By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press
During the pandemic, new students “got a taste of Catholic education.… The data suggests they’re sticking around,” Superintendent David Perda said this week.
Enrollment has increased from the 2020-2021 school year to this year in most of the Catholic schools that work with the diocesan Catholic Schools Office, according to his data.
As of last week, 12 of 15 schools already had more students enrolled for this school year than they had last October, when enrollment figures were gathered. Additional students are expected, as enrollment is continuing.
Superintendent Perda and some school leaders shared with The Catholic Free Press factors that they think contributed to enrollment changes.
“Most of those gains … are double digit gains,” Superintendent Perda said. “That just reflects the hard work … the leaders, the pastors, teachers and support staff” did to “make sure we were safe, but also providing an excellent education.…
“We thought providing an excellent education meant (teaching) in person as much as possible.… There were some times, when we didn’t think we could do it safely, … we did remote learning.”
Being in person safely “requires partnerships, working with those with medical expertise,” including state and local public health officials and school nurses to ensure that sound decisions are made, Superintendent Perda explained.
He said he thought more families enrolled in Catholic schools last year “because we were open.”
“Unfortunately, it took a pandemic to get kids to try our schools, but we continued to do what we do best – provide a quality education that’s focused on Christ,” he said.
He expressed confidence that if families try Catholic education they will stay, despite the cost, because “it’s worth it.” In an effort to address the financial needs of some students, money from the diocesan Legacy of Hope capital campaign is being made available to increase tuition assistance, he said.
Last year, enrollment in almost half of the schools dropped from the previous year. But, at most of those, enrollment is higher this year.
“I think there were some schools last year that had waiting lists” because they didn’t have enough space to take more students, due to social distancing requirements, the superintendent said. At this point those requirements have been relaxed, so they can take more students this year, he said.
Other factors that affected enrollment at some Catholic schools were the closure, merging, or adding of grades at other Catholic schools, he noted.
St. Mary’s Schools and St. Stephen Elementary, both in Worcester, closed in the spring of 2020, which meant their students had to go elsewhere.
Holy Name and St. Peter-Marian, Worcester’s two central Catholic junior/senior high schools, merged, and started last school year as St. Paul Diocesan Junior/Senior High School. Some students from each school went to the new school, and some went elsewhere.
St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury added grades 7 and 8 last fall, which gave those age groups in Catholic elementary schools another option.
“I’m just proud of everybody; it took great effort to get where we are,” Superintendent Perda said.