ARCHDIOCESE OF KANSAS CITY IN KANSAS PROCLAIM HOPE CAFÉ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MARCH 30, 2014

CATHOLIC IDENTITY: Many participants equated “Catholic identity” with visibility in the community and/or unity among the schools and parishes, so many of the comments suggested more all-school joint activities, more visible participation of the Catholic school students in Topeka’s community events (St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Fiesta, German Fest, Summer Fest, etc.) or better marketing of the schools. Many also expressed interest in consolidating the elementary schools or hiring a city-wide youth director. With respect to Catholic identity itself, some urged that more nuns be present in the schools and others asked that pastors talk about the value of Catholic schools more often, including from the pulpit.

Other representative comments include:

 Do more activities together among all the Catholic grade schools to increase a sense of unity  Become one. Get everyone on the same page  Consolidate music/art instruction among schools  Somehow bring kids together as a team -- I’ve seen kids come together on a football team and connect. How else can this be done?  Get Hayden students out to grade schools more often and get grade kids to Hayden more often.  More parent participation  Sports -- combine parochial league for sports to compete with each other against public schools instead against each other  Region wide youth group. Youth Mass -- regional  Branding of schools. Marketing of the Catholic faith similar to the ‘Catholics Come Home’  Going to Mass together and inviting each other to parish events  Model the monthly faith formation for teachers which all school teachers do and start doing as a parish formation with each school parish  Common theme was identity at each individual school is OK. Area is in need of strengthening identity among the six schools  Use technology. Need a parent association amongst all parishes. Need umbrella strategic planning organization for entire city. Involve all parishioners; parishioners need to take ownership to save the schools  Promote Catholic identity through press releases e.g. Ralph Hip’s 4:00 show; Include Prayer/meditation as basis for service. Catholic students participating in Fiesta Mexican parade. Centralized purchasing for all Catholic schools -- economizing the purchasing. Two times a year students from Catholic schools march in St. Patrick’s Day Parade -- each school. Catholic schools week -- 5th -8th grade.  Common Topeka Catholic: School Council, logo, youth coordinator, fund-raising  Families need to attend Mass on the weekends  Pastors need to promote the importance of Catholic education form the pulpit

1  Centralized email and or website for collaboration and idea exchange. More interschool activities. Hayden -- at a minimum, one all-school Mass each week  More connection with Hayden students and Catholic school students -- big brother, big sister  “Exit interview” with those going from grade schools to public junior or high schools  Teacher faith formation quarterly amongst all schools. Central location for information on education offered from all churches.  STEWARDSHIP AND TUITION: Participants were divided about the best model for school funding: stewardship (tithing) vs. a set tuition. Those that favored the stewardship model were concerned that moving to a set tuition would contribute even more to the decreasing enrollment numbers, particularly after fifth grade. Those that favored tuition believe that the stewardship model is not yielding enough money to keep the schools afloat. Many suggested more consolidation of schools or coordinated purchasing programs to save money. Many also suggested that more emphasis be placed on fund development, particularly in the area of estate planning and end-of-life gifts.

Other representative comments include:

 Accountability on tithing and pledge. Johnson county model for tuition does not work for Topeka. We are a poorer community and that does not work for us -- a more blue collar community. Sustained commitment from KC to project a model that works for us. Too much overhead with administration. We could utilize that money in salaries to put back in the school  Educating parents/families on what stewardship is, what if we don’t tithe, what will happen?  Create foundation for all schools to increase the trust and end of life gifts  Ask the archdiocese to forgive the 1.7 million Hayden owes them  Scholarships, centralized school system. Trained financial managers for schools  Set a flat rate for all grade schools and then share the supplies with other schools. Have parish councils meet with families to set levels of tuition and tithing. Use a central marketing position to promote Catholic schools  Individual parish special collection for all parish schools. Uniform tuition cost across all parish schools. Move to not set tuition, tithe only system  Do we have an evangelization issue? People not giving what they can or should? We want to say stewardship model works. Market to full pay -- get the families who can pay full to do it and that will help with those that can’t. We need communication between parishes more than the bulletin.  Group buying power -- textbooks, supplies. No one at our table wants tuition!! Is there a third option? Pooling finances?  Catholic education is for rich and poor. Tuition=loss of students. Educate families how stewardship works  All parishes send a certain % to a central office to use for “city” education system. Have a unified school board representing all parishes. Tithing based in each parish  Volunteer hours worked gives credit on tuition. Special collection for school. Standardize tuition for all schools. Pool a certain % from all parishes to fund education and divide equally among grade schools. Get sponsors form either outside the parish or have a

2 parishioner sponsor a kid. Come together and have a community fundraiser for Catholic school education.  Topeka unified Catholic school district run by a board representative of the region and all parishes have organized stewardship.  CEF scholarships -- 3 parishes contribute $ to fund tuition. Debt free. Parents pay small tuition if they can. You lose parent interest in grade 5 as they can’t fund Hayden tuition so begin sending their kids to public school in middle school. If parents can pay only part of the tuition that would be OK. Stewardship model is not working.  Three of five parishes operate in deficit.

ENROLLMENT: Several comments suggested that more effort be spent on finding out why more parishioners don’t send their kids to Catholic school: is it the cost or a perceived lack of quality in the schools? Most of the comments favored increasing marketing efforts, both in the parishes and in the community at large, and personal invitations to families with school-age children. Among the barriers to enrollment, several people pointed out, is the lack of transportation (busing) for private schools in Topeka.

Other representative comments include:

 Regional junior high. Market better to RE families. Hayden start marketing to 4th and 5th grades -- keep them in grade schools -- get them to Hayden  Catholicism worth the investment? Families speaking with their behaviors. Parents not making the sacrifices of generations past. Raising fees will exacerbate this!  All priests need to encourage Catholic education. More collaboration between Hayden and elementary teachers. Public relations for all schools. Barriers: cost, transportation, academic opportunities (Hayden), evangelization- parents are the first teachers, why are they not choosing to send their kids?  After school activities since we have no busing  Help CCD families understand that by not attending Catholic school, they are really choosing to home school their children in our Catholic faith  Need to work as a region to develop a cohesive marketing plan promoting Catholic education. Need to increase the value of Catholic education and sell it  Promote the benefits of a Catholic education -- get your kid to heaven. Tuition is a huge barrier. If we go to tuition we will have nothing but damage control to deal with  Need ambassadors reaching out to parishioners with children administrators teachers, parents, students -- make a call, knock on a door, have a conversation with an individual who has chosen to leave a Catholic school.  Barriers: 1. Program and opportunity- no fine arts, no athletics 2. Uncertainty- will schools be available for all years of K-12 3. Costs  St. Matthews- classroom limitation. Busing -- promotes education to state those to obtain services like busing school nurse. This has been done in many states- why not KS? We have a pro-Catholic government and a faith-based legislature. Why do parents pull their kids out after kindergarten, 5th grade, 8th grade? Is it cost or quality of product? Begin info nights in all grades. Get varsity teams and JV teams to visit the grade schools. Recruit from RE. Have

3 parent ambassadors reach out to speak to potential RE kids. Need for consulting firm to talk to parents who send one kid but not others to a Catholic school?

COMMUNICATION: Communication was addressed in two ways by the participants: communication among the schools and parishes, and communication about the value/importance of Catholic schools. Several people suggested that Catholic schools in Topeka become one body with shared administration and finances. A majority of comments emphasized the importance of marketing —advertising, public relations, “telling our story”—and several people suggested hiring a regional marketing director

Other representative comments include:

 Archdiocese does not support Topeka!  Unified Catholic school district  Marketing- “beating the drum” – Sum Day – Ad of Congratulations- Budget for capital Journal for announcements, etc. – Realtor pamphlets, academic achievements- Drew Sweitzer, Boy Scouts, Catholic education, public service announcement, collaborative from region, quarterly announcements  We need better communication between the parishes and school -- bulletins are old school, joint website that is updated weekly or at the least monthly  All parishes encouraging Catholic school instead of building big RE programs -- whether you have a school or not (Mother Teresa)  Promote pre-school as it is the freedom/pipeline to grades 1-8, 9-12. Make Hayden the choice for grammar school parents. Create savings account for parents to save to send kids to Hayden, begin when kids are ages 5-6. Ambassador program where high school kids go to teach and bond with elementary school kids to build bonds/ties and interact in Hayden. We must be better in telling our story. We have a ‘secret’ and we need to publicize  No parish should have 400 kids in a CCD program! Why isn’t that parish promoting Catholic school education?  Provide transportation for students  Be a “community of parishes” and work together  Retreat /meeting for parents of religious ed students to promote Catholic school education, educate parishioners that CEF is available, promote CEF  Education should be affordable for all Catholics. Suggest creating/consolidating into one Catholic middle school and keep elementary schools. Tuition should be the same for all Catholic schools and should be collaboratively determined.  Newsletter between schools about activities and goals Topeka wide newsletter. More consolidation of schools investigated as a possibility  Catholic education needs to be the number one priority for the archdiocese  Same spirit shirt for all the Catholic elementary schools -- get in free to Hayden games.  Hire a marketing person whose job is to promote Topeka Catholic schools  Have a special collection in each parish -- once a quarter- to benefit all the Catholic schools in Topeka. Making sure everyone knows that this collection will stay in Topeka  Efforts to increase enrollment by being a servant to the community people will want to be a part of us

4  Catholic spirit week t-shirts and sweatshirts with all of the Catholic school logos to show we are one family in the same shirt. Postcards that are sent to families that don’t send their children to Catholic schools.  Hayden -- increase fundraising, archdiocese pick up MD debt. Elementary -- transparency. Priests need to be the biggest advocates!

FROM TABLE TOP NEWSPRINT – WHAT ARE WE MOST PROUD OF?  Monthly Mass/Retreat with one grade from all schools  Sacramental prep  Family  Open  Teachers and staff  Clubs, groups, etc.  Service projects that include all schools  Our common faith  Coaching  Volunteering and parents involvement  Catholic identity  Mater Dei: quality, faith-related atmosphere, family, academics are awesome, children are taught to care  Hayden: high expectations, religious ed, educationally challenging, morals, respect of the students at sporting events, dedicated, faith tradition, parental involvement, student achievements, prepared for college  Diversity  Faith formation  Service  Financially stable  Great staff  Stewardship  Strong sense of community  Leadership  Academic excellence  Letting each child shine  Multi-cultural  Productive after school programs -- bible club  Our kids  Choir school  Unity  Welcoming school  Prayer 3 times a day  Electives  PE  Music  Mass twice a week  Bible buddies  7 out of 10 are in top 10 placement

5  Pre-school  Diverse  Increasing enrollment at St. Matthews  Mater Dei -- relationship with parents and teachers, teaching how to be Catholic, service- in and out of building and school day, respect, integrating faith through the entire day, opportunities to develop skills and strengths, proud of academic success, involvement in community, technology  Christ the King: teachers and staff, faith based, great facilities, service projects, religious education, Mass 2 times a week, warm, loving, family life  Most Pure Heart of Mary: in school day care, teachers, quality, community, teachers are more committed, faith based, children more reverent, parent involvement  Holy Family: love how involved Fr. Tim is with the kids, respectful children, better teacher/parent relationship, classroom size smaller  Feel safe  Teacher collaboration  Being the tier 3 teacher  Alumni volunteering  Discipline  History/tradition of success  Role model  Early childhood education  Students test scores  Religious sisters teaching in schools  Christ centered  Mentoring  PTO support  Commitment  Good priest support  Environment  Mission focused  Debt free  CEF school  Curriculum  All grade level interaction  Fall festival  Small town feel

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