closed as a result of declining enrollment (McCloskey & Harris, 2013). Even though these closures have affected most demographic groups around the country, they have most significantly impacted students and families from center-city socioeconomic groups (McDonald &
Schultz, 2009). In spite of efforts to turn the tide through marketing, new partnerships, and governance structures, Catholic schools continue to close at an alarming rate. Driven by both the financial challenges of sustaining Catholic schools in areas of impoverishment along with the increasing availability of mechanisms to form charter schools, the conversion of under-resourced center-city Catholic schools to charter schools is an emerging phenomenon throughout the country that is expected to become more commonplace (McShane & Kelly, 2014).
In 1997, the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. formed the Center-City
Consortium and used the available mechanism for forming charter schools to avoid the outright closure of these Catholic schools by converting them to charter schools. Since that time, both the Archdiocese of Miami and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis have employed similar strategies in attempts to continue to serve students and families in the center-city. Hernandez (2009) notes that there is disagreement among leaders in the
Catholic community as to whether or not this is an advisable way to fulfill the Church’s mission to the poor. The most contentious issue is that, as charter schools, these new COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 160 schools can no longer offer mandatory religious instruction which many consider to be the heart of the mission of Catholic schools (Ristau, 2009).
While the phenomenon of the conversion of Catholic schools to charter schools has not yet been widely implemented, the study of these schools is beginning to unfold
(Brinson, 2010; Carr, 2014; Horning, 2013; McShane & Kelly, 2014; Smarick, 2010). As predicted by Ristau (2009), evidence has begun to emerge that indicates that the newly formed charter schools lose the benefits of the shared religious mission and practices that are common in most Catholic schools (Brinson, 2010; Carr, 2014; Smarick, 2010). These researchers note that dealing with public school bureaucracy and a heightened emphasis on standardized test preparation give rise to a definitive change in school climate that leads to the resignation of many former teachers from the Catholic school who were retained during the first years of the conversion to a charter school. The resulting charter schools have not been a satisfactory solution in the eyes of Catholic leaders. Recently, the
Archdiocese of Indianapolis ended its five-year experiment with these converted charter schools (Glavan, 2015) as a result of its dissatisfaction with the resulting product of the conversion.
However, recent research (Proehl et al., 2015) has indicated that a new sort of model has emerged as the result of the collaboration between the Chicago Public School
(CPS) system and the Christian Brothers religious order. This model was the result of six years of conversation, negotiation, and discernment after an original proposal by CPS to the Christian Brothers was made and subsequently rejected in 1999. CPS had proposed that the Christian Brothers establish a charter school based on the model of the successful
San Miguel Catholic schools in which the Christian Brothers were already serving COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 161 impoverished neighborhoods in Chicago. In a six-year process of ongoing dialogue between CPS and the Christian Brothers, the Christian Brothers eventually made a decision to accept the offer of partnership with CPS and open two charter schools called
“Catalyst Schools”. The research by Proehl et al. (2015) indicates that the Catalyst
Schools have been successful in operating as “faith-inspired” charter schools that show great promise as a model of collaboration between a public chartering authority and a religious organization wanting to serve the poor while at the same time staying true to its founding religious charisms. According to Proehl et al. (2015) parents, students, teachers, and administrators all indicate a level of satisfaction that has been elusive in the other attempts around the country to close Catholic schools and immediately re-open them as charter schools.
The results of the proposed case study will build understanding of important issues surrounding the dialogue and negotiations among leaders of these two organizations as they sought to understand and accommodate the other’s concern.
Increased understanding of this collaboration will help inform other diocesan and religious leaders around the country as well as public chartering authorities as they seek to determine if the formation of faith-inspired charter schools merit consideration in their unique locations.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this case study will be to understand the process of conceptual development, negotiation, and discernment among organizational leaders that led a large metropolitan school system and a religious order to collaborate on the establishment of COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 162 two publicly funded “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban neighborhoods.
Research Question
The following research questions will guide this case study:
Research question #1: How do leaders of a public school chartering authority and a religious order describe the process of discussion, negotiation, and discernment that led to the agreement to collaborate on the establishment of two “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban neighborhoods managed by the religious order.
Research question #2: What have been the obstacles, successes, and future opportunities presented since the establishment of these two schools?
Aim of the Study
The aim of this study is to create an evidence-based series of recommendations that can be adopted by public chartering authorities as well as religious organizations to facilitate collaboration in the establishment of “faith-inspired” charter schools in impoverished urban areas.
References
Brinson, D. (2010). Turning loss into renewal: Catholic schools, charter schools, and the
Miami experience (pp. 1-22, Rep.). New York: Seton Education Partners.
Carr, K. A. (2014). When Catholic schools close and become charter schools: A case
study of organizational narratives and legitimacy (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation). Indiana University. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 163
Glavan, J. (2015, January 22). Parents want answers as number of closed charter schools
grows. Retrieved from http://fox59.com/2015/01/22/parents-want-answers-as-
number-of-closed-charter-schools-grows/
Hernandez, J. (2009, March 8). Secular education, Catholic values. New York Times, p.
A17.
Horning, C. N. (2013). The intersection of religious charter schools and urban Catholic
education: A literature review. Catholic Education: A Journal of Inquiry and
Practice, 16(2), 364-387.
McCloskey, P. J., & Harris, J. C. (2013, January 6). Catholic education, in need of
salvation [Editorial]. New York Times, p. 19.
McDonald, D., & Schultz, M. M. (2009). United States Catholic elementary and
secondary schools, 2008-2009: The annual statistical report on schools,
enrollment and staffing. Washington, DC: National Catholic Educational
Association.
McShane, M. Q., & Kelly, A. P. (2014). Sector switchers: Why Catholic schools convert
to charters and what happens next. Indianapolis, IN: The Friedman Foundation
for Educational Choice.
Proehl, R., Starnes, H., & Everett, S. (2015). Catalyst Schools: The Catholic Ethos and
Public Charter Schools. Journal of Catholic Education, 18(2), 125-158.
doi:10.15365/joce.1802072015
Ristau, K. M. (2009, September). Can charter schools be Catholic? Here's why the
answer is "no". NCEA Notes, 43, 1. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 164
Smarick, A. (2010). Catholic schools become charter schools: Lessons from the
Washington experience (pp. 1-26, Rep.). New York: Seton Education Partners.
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 165
Appendix B
Interview Script and Questions
Script for Introduction
Thank you so much for taking the time to participate in this case study interview to investigate to the formation and ongoing operation of the Catalyst Schools in Chicago.
Through my doctoral studies in the Interdisciplinary Leadership program at Creighton
University I have become keenly aware of the critical role of leadership in bringing about change within a system and within a culture. It is the intent of my research to explore the interaction and decision-making dynamics that led to the eventual choice by the Christian
Brothers and Chicago Public Schools to cooperate in the establishment of the Catalyst
Schools. In order make an accurate record of our time here today. I would like to record this interview for transcription at a later time. Do I have your permission to do so?
Questions
• Can you give me a bit of background regarding your involvement with Catholic
education prior to the establishment of the Catalysts schools?
• Can you describe your reaction when the idea of opening a faith-inspired charter
school was first proposed to you?
• Who first proposed this idea to you?
• Who do you recall being involved in the subsequent conversation? Who were
these leaders and what was their position within the organization?
• Do you recall the leaders who were opposed to the idea within your organization?
• Can you summarize your recollections of the primary objections of those who
may have been against this idea in the beginning? COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 166
• Do you recall any leaders who were advocates for the original proposal from the
beginning of the discussions? Can you describe the method by which they chose
to advocate? Can you describe the nature of their argument for the establishment
of this partnership?
• Was there a key event in your mind that led to the continuation of dialogue and
discernment? If not, what led to the dialogue to be extended for six years?
• How often was this proposal discussed within your organization? In what sort of
format did that discussion take place?
• Can you paraphrase what happened over this six-year period to cause
organizational leaders to finally decide to move forward with the adoption of this
partnership?
• Who made the final decision to move forward in your organization? How was the
decision communicated?
• Can you describe the results you have seen from this mutual collaboration?
• Are there any downsides to this partnership?
• In retrospect, are there things you wish you had done differently?
• Is there unanimous consent in your organization that the partnership is a success
or do some members remain skeptical?
• What steps would you suggest other religious leaders or public school authorities
take who want to consider similar partnerships for faith-inspired charter schools?
• How critical do you think it is to have effective optional religious education
programs offered to students at these new charter schools?
• What, if any, steps have been taken to enhance the quality of these programs? COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 167
• What is your perception of the effectiveness of the optional religious education
programs currently offered?
• Do the schools measure this effectiveness themselves? If so, how?
• Who is in charge of selecting these religious educational instructors?
• Are these religious instructors paid? If so, who pays them?
• Is there a budget for religious education classroom expenses and supplies?
• Is there a minimum threshold of training or education that a religious education
teacher must have? If so, what it the threshold?
• How often are the religious education classes offered?
• What sort of funds or other resources are allotted to supporting these religious
education programs?
• Are there any plans underway to replicate this model of collaboration anywhere in
the country?
• Have there been any legal challenges to the operation of the Catalyst Schools?
• Who might be best able to give the Chicago Public Schools perspective of the
early dialogues?
• How often do you have occasion to interact with CPS? Can you please describe
those interactions?
COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 168
Appendix C
IRB Letter
Social Behavioral Institutional Review Board
2500 California Plaza • Omaha, Nebraska 68178 phone: 402.280.2 402.280.4766 • email: [email protected]
DATE:
TO: FROM:
PROJECT TITLE: SUBMISSION TYPE:
ACTION: DECISION DATE:
REVIEW CATEGORY:
October 19, 2015
Joseph Hollowell - 02C reighton Social Behavioral University IRB
[821863-1] Collaboration of a Religious Order and a Public School Chartering Authority - A Case Study
New Project
DETERMINATION OF EXEMPT STATUS October 19, 2015
Exemption category # 4
Thank you for your submission of New Project materials for this project. The following items were reviewed in this submission:
• ApplicationForm- ApplicationforDeterminationofExemptStatus(per45CFR46.101(b)2/3): Observation, Survey, Interview (UPDATED: 10/16/2015)
• Creighton-IRBApplicationForm-Creighton- COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 169
IRBApplicationForm(UPDATED:10/15/2015) • Proposal- DissertationinPracticeProposal(UPDATED:10/19/2015)
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Appendix D
The Johnston Memorandum
MEMORANDUM
To: Brother Michael Fehrenbach and all
From: Brother John Johnston, FSC
Date: 9 February 2005, Feast of San Miguel Febres Cordero
RE: Proposed Collaboration with Public School System
N.B. Because of the possibility of factual errors in this quickly prepared memorandum, I ask that it be circulated with discretion and always with this comment. I intend the memorandum - written at your request – to help those involved in discussions on the proposed collaboration to situate the proposal within the global Lasallian context.
During the District Council discussion of the possibility of replicating the San Miguel School model as a charter or contract school in Chicago, I spoke to the proposal out of my international experience – ten years as Vicar General, fourteen years as Superior General.
Through the lens of that experience, I said that I see no important reasons why we should say no to the proposal and that I see important reasons why we should say yes. I added that I was speaking on the level of principal and acknowledged that those more knowledgeable than I might be aware of pragmatic reasons for questioning the wisdom of the proposal, reasons that would have to be examined carefully. I add now that it would seem to me that should a definitive decision to proceed be made, legal challenges from Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and from some Jewish organizations committed to the same cause are inevitable. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 171
I comment first on my remark that I see no important reasons for saying no. Brother Frank Carr, Visitor, introduced the discussion as an opportunity to discuss whether or not the Midwest District of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Christian Brothers) should become involved with the public school system in the running of a charter or contract school. The question is understandable and reasonable, given that throughout our history in the United States, the “state” (at various levels) and the Institute have collaborated only in limited ways: institutions for court-referred youth on the East Coast, special programs on the high school and elementary levels across the country, various but limited ways of assistance on the university level, assistance to San Miguel Middle School in Providence, Rhode Island... The reason collaboration has been limited is, of course, prevailing interpretations of the separation of Church and State clause in the First Amendment:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ”
As far as I know, neither Church law nor Church practice forbids or even discourages collaboration with governments. On the contrary the Church frequently and consistently argues that governments are obliged to fund education for everyone – including those in schools with religious orientations. The concern of the Church is that governments not prohibit or impede “free exercise.” Internationally the Institute of the De La Salle Christian Brothers has collaborated for many years with governments and continues to collaborate today in numerous countries.
I am NOT prepared to give a precise explanation of the many and varied relationships that exist. I can speak only in very general terms. I apologize for any errors in the following description. If there are errors, I don’t think they call into question the point I am attempting to make. Every situation is different. In no way am I suggesting that any of these examples parallels precisely the kind of arrangement under discussion in the Midwest District.
Relationships with governments are of three kinds: 1) those imposed by law or edict that effectively exclude the Institute from involvement COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 172 in educating youth through schools; 2) those imposed by law or edict that permit the Institute to function only within certain parameters; 3) those that the Institute enters into freely, accepting both the advantages and the disadvantages of the arrangement.
Today the Brothers are effectively excluded from educating youth in schools in Cuba, Vietnam, and Myanmar (Burma). Until the collapse of communism in Central Europe, the same was true in Poland, Rumania, and Czechoslovakia (now divided into two countries). In Slovakia today we have a school in which the teachers are paid, at least partially, by the State.
In Cuba Fidel Castro nationalized the schools and seriously harassed the Brothers who had well-developed pastoral ministries among youth. The Brothers left the country en masse, fully expecting to return in a short time. Today our policy in the face of nationalization is to encourage the Brothers to remain and find ministries that are acceptable – unless they are in personal danger of imprisonment or worse. More than thirty years later, and after ten years of negotiation, we succeeded in reestablishing in Cuba two communities of Brothers that serve youth through the teaching of religion in Churches, various pastoral ministries, theological programs, language teaching, and sports activities. The Vatican has fully supported our efforts.
Our schools in Sri Lanka were nationalized some forty years ago and no school could any longer charge tuition. The Brothers and former students decided to find financial support for a few schools and passed the other schools to the government. They maintained a presence, however, in these schools.
Some forty-five years ago France enacted laws that enabled the Institute to conduct its own network of schools and receive government support for salaries (lay and Brothers), as well as other operating expenses. There are no funds provided for capital expenditures. A similar arrangement exists in Belgium. In both countries the teaching of religion is permitted.
The socialist government in Austria began paying teachers’ salaries in all schools some twenty years ago. At approximately the same time, the then two Districts (Provinces) in Great Britain took COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 173 advantage of the opportunity to enter the government system and receive financial assistance. All schools in the District of England and all but three in the District of London became Catholic schools in the government system. The teaching of religion is an integral part of the curriculum.
When the Socialist party won national elections in Spain some twenty years ago, the government soon offered to provide funds for all schools K-10. The teaching of religion and pastoral activities would be permitted. Our Institute and other teaching institutes went through a long, serious, and difficult discernment, examining carefully the pros and cons. They decided to take advantage of the opportunity. I think that only one school in Spain today remains privately funded. As far as I know, Lasallians are satisfied with the arrangement, pleased that students are not deterred from enrolling for lack of sufficient financial resources.
In India we run schools for the poor in which the government pays the salaries of most of the teachers, including the Brothers.
In Argentina students in our schools are categorized according to family income and receive tuition assistance accordingly. In other countries, such as Thailand, we cannot teach the Catholic religion in the school building to the very small number of Christians. We teach religion, however, in the Brothers’ residence. John Paul II, in the document he wrote following the synod on the teaching of religion, declared, and I paraphrase, “we do what we can in the situations in which we find ourselves.”
Those examples come to mind. The bottom line is that through my international lens – and on the level of principal – I see no reason why we should not endorse the proposal.
I offer a few remarks now to explain my assertion that I see significant reasons why we should look favorably on the proposal. The Catholic Church, which has as its mission to make the loving and saving presence of Christ a visible and effective reality, wants to be present to peoples everywhere. “Everywhere” includes a presence in locations and in cultures where the possibilities of “conversions” are minimal. The Church has urged Institutes such as our own to intensify COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 174 our presence among persons of other religions throughout the world, particularly in Asia.
About 25 years ago our Institute in France made the decision to withdraw the Brothers from Turkey. Reasons were the aging and declining numbers of French missionary Brothers and the fact that few of the students in our three schools were Christian. When the Vatican heard that we intended to end a presence we had maintained since 1841, reaction was decisive and swift. Brother Pablo, Superior General, was called to discuss the situation. The Vatican pleaded with us to maintain our presence. There was no expectation that we would “proselytize” and try to convert Muslims to Catholicism. Not at all. The hope was that we would continue to make Christ’s loving and saving presence a visible and effective reality through well-run, highly regarded educational institutions, while respecting totally the religion of others. The Institute reversed its decision and continues to serve Turkish youth, nearly all Muslims, today.
In Malaysia, an Islamic state, a country where we have been a dominant force in education since 1852, the schools for which the Institute is responsible outnumber the Brothers. Following the nationalization of Catholic schools many years ago, we are not allowed to teach religion in the school buildings but must provide space for the teaching of Islam. We do what we can in the reality in which we find ourselves. We have been in Pakistan only since 1959, and face a similar situation.
In the pastoral visits I made throughout the world for twenty-four years, I very frequently was asked why the Institute is at the service of so many Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Confucianists, Shintoists, persons of traditional religions, Christians who are not Catholic My answer was and is that as the largest teaching Institute in the Catholic Church, we have the obligation of making Christ’s loving and saving presence a vivid and effective reality throughout the world and among peoples of all religious faiths and among those of no religious faith.
Since the Jubilee Year of 2000, Memphis Bishop Terry Steib, SVD, and Dr. Mary McDonald, Secretary of Education, with the help of anonymous donors, have reopened eight inner-city Catholic COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 175 elementary schools. We are responsible, in collaboration with the diocese, for two of them. The number of Catholics in these schools is small. Both the Bishop and Dr. McDonald frequently insist, “We teach not because the pupils are Catholic, but because we are Catholic.” The “we” here means the sponsoring body. Not all the teachers in these schools are Catholic.
Under consideration is a new San Miguel model school operating as a charter or contract school. Under consideration, therefore, is the possibility of placing Catholic education in the Lasallian tradition at the service of young people who would not otherwise have that chance. Under consideration is making the loving and saving presence of Christ a vivid and effective reality among such children.
I suppose the bottom-line question is whether or not God, in the words of St. De La Salle, is confiding such children to our care or not.
cc. Brothers Frank Carr, Armand Alcazar, Joseph Saurbier
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Appendix E
The Duncan Platform
We have one common enemy and that is academic failure.
We have one common goal and that is more academic success.
Whoever can create more high quality schools, whoever can create more high quality seats for children - particularly focused on our most disadvantaged - those providers need to be our partners.
We need to be innovative, creative, and flexible and find ways to get to yes rather than find ways to get to no.
We are trying to reverse decades of lack of education and decades of intergenerational poverty.
The status quo of incremental change is woefully insufficient for the size of the challenge and the urgency of the need.
For traditional schools, bureaucracies, and faith-based schools, if we are truly committed to kids, community, and opportunity, we have to find ways to get better faster.
We cannot be true to our mission if we are not willing to be more flexible, more creative, and innovative.
It is unconscionable to not attempt to provide new opportunities for students – especially those in poverty.
Through the establishment of these faith-inspired charters, the Church has a chance to keep working with kids and communities who desperately need its service.
The Church cannot walk away and disappear from communities rather than find a way to be a little more creative.
Edited version of comments by former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recorded during an interview for doctoral dissertation research at Creighton University by Joe Hollowell on March 9, 2016. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 177
Appendix F
The Lasallian Platform
Preamble
Catholic leaders are discussing the possibility of replicating its successful schools as charter schools in the United States. The Catholic Church is operating schools across the world in a multitude of political and legal systems and draws upon those experiences when considering the possibility of collaboration with public chartering authorities in the United States.
Through the lens of that global experience, there are no important reasons why we should say “no” to this collaboration and there are important reasons why we should say “yes.”
Rationale
• Neither Church law nor Church practice forbids or even discourages collaboration with governments.
• The Church frequently and consistently argues that governments are obliged to fund education for everyone – including those in schools with religious orientations.
• Internationally, the Church has collaborated for many years with governments in numerous countries. Some examples follow:
Argentina - students in Catholic schools are categorized according to family income and receive tuition assistance accordingly.
Austria - The socialist government in began paying teachers’ salaries in all schools some 30 years ago.
France and Belgium – over 50 years ago laws were enacted that enabled Church agencies to conduct a network of schools and receive government support for salaries (lay and religious), as well as other operating expenses. In both countries the teaching of religion is permitted.
Great Britain - Catholic schools took advantage of the opportunity to enter the government system and receive financial assistance. The vast majority became Catholic schools in the government system. The teaching of religion is an integral part of the curriculum.
India - the Church runs schools for the poor in which the government pays the salaries of most of the teachers, including the members of religious orders.
Spain - 30 years ago, the newly elected Socialist government provided funds for all schools K-10. The teaching of religion and pastoral activities is permitted.
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Sri Lanka - Catholic schools were nationalized 50 years ago and no school could any longer charge tuition. The religious orders who staffed these schools decided to pass most of the schools to the government. However, they maintained a presence in these schools.
Thailand - the Catholic religion cannot be taught in a school building to the very small number of Christians there. Religion is taught, nonetheless, in the residences of local religious.
• Brother John Johnston, former Superior General of the De La Salle Christian Brothers summarizes the apostolic exhortation of Pope John Paul II, Catechesi Tradendae as follows: “We do what we can in the situations in which we find ourselves.”
• Memphis Bishop Terry Steib, SVD, who reopened eight inner-city Catholic elementary schools that serve very few Catholics frequently insists, “We teach not because the pupils are Catholic, but because we are Catholic.
• Catholic leaders are frequently asked why they are at the service of so many Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, none of whom are Catholic. Their answer is consistent. These leaders know there is an obligation of making Christ’s loving and saving presence a vivid reality throughout the world and among peoples of all religious faiths.
• Through this international lens – and on the level of principal – there is no reason why we should not embrace the opportunity to work with American legal authorities who are willing to fund charter schools formed by those who have a religious call to educate.
Conclusion
Under consideration now is the question of a Catholic organization operating a charter school. Under consideration, therefore, is the possibility of placing an education based upon Catholic principles at the service of young people who would not otherwise have that chance. Under consideration is making the loving and saving presence of Christ a vivid and effective reality among such children.
The bottom-line question is whether or not God is confiding such children to our care … or not.
We believe that both God and the Church are both calling us to care for these children.
Edited version of a memorandum from Brother John Johnston to members of the Midwest District Council of the Lasallian Christian Brothers dated February 9, 2005. Presented as a part of a draft reporting dissertation research at Creighton University by Joe Hollowell on March 14, 2016.
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Appendix G
June 30, 2011
Terry Toth, Board Chair And the Catalyst Board The Catalyst Schools 5608 West Washington Blvd Chicago, IL 60644
Dear Mr. Toth, Board Chair and the Catalyst Board,
The Sisters of St. Casimir have ministered to the people of Chicago since 1911. Over the years we have carried out our mission of teaching and evangelizing, caring for the sick, the aging, and sharing Christ’s special love for the poor through our ministries in education, health care and community development. Through our ministry of education at St. Casimir Academy/Maria High School for the past 100 years, we have provided an excellent educational experience for the young people of our neighborhood and nurtured the faith life of our diverse learning community through prayer, worship and service.
The Sisters of St. Casimir are willing to engage in an exciting partnership with Catalyst Charter Schools at the site of the present Maria High School (6727 S California Avenue, Chicago IL 60629). It is our hope that Catalyst Schools would pursue the steps needed to establish a K-12 educational program, beginning with K- 8, something they have already excelled in, and following up with 9-12 in the next school year, something we have been engaged in for all these years at Maria High School with an expertise and commitment to young people that we would be happy to share. This partnership provides a wonderful opportunity for building a seamless continuum of education at this site for the hundreds of students who need our faithful and caring commitment to meet the needs of children and teens in the Maria neighborhood. At the same time, this enables us to continue the legacy of the Mission of Maria High School and the Mission of the Sisters of St. Casimir in Chicago Lawn in a new way.
Over the course of the school’s 100 year history, Maria High School (and St. Casimir Academy before it) has educated over 14,000 young women, providing COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 180 them with academic excellence, strong moral values, preparing them to be leaders in their families, their neighborhoods, the city, the world. Maria Women can be found everywhere. Notable alumnae span the decades and credit Maria High School with preparing them for life. Some of these include: Carmen Velasquez ‘ 57 – founder and executive director, Alivio Center Joanne DeCoste Velasquez ‘ 58 – founder of Azteca Foods Honorable Anne McGlone Burke ’62 – Illinois Supreme Court Judge Gail Dorcak Ward ’67 – founding principal, Walter Peyton High School Anita Alvarez ’78 -- Cook County State’s Attorney Amy Howatt Fahey ’80 -- President of Midwest Middle Market Banking, Chase. Tamara Marshall, M.D. ’80, pediatrician, University of Illinois Patricia Saldana Natke ’82, architect and founder of Urban Works, Ltd Elba Aranda-Suh ’89 – Executive Director, National Latino Education Initiative Kila Weaver ’90 – Vice President, Marketing & Business Development FIS Group
The Sisters of St. Casimir have over 100 years of leadership in serving the needs of those who have come to our door, our Maria High School, our emergency room at Holy Cross Hospital, seeking education, health care, support, a helping hand. We are seen by many as the bedrock of our community and embrace our role of serving all, especially the vulnerable and those in need. It is one of our priorities to see that quality education is provided to the students, an opportunity to develop their talents and realize their dreams – leaving no child behind.
What a blessing this partnership, Catalyst and Maria, could be for the students, the families, the community, the city of Chicago! We greatly commend and value the mission, vision, and core educational philosophy of the Catalyst Schools. We can envision how the excellence you foster in education, the opportunities you provide for each child, and your commitment to nurturing ‘the whole person’ academically, socially and emotionally, mirror the mission and values that we have always espoused at Maria High School. The Sisters of St. Casimir and lay leaders of Maria High School are deeply committed to the Mission of Maria. All have worked diligently to assure that Maria’s Mission continues. This same support and commitment by Maria’s leaders and faculty would continue in a new Catalyst High School that espouses the same quality of education, faith-based values and diversity. The resources of Maria personnel, expertise, years of experience, talent and knowledge of providing an excellent High School program offered in a caring, respectful environment which inspires students to discover their gifts and cultivate life-long relationships would be available to Catalyst as the foundation of a new high school program.
How exciting it would be to have Catalyst bring their expertise and leadership in establishing a K-8 Catalyst School at Maria High School beginning with the 2012-2013 school year and then joining the 100 years of High School leadership, COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 181 skills and experience from the Sisters of St. Casimir and Maria High School leadership transition the high school experience into a Charter Catalyst K-12 for the 2013-2014 school year.
Working with Catalyst to introduce a K–8 education on the Maria campus actively positions us to continue our 100 year legacy of providing education to the young people in this community. Students would be well prepared to continue their education on the high school level on-site through the strong value-based education provided by Catalyst. Catalyst, in turn, will be able to work with Maria leadership, to develop their curriculum into a K-12 educational system that would truly provide the best outcome for the young people attending the school. This would be a blessing for the community, as any of our current partners and supporters of our mission would attest to.
In 2002 Maria was recognized as both a Prairie State and National Service Learning Leader School. We value and are proud of our continued connections and efforts within the community. We have worked with key community leaders from the Southwest Organizing Project (a community organizing group composed of 27 member institutions), Holy Cross Hospital, Healthy Chicago Lawn, and Greater Southwest Development Corporation on numerous issues facing the quality of life of our community.
The Maria High School building and campus, with a capacity for about 1000 students, offers a marvelous array of possibilities for learning: classroom spaces, an 1100 seat auditorium with full stage and orchestra pit, a full service kitchen and cafeteria, library, science labs, art rooms, orchestra and choral rooms, videoconferencing room, computer labs, computer access in all classrooms, TV studio connected to each classroom, a double gym with gym lockers, an on-campus softball field, easy access to Marquette Park and its tennis courts, softball fields, soccer fields, golf course, and track. This well-kept facility not only provides opportunities for student learning and development, but also opportunities for the surrounding community. Maria was the site of ESL and citizenship classes for over 300 people and has hosted meetings, conferences for various groups, and graduation ceremonies of several public schools in the area. (There is an elevator which provides handicapped-accessibility to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors and a ramp entrance for the lower level.) Currently the school building is underutilized. There were 236 Maria students during the 2010-2011 school year. There would be ample room for classrooms and office spaces to accommodate the daily needs of a Catalyst School at this location. As Catalyst grows and integrates a total K-12 system, we see the building being used to capacity for the children in our neighborhood. We have longed for the day when Maria would once again be bursting at the seams, and we see this possibility with Catalyst as an answer to our prayers, a gift to the surrounding community, and a new way for us to continue to make a difference in the lives of young people. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 182
Even though we, the Sisters of St. Casimir, are the sponsors of Maria High School, we work collaboratively with the Archdiocese of Chicago. As we would partner with Catalyst, it would be our hope to establish a “Newman-like” Center in the former convent which is attached to the Maria school building. This Center would provide religious instruction and formation for those who would want to come. In time, it may also become a place for parent education, for Maria High School Alumnae support, and as a resource for peace and justice service to the larger community. We thank you for allowing ‘something new’ to happen at Maria High School!
Most sincerely,
Sister M. Immacula Wendt General Superior Sisters of St. Casimir
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Appendix H
Public Schools In the Lasallian Tradition Michael Fehrenbach FSC
Humility – Originally written circa 1780 by Brother Agathon – Superior General
Humility is a virtue that inspires us with low sentiments of ourselves; it attributes to us our just due. This is the way some people view humility. But there are other perspectives about what it means to be humble. For example, without feeling degraded or made low, we must also ask ourselves “what do we have that we have not received”? If it has been a gift, how then do we “pretend” that the gift is something we created on our own?
Humility comes from the word humus which means the rotted earth, the rich soil out of which great and valuable things can grow. To be humble, to develop the virtue of humility is simply to be deeply in touch with the fact that all we have and all we are is a gift that has been given to us and that this gift multiplies in our own rich fertile soil so it can grow into something special for others.
Humility directly opposes pride which gives us an unjustly exalted notion of our own excellence. Only a person with the virtue of humility can stand in genuine relationship with others. A person with pride stands above everyone else and so stands alone. This vice does not indicate any real solid good in us for it is only a swelling that puffs us up and makes us appear in our judgment, greater than we really are.
The teacher must have the virtue of humility or he/she cannot stand in relation to the children. Students will call us to humility and if we can only be prideful teaching will ultimately break us.
What are the true characteristics of the Humility appropriate for teachers, considering it as the function of teaching?
1) The Humility of the good teacher must arise from a genuine spirit of love and connection to others. All who are in positions of responsibility and authority must develop this virtue deeply. There is no leadership without being connected and in relationship. Teaching is first of all about relationship. A good teacher, responsible for many lives, will be humble in mind, knowing full well his or her own insufficiencies; he or she will be humble in heart, embracing and loving even those inadequate dimensions of his or her own personality; he or she will be humble in action, behaving humbly in all that is done – never puffed up or acting superior to others. No doubt the good teacher will never lose sight of the excellence and nobility of the end for which he or she was created; but at the same time, he or she will always keep in view the inadequacies that fill even his or her own life and the powerlessness he or she has over so much of life. This is the deep awareness that no matter our best effort, we cannot always accomplish, in every instance, what we hope to. We do our best, with passion, and trust that the goodness of life will make the most of our inadequate attempts. COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 184
What we hope to accomplish, we cannot attain alone but only in concert and harmony with others – community. We provide for each other the corrective action that helps us not stray too far from the path we need to be on. With trust and love, we need not stumble too hard.
2) Humility is accompanied by modesty. Thus a teacher who possesses this virtue considers himself / herself highly honored to labor for the ultimate good of children, following the examples of wisdom that have preceded us. If the teacher is talented, he or she does not make a display of it; does not show conceit, pride, or overbearing manners; avoids attitudes and gestures, airs and ways of acting that might make him/her conspicuous in the eyes of others or might draw unnecessary attention to the qualities he/she thinks he or she possesses. The good teacher takes no pleasure in his or her wit or knowledge he/she thinks he/she has acquired and never looks down upon his/her colleagues or what they do. The good teacher does not seek applause or praise for accomplishments that he/she could not have achieved without the support of the entire community. Good teachers live an examined life, always ask how to do better, seek help from others, and willingly share their talents and gifts.
3) Humility excludes all vainglory as a motive of acting. Nothing, in fact, is sillier than to desire human esteem; it is, says Pierre de Blois, “a burning wind that dries up the rivulets of goodness.” Such a desire is, moreover, incompatible with what we know builds up community and relationship that is essential to true freedom, decorum and civility.
4) Humility is without ambition. Since a truly humble teacher knows his/her own limitations and inadequacies intimately, there is no desire to have power over others. Even those in positions of authority know their role is one of service. When we all embrace a life of service, everyone is served. Everyone has what they need and the entire community is built up and success assured.
5) Humility eliminates jealousy. A humble teacher, far from feeling chagrin over the achievements and successes of others, will be pleased to see them. The humble teacher wants all to succeed. In a community embracing humility, one’s success is everyone’s success. Thus, humble teachers never put themselves forward as having more merit than others, nor allow themselves to display coldness toward others, nor nourish any bitterness toward anyone.
6) Humility is not overconfident about its own views. Humility calls us to have an open attitude that allows us to be life-long learners. We need not insist on our own way of doing things because there will always be another way that can teach us and help us become better. Humility calls us to community and does not cause the separation that pride does. The humble teacher also thinks of how he/she might be useful to his/her colleagues and so is willing to sometimes bend to the will of the educational community instead of forcing his/her own point of view to the fore. The point is always how to do what is good for children rather than how the teacher might shine as the brightest star in COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 185 the universe. Since the humble teacher is not rash, he/she seeks advice from the wisdom and expertise of others; he/she consults them willingly in everything that might help him/her be better.
7) Humility causes a teacher to be happy to share his/her knowledge with others, especially the least experienced. This teacher does not protect his/her own knowledge because he/she thinks that if he/she shares it then someone else might look better. Fear that someone else may look better than I do is not good for children, not good for the community, and ultimately not good at all for me.
8) The humble teacher is courageous and does not turn away from even what might be considered “lowly” tasks or things that might be uninviting in the school or students. He/she welcomes these things with kindness and mildness; without showing distaste the humble teacher is able to accept another’s defects: rudeness, ineptitude, flaws in character. The humble teacher is able to bear with indocility, impoliteness, ingratitude, opposition and even insult without yielding to resentment, rage, or revenge. Still, he/she does not forget that he/she must always repress whatever might weaken his/her authority and give rise to disorder, insolence, lack of application, or other forms of misconduct on the part of the students. Humility does not mean that we fail to correct, reprimand, reprove. It simply calls us to do these things for the right reasons.
9) Humility calls us to treat everyone, no matter who it might be, with esteem, cordiality, friendliness and kindness.
10) Humility makes a good teacher endure, without chagrin, the confusion that his/her mistakes, blunders, and lack of success may draw down on him/her. The students will be edified by the example of one who can learn from his/her own error. They will be led to imitate this behavior.
11) The Humility of a good teacher makes him/her charitable, affable, obliging, and easy to approach, especially by the poor and those whom he/she might find less interesting to deal with. Never does he/she assume an arrogant, disdainful, or scornful attitude when addressing students.
12) Finally, besides the defects of which we have been speaking, Humility also condemns in general these that follow: lack of tact, indifference toward others, self-importance, affected and pretentious ways of acting toward colleagues or students, egotism that leads the teacher to concern himself / herself only with his or her own person and that is nothing but false humility. This self-absorption is especially to be condemned when the teacher, fearing to fail, refrains from making all the effort that the good that he/she might be able to accomplish is frustrated by lack of action. The good teacher avoids the spirit of independence that makes him/her follow none but his/her own ideas. The humble teacher never fails in politeness or courtesy and is always willing to exalt others for what successes they have experienced.
An old proverb says, “A person’s pride will bring humiliation but one who is lowly in COLLABORATION WITH A CHARTER AUTHORITY 186 spirit will obtain honor.”
For reflection
How do I treat my colleagues and students?
Do I allow others gifts and talents to shine or am I threatened by their success?
Am I receptive to others’ ideas or am I overly committed to my own point of view?
If this virtue were something we all adopted, how might our school be different