2014-2015 Annual Report Reporting Our Progress Pope Francis Recites the Prayer of St
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Joe Vericker©2015 2014-2015 ANNUAL REPORT Reporting Our Progress Pope Francis recites the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi with students during his classroom visit at Our Lady Queen of Angels School September 25, 2015 Lord make me an instrument of thy peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope: where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O divine master grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned and it is in dying, that we are born to eternal life. Table of Contents Letter from Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan .....................................3 Superintendent of Schools’ Executive Summary .................................4 Catholic Identity .................................................................................10 Special Education ................................................................................11 Manhattan Region .............................................................................. 12 Northwest/South Bronx Region ........................................................ 14 Northeast/East Bronx Region ............................................................ 16 Staten Island Region .......................................................................... 18 Central Westchester Region ...............................................................20 Northern Westchester/Putnam Region .............................................22 Rockland Region ................................................................................24 Ulster/Sullivan/Orange Region .........................................................26 Dutchess Region .................................................................................28 Secondary Education ..........................................................................30 Staff Listing.........................................................................................32 1 On December 16, 2015 Cardinal Dolan celebrated Mass with students and faculty from Albertus Magnus High School in Rockland County. Blessings and dedications of new science labs in honor of the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, Aldo J. Cozzi, class of 1979, and former President Joseph T. Troy were also reasons to celebrate. 2 Office of the Cardinal 1011 First Avenue New York, NY 10022 January, 2015 Year of Consecrated Life Dear friends in Christ, Before his historic trip to the United States, I asked Pope Francis what he wanted to see during his brief hours in New York, and I was not the least bit surprised when he responded, “I want to visit one of your Catholic schools which I hear so many people praise.” I was so filled with pride as I watched the Holy Father interact with students from Our Lady Queen of Angels, Saint Ann, Saint Paul, and Saint Charles Borromeo, all excellent inner-city schools in Harlem. He beamed at their enthusiastic welcome and classroom tour, and engaged them in easy conversation and prayer. Afterwards, as we moved toward Central Park, Pope Francis told me how inspired he was by the dedication of priests, parents, principals, teachers, benefactors, and religious men and women who labor and sacrifice to make our schools the places of excellence they are. As you will see in this year’s Annual Report, our schools deserve their sterling reputation for Catholic values, academic rigor, and student success. Test scores for our children improved considerably last year, thanks to a three-year strategic effort to address science and math instruction. This is great news, and the result of a lot of hard work by our principals and teachers. We know our parents, in choosing a Catholic school, look not only for good academics, but also for an education that is grounded in faith, virtue, prayer, and character. Children graduate from a Catholic school with an excellent education of the mind, to be sure, but also with the formation of heart and soul. We emphasize religious education to prepare them, not just for success in this life, but for salvation and eternity in the next! Our Catholic schools help keep families strong and united by reinforcing the values children learn at home. They nurture family life by upholding the parents’ right to choose the education they consider best for their children, and by welcoming and insisting on vigorous participation by parents in the life of the institution. The financial support for our Catholic schools beyond tuition is now shared by the archdiocese and the parishes in a geographic region. This has been a great relief to families and parishes that formerly had to finance their school by themselves. We are working hard to make our schools more affordable for all families. Our $125 million capital campaign for inner-city schools got a huge boost with a $40 million gift from Christine and Stephen Schwarzman. We continue to raise scholarship funds to help all families choose our schools. And we use traditional and digital marketing to spread the good news about Catholic education. In everything we do in our excellent schools, we proudly proclaim our Catholic mission and identity. It is a sacred duty to prepare our children to know and love Jesus and His Church. It’s a responsibility that we take seriously - and I am delighted that we were able to demonstrate our success to Pope Francis. Thank you, again, for your continued support of our mission. With prayerful best wishes for the New Year, I remain, Faithfully in Christ, Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan Archbishop of New York 3 Superintendent of Schools – Executive Summary New York Archdiocese 2015-2016 At A Glance Timothy McNiff, Ed.D. Superintendent of Schools 1011 First Avenue New York, NY 10022 Total Number of Schools: 217 Enrollment: 67,981 Web: www.BuildBoldFutures.org On September 25, 2015, Pope Francis granted us the singular Our Catholic identity is present and celebrated every day in our honor of visiting Our Lady Queen of Angels School in Harlem. It schools. I have witnessed the strong faith of our principals, their was a once in a lifetime experience for all of us and a wonderful commitment to Catholic teaching and their desire to demonstrate opportunity to showcase Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of and share their values. Principals are the spiritual leaders of their New York to the leader of our faith and the millions of people buildings and set the tone for staff and students. watching on television. The students, teachers, administrators, This year, we increased our efforts to support teachers with staff and parents who witnessed our Holy Father’s broad grins ongoing professional development and catechesis developed by and gentle words will never forget that day. And, of all the gifts The Sophia Institute for Teachers. Of our full-time teachers, 89% Pope Francis took back to the Vatican, I am certain none was have completed certification in the Catechist Formation Program. more heartfelt than the spiritual bouquet keepsake our children The majority of our elementary schools are now part of our presented to thank him for his gracious visit. Students from nine geographic Catholic school regions, a transition from the Catholic schools across our nine academic regions offered prayers, traditional parish school model. In this new configuration, host Masses, rosaries and works of mercy to the Holy Father, to be pastors continue to play a meaningful role to support and promote fulfilled throughout the academic year. The inscription inside the Catholic identity in the schools. Without priests, our schools would volume promised, “Know we love you and are praying for you!” lack one of the primary ingredients that make them great. Host In the spirit of that gift and in gratitude for his visit to our pastors, priests, deacons, and religious men and women in the schools, this year’s Annual Report is dedicated to Pope Francis region are uniquely suited to prepare students for the sacraments and his inspirational visit. As you’ll see in these pages, our schools and keep them close to the Eucharist in frequent celebrations of promote faith in Mass. There is an unbreakable bond between Catholic schools and action every day. the priests and religious who model our faith to students from Our students have prekindergarten through high school. interpreted the This year, we have been assisted in a special way by priests Pope’s message on our new Catholic Identity Advisory Council. They reflect the as an invitation to experiences of each regional governing board’s Catholic Identity devote their time Subcommittee and help communicate and support the Catholic to expressions of identity of our school communities throughout the Archdiocese. discipleship. These include spiritual Rev. Thomas Madden, Chair of the Rockland Board of Trustees practices and charitable has been a frequent visitor in classrooms and described it to me works that reflect our this way: “Catholic identity exists in our schools primarily because Gospel values. of the faith and example of principals and teachers.” Catholic identity is not easily quantifiable, yet our efforts CATHOLIC MISSION AND IDENTITY to suffuse our religious beliefs and values are borne out in The Holy Father reminded us that our Catholic mission is not compassionate, respectful, confident high school graduates we a program we accomplish but a life we live. The mission of our first