O’Reilly backers face tight deadline

I got this information recently from Bev Cottle:

Meeting tonight will focus on plans designed to keep Kingston high school open.

By MARK GUYDISH

mguydish@timesleader.com

“If the Catholic Church does not put the effort into educating the next generation of Catholics, we don’t have much of a future in this area.”

Raphael Micca 2006 O’Reilly graduate

The Bible studied by every Catholic school student says God created the world in six days. Well, as of this morning, that’s the same amount of time left for supporters of local Catholic high schools to pull off a minor miracle: save three schools slated for closing this June.

For Bishop O’Reilly proponents, the big push starts tonight.

“We can’t afford to just have a general discussion,” said attorney Tom O’Connor, who helped set up a 7 p.m. meeting for O’Reilly supporters at the Independent Fire Hall in Kingston. “We have to get to work. Hopefully we’ll produce something and arrange another meeting fairly quickly.”

O’Reilly supporters are a bit behind those who have rallied to save the other two Catholic high schools in Luzerne County that would close under a proposal announced Nov. 14. A small group of Seton parents met informally at the Pittston school on Saturday, while a much larger crowd – more than 600 by one organizer’s estimate -- crammed the cafeteria at Bishop Hafey High School in Hazleton last week.

Under the plan released by Wisconsin-based Meitler Consultants Inc., those three schools would merge with Bishop Hoban in Wilkes-Barre, and all students would attend the new combined school in the existing Hoban building. When the proposal was unveiled, Alan Meitler said the next step was to get public input before finalizing the plan in January. That input is supposed to come primarily from groups set up by the diocese, but a groundswell of grassroots supporters sprung up within days of the announcement. Since then, the diocese issued a deadline for any counterproposals: Dec. 4

O’Connor said O’Reilly supporters haven’t held a meeting yet because things developed too quickly. “We just thought we wouldn’t get anybody” to attend an earlier gathering.

Tonight’s meeting will include a brief introduction and overview, with the crowd breaking up into subgroups to hash out details of specific issues, O’Connor said. “This is to listen to the parents, hear what they want, not to say, ‘Here’s what it’s going to be.’”

While any realistic options are welcome, O’Connor said two ideas already floating around will be on the table: converting O’Reilly to a pre-kindergarten-through 12th grade school, or merging O’Reilly with Seton.

The first idea is possible, he said, because at one point the O’Reilly building housed “well over 1,000 students.” The building has 352 students in grades seven through 12 this year, according to the diocese Web site. “Why couldn’t you put the elementary students on one floor?” O’Connor asked.

The merger with Seton was first brought up after the meeting of that school’s supporters Saturday. Ron D’Eliseo, one of the parents who spearheaded the meeting, said it included some O’Reilly parents who were open to the idea of merging the two schools into the Seton building. “Although we don’t have 100 percent buy in, we all agreed we’re not going to be able to save all the schools. And we think it’s more beneficial if we utilize the Seton facility.”

O’Reilly is carrying some debt, needs some expensive maintenance, has no real endowment fund and has a comparatively inactive alumni association, D’Eliseo said. Seton, on the other hand, has been running in the black, needs no major repairs, has a solid endowment fund and an annual alumni contribution drive, though he conceded that last one needs to be beefed up to make the school more viable.

D’Eliseo also said Seton draws students from as far north as Old Forge and Moosic, and that those students are unlikely to travel to O’Reilly or Hoban if Seton closes. He believes that if just half of O’Reilly students transfer to the Seton in a merger, the school would be able to keep classes small while enhancing curriculum offerings.

Raphael Micca, a 2006 O’Reilly graduate who launched three Web sites to contact supporters, isn’t fond of that idea. Stressing that he “doesn’t want to hurt anyone,” he respectfully suggests that O’Reilly offers more academic programs. “I think (Seton) is a wonderful school, but they don’t pull as many people from the region because of that.”

Ideally, Micca said, all four schools should stay open. “If the Catholic Church does not put the effort into educating the next generation of Catholics, we don’t have much of a future in this area.”

All three expressed their sympathy for Bishop Hafey parents. At least O’Reilly and Seton are relatively close to Hoban. Hafey is 25 miles away, making it unlikely students will be willing to enroll in a consolidated school at the Hoban location. Even the alternative -- Marian Catholic in Tamaqua, part of the Diocese of Allentown -- is 12 miles in the opposite direction.

But Hafey may have garnered the biggest support. Pat Owens, a parent who helped organize a meeting last week, pointed out that those who attended pledged $35,000 that very night. There is another private meeting of alumni scheduled for Wednesday. “There are several fundraising programs going on, with the intent to try to raise – if the bishop allows us to stay open – in excess of $1 million.”

Owens noted that community leaders have spoken out strongly in support of Hafey, including Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, Hazleton City Council, the local chamber of commerce and CAN DO, an industry development nonprofit corporation.

“There is a lot of enthusiasm to keep Bishop Hafey open,” Owens said. “We’re trying to come up with a rational business plan.” In fact, the group is so optimistic they are hoping to submit the plan by Dec. 1, the Friday before the deadline. The school, he noted, has run in the black for three years after a shaky stretch, while still paying $60,000 a year toward the diocese for a loan taken to get through rough financial times.

All four argued that closing three high schools would not necessarily strengthen Catholic education in the area, as promised by Meitler. In fact, it could deal a critical blow, they said. Closing Hafey, Owens said, would likely mean losing most of the 380 students there, simply because they would be unwilling to travel to Hoban or Marian.

Noting that high school students often get involved in other church activities, including teaching Sunday religion classes to youngsters, O’Connor said that, in closing the schools, “you start to get a ripple effect,” losing the students who help keep other parish efforts going.

Shuttering three high schools could shatter confidence in the whole Catholic school system, already shaken by repeated elementary school closings in recent years. “The biggest reasons enrollments are down is not costs,” D’Eliseo argued. “It is the negative publicity and insecurity about potential closings.”

And the new plan only adds to that uncertainty, failing to provide concrete recommendations on tuition and curriculum in the newly consolidated high school, O’Connor said.

“There are so many unanswered questions.”


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Supporter Websites

• www.myspace.com/saveseton

• www.petitiononline.com/saveschs/petition-sign.html

• www.leavenocatholicstudentbehind.com/

• www.petitionspot.com/petitions/savebor/

• www.bishoporeilly.org

• www.myspace.com/savebor