St. Brigid School To Turn Into Academy
St. Brigid School on the Ridgewood/Bushwick border in Brooklyn along with parochial schools in Bushwick, Long Island City and Ozone Park will be transformed into Catholic academies for the new school year this September, the Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens announced on Monday, Jan. 30.
The conversions are part of the diocese’s “Preserving the Vision” plan, which is designed to ensure the long-term viability of Catholic education. In recent years, the diocese closed several schools mired in debt or with low enrollment across both boroughs and/or replaced them with academies which have two-tiered governing structures.
Along with St. Brigid School, seven other parish schools will be turned into academies for the 2012- 13 school year, including St. Frances Cabrini in Bushwick, St. Joseph’s in Long Island City and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Ozone Park.
Each of these schools is currently operated by their respective parish pastors, who have the responsibility of hiring a principal and making the final decision in hiring teachers and
Under the academy model created through the “Preserving the Vision” plan, the academies will be overseen by a “spiritual” panel consisting of Bishop Frank Caggiano, the diocese’s vicar of education; Dr. Thomas Chadzutko, the diocese’ superintendent of schools; and the pastors of the parishes served by the academy.
The day-to-day operations of the school will be overseen by a board of directors comprised of lay individuals in the parishes served by each academy and selected by the spiritual leadership panel. Each board will be charged with hiring a principal and staff and assisting the academy in fund-raising and grant-writing efforts.
“Through the leadership and support of the pastors and principals, the academy conversion process has been successful,” said Chadzutko in a statement released by the diocese. “The identification and the development of the boards of directors for the academies has allowed for an increase in enrollment, expansion of marketing efforts and the identification of new resources. Now as the academies begin their strategic planning process, we look to the next step in the further development of the academy model of governance.”
Over the last several years, the diocese opened 17 new academies with a two-tiered management structure. It was also announced by the diocese on Monday that two of the academies in Queens-Most Holy Redeemer in Flushing and Our Lady’s Catholic Academy in Ozone Park-will be expanded.
Most Holy Redeemer will operate at what was previously Mary’s Nativity St. Ann School and St. Michael School, while Our Lady’s Catholic Academy will supplant St. Teresa of Avila School in South Ozone Park.
Under the Preserving the Vision plan, the diocese will convert the remaining parish schools into academies over the next three years.
The conversion of St. Brigid School into St. Brigid Catholic Academy (as it is named) is basically the equivalent of a new school being opened to replace the existing institution. Sheila Smith-Gonzalez, principal of St. Brigid School, told the Times Newsweekly that the diocese had to apply with the state Board of Regents for a new charter to open the academy.
Additionally, she and other faculty members will need to apply for their respective positions at the academy, but Smith-Gonzalez noted that diocese officials have indicated that the existing St. Brigid administration and faculty will be given priority.
Parents at St. Brigid School have already met with Chadzutko about the academy conversion process and have urged the diocese to bring the current St. Brigid staff into the new academy.
“We’re not turning the school upside down,” Smith-Gonzalez said. “This is more of a structural change.”
