Kevin Wang: Pitch for JRN 3060
Veronica Gomez, 20, walks through the halls of Immaculate Conception Academy on a chilly day in September. The lights flicker as Gomez takes a step closer to the classroom where she was assigned as a teacher’s aide. Step by step, Gomez notices the unfamiliar teacher’s names in each classroom. Teachers that Gomez came to admire the two years she spent in Immaculate Conception Academy were forced into retirement or backed out in the education system to search for a teaching job elsewhere.
“The change was coming, we all saw it”, said Veronica Gomez, “I just didn’t realize that this was going to be how things were going to be from now on.”
Immaculate Conception Academy previously named Immaculate Conception School is a Catholic Elementary-Middle school that was conjoined with the Immaculate Conception Church. In recent years, renovations have been made to the school. In the 2016 school year, Eileen Harnisfigur, Principal of Immaculate Conception, diversified Immaculate Conception School by separating the Church from the school and redefining the school as an academy. Harnisfigur like most principals of catholic schools faced the problem of funds being insufficient and such transference of the school to an academy and adoption of a board of directors was imminent.
For this story, I am going to focus on how Catholic Schools transition affects not only the staff but the students as well. I already spoke about the situation with Veronica Gomez, a second grade teacher’s aide that sees the full impact the transition of school system has on the school in general. Going forward, I will interview faculty and staff in Immaculate Conception Academy to fully gauge the impact of switching from a school to being classified as an academy. Like most Catholic schools, tough times started to hit since enrollment starting falling ever since tuition spikes. Most Catholic schools at these tough times were forced with two options: conform to the system of a charter-like system known as an academy or close down the school. According to statistics from NYPost article of City Catholic schools losing students to tuition free charter schools, it states: Over the last decade, the number of students attending Catholic schools has plummeted by 35 percent, from 134,948 in 2002-2003 to 87,301 last year, the city’s Independent Budget Office found.
This story hits home to me because I attended Immaculate Conception School and graduated 2009. The teachers who were presumably fired or quit on their own started to do so because of switch to technologies from traditional blackboards to pull down projector screens.
Why this story is newsworthy is the impact it has on the communities surrounding the schools. In a community impact, I am going to explore how Catholic schools that were once a foundation of enrichment in education has been forced to conform and compete against one another. Some catholic schools even had to merge with one another to keep the school open.
http://nypost.com/2014/04/23/citys-catholic-schools-losing-students-to-tuition-free-charters/
