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Catholic School Matters

October 19, 2020

CatholicSchool MattersOctober 19, 2020
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The Cleveland Partnership

In 2019, five years after Partnership Schools created an innovative network of six Catholic elementary schools in New York, the opportunity to expand emerged. The Partnership serves as a school management organization, working in partnership with dioceses and archdioceses to run effective inner-city Catholic schools. Of all the consortium models that have sprouted up in Catholic education, it is perhaps the most successful. Here is an overview of their model.


First, at the request of the Archdiocese, the Partnership added another NYC Catholic school and then, in an unexpected move, it turned its focus to Cleveland. Here is the announcement from earlier this year describing how two Catholic schools in Cleveland would be taken over by Partnership. But the story is much deeper, captured here in this profile of Rich Clark, former head of St. Ignatius Prep and founding president (in 2003) of Martin de Porres Cristo Rey HS, both Cleveland institutions.


Watch this video to hear how the principals of those two struggling Catholic schools reacted to the change. This innovation couldn’t have happened without the support of Dr. Frank O’Linn, the superintendent of Catholic schools. I called Frank last week and recorded a short video convo on YouTube. Watch our (extremely amateurish) short video conversation here.


Partnership was able to attract Dr. Christian Dallavis from ACE to help support the work, which he captures here. Dallavis has been a strong proponent of culture reform in Catholic schools. He has helped the two Cleveland schools identify their root beliefs, and he reflects on five beliefs that have animated the network’s efforts to increase enrollment in Cleveland:


1. Jesus calls us each by name

2. Excellence happens on purpose

3. We are made for greatness

4. We are better together

5. We can do hard things


Remote, hybrid, or in person, these root beliefs are simply fantastic. They capture the essence of Catholic schools and are inspiring.


These beliefs underscore Dallavis’s belief that we are what we do, which he says was inspired by Sr. Helen Prejean. We discuss his take on school culture and the remarkable transformations St. Thomas Aquinas and Archbishop Lyke are making in this week’s Catholic School Matters podcast which will drop on Wednesday.


Want to keep up with the conversations surrounding Catholic education? Set up your own Google Alert, subscribe to this newsletter by clicking "follow," subscribe to the Catholic Schools Daily, or subscribe to the Catholic School Matters podcast.


Dr. Tim Uhl

Cleveland Articles Cleveland Articles

Casting into the Deep: The Partnership Expands - The Partnership for Inner-City Education

Casting into the Deep: The Partnership Expands - The Partnership for Inner-City Education

We hope the news of our expansion to Cleveland will be a catalyst for other diocesan leaders seeking innovative solutions at this time of crisis.

launch partnershipnyc.org
The story of Partnership Cleveland–and Rich Clark - The Partnership for Inner-City Education

The story of Partnership Cleveland–and Rich Clark - The Partnership for Inner-City Education

I said we are going to start a new school. It was a Gospel call. This–bringing the Partnership to Cleveland–is part of the same call.

launch partnershipnyc.org
Catholic School Impact: One Cleveland Family, Paying It Forward - The Partnership for Inner-City Education

Catholic School Impact: One Cleveland Family, Paying It Forward - The Partnership for Inner-City Education

For the Ozannes, though, these schools aren’t just about the past. They are about the vibrant, impactful community of Catholics in Cleveland today. All three men graduated from St. Ignatius, and they talk at length about the deep and extensive sense of community they have now as a result of their Catholic school experiences.

launch partnershipnyc.org
Partnership Cleveland's Wisdom Counselors - The Partnership for Inner-City Education

Partnership Cleveland's Wisdom Counselors - The Partnership for Inner-City Education

To understand the unique value of Catholic schools is to understand what women like Yvonne and Jackie bring to the children, families, and coworkers around them.

launch partnershipnyc.org
Anatomy of a Catholic School Enrollment Increase: Partnership Cleveland - The Partnership for Inner-City Education

Anatomy of a Catholic School Enrollment Increase: Partnership Cleveland - The Partnership for Inner-City Education

Why did these schools get so popular all of a sudden?

launch partnershipnyc.org
Celebrating More Than Two Schools - The Partnership for Inner-City Education

Celebrating More Than Two Schools - The Partnership for Inner-City Education

What we are really celebrating in Cleveland isn’t numbers; it is how those metrics are coming about.

launch partnershipnyc.org

Catholic Schools in Archdiocese Expand Relationship With Partnership Schools

Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of New York will widen their relationship with Partnership Schools as St. Charles Borromeo School in Central Harlem is added into the Partnership network in …

launch cny.org
Catholic Diocese of Cleveland closing St. Thomas Aquinas Elementary School after this academic year

Catholic Diocese of Cleveland closing St. Thomas Aquinas Elementary School after this academic year

After 121 years, St. Thomas Aquinas Elementary School will be shut down by the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland at the end of the spring semester, according to Deacon James Armstrong.

launch cleveland19.com
Nancy and Rachael - Cleveland Launch Celebration
Our Neighbors - Cleveland Launch Celebration

Catholic Schools Catholic Schools

We Are All Related

We Are All Related

Nathan Beacom speaks with Maka Black Elk, descendent of Nick Black Elk, on healing deep wounds.

launch plough.com
Marymount senior’s free tutoring program helps students during pandemic

Marymount senior’s free tutoring program helps students during pandemic

17-year-old Sophia Scott founded Quaranteens, a nonprofit that provides virtual tutoring services for K-12 students — free of charge. 

launch angelusnews.com
How Catholic high schools are building more just communities

How Catholic high schools are building more just communities

Headmaster and Benedictine Father Edwin Leahy knew he was home when he walked through the doors of St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey

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How St. Malachy school beat the odds and thrives as a Catholic school on Chicago’s West Side

How St. Malachy school beat the odds and thrives as a Catholic school on Chicago’s West Side

For more than three decades, Holy Cross Parish in Deerfield has been the quiet backbone for St. Malachy Catholic School on the West Side.

launch chicagotribune.com
“Fratelli tutti”: short summary of Pope Francis's Social Encyclical - Vatican News

“Fratelli tutti”: short summary of Pope Francis's Social Encyclical - Vatican News

Fraternity and social friendship are the ways the Pontiff indicates to build a better, more just and peaceful world, with the contribution of all: ...

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Catholic Schools Closing

St. Jose Sanchez del Rio Catholic School in San Antonio will permanently close on Friday, October 30th, due to declining enrollment and financial challenges.
Nuestras Escuelas: The Legacy and Future of Catholic Schools

Leadership Leadership

Are Teachers Ok? No, and Toxic Positivity Isn't Helping

Are Teachers Ok? No, and Toxic Positivity Isn't Helping

It's time to get real: teachers aren't ok, and toxic positivity in schools isn't helping anyone. Let's rewrite the story.

launch weareteachers.com
10 Things I Believe About Education and Leadership During a Pandemic

10 Things I Believe About Education and Leadership During a Pandemic

launch steelethoughts.com
A Framework for Leaders Facing Difficult Decisions

A Framework for Leaders Facing Difficult Decisions

Five sets of questions to help guide you.

launch hbr.org
If Your Employees Don’t Share This One Belief, They Will Resist Every Change You Try To Make

If Your Employees Don’t Share This One Belief, They Will Resist Every Change You Try To Make

Even in normal times, getting people to change is hard. The study, Why CEOs Get Fired, revealed that “mismanaging change” was the top reason why CEOs lost their jobs. But if your employees have one important belief, they’re 49% more likely to support your change.

launch forbes.com
Schools Aren’t Super-Spreaders

Schools Aren’t Super-Spreaders

Fears from the summer appear to have been overblown.

launch theatlantic.com
4 Focus Areas for School Leaders This Fall

4 Focus Areas for School Leaders This Fall

Lessons from one district’s experience with distance learning in spring can help schools everywhere set priorities for this unprecedented year.

launch edutopia.org

Prototyping – the quickest way to learn how bad your ideas really are! – Tom Barrett's Blog

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Teaching & Learning Teaching & Learning

Outdoor learning can help students during Covid-19 and beyond

Outdoor learning can help students during Covid-19 and beyond

When students at Anser Charter School in Garden City, Idaho, begin returning to in-person classes September 28, everything about school will look different than six months ago. Anser is an EL Education school, meaning it focuses on learning through projects and expeditions that regularly take students outside the school’s walls. Learning away from the classroom will be nothing new for veteran Anser students.

launch fordhaminstitute.org
Remote learning has been a disaster for many students. But some kids have thrived

Remote learning has been a disaster for many students. But some kids have thrived

In some cases students with learning differences that struggled during in-person learning have done unexpectedly well during remote learning.

launch hechingerreport.org
Middle school is often difficult. Try experiencing it under quarantine.

Middle school is often difficult. Try experiencing it under quarantine.

Middle school is often difficult for kids. But Experts say the coronavirus-related school closures may be particularly disruptive for middle schoolers.

launch hechingerreport.org
My School Votes - When We All Vote

My School Votes - When We All Vote

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Miscellany Miscellany

To Combat COVID, A College Embraces Navajo Principle of Kinship - MindShift

To Combat COVID, A College Embraces Navajo Principle of Kinship - MindShift

To combat COVID, Fort Lewis College embraces Navajo principle of kinship was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization covering public education. Sign up for their newsletters here. Oct 8, 6:06pm MDT Fort Lewis College senior Ally Gee watched as COVID-19 devastated the Navajo Nation and took the lives of two loved ones. The

launch kqed.org
New CROSSCURRENTS Post

New CROSSCURRENTS Post

launch arrupevirtual.org

The National Catholic Academic Junior High Decathlon, overseen by the CA Catholic School Superintendents' Curriculum Committee, is welcoming Catholic schools across the nation (grades 6-8) to participate in our annual decathlon! With so many activities put on hold this year, this is a great opportunity for our students to challenge themselves academically while they participate in independent and team events that culminate in a national competition. Join us this year! #CatholicAJHD #AcademicExcellence

https://www.catholicajhd.org/

Talking about Truth in an Election Season | Ann Garrido

Kinda like having a lightning rod strapped to your head, isn’t it?  This trying to talk about truth right now?  At dinner.  In the office.  In front of a classroom.  Standing at a pulpit.

launch anngarrido.com
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Catholic School Matters

Finding and generating great content to serve Catholic schools

Email: uhl@montanacatholicschools.org
Website: www.montanacatholicschools.org
Location: PO Box 1708 Helena MT 59624
Phone: (406) 442-5761 102
Facebook: facebook.com/montanacatholicschools
Twitter: @mtcathschools

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Catholic School Matters podcast

Wednesday on the Catholic School Matters podcast marks a great conversation between Dr. Christian Dallavis, the Assistant Superintendent of Partnership Schools. We discuss the expansion of the network into Cleveland and his beliefs on building effective school culture. Last week, I released a great conversation with Fr. Eric Ramirez, SJ, the boys pastoral director of Regis Jesuit HS in Colorado. We discuss how campus ministry has changed (who had ever imagined a socially distanced Kairos, for example?) the needs of the students are still present.


Check out the past episodes from this season:

  • Oct 7th: Dr. Debbie Sullivan & FADICA reports
  • Sep 30th: John Galvan from the Diocese of San Diego
  • Sep 23rd: Elizabeth Goettl, CEO, Cristo Rey Network
  • Sep 16th: Dr. Tim McNiff of Engineering Tomorrow.
  • Sep 2nd: Dr. Brandi Odom Lucas of Verbum Dei (Cristo Rey) HS
  • August 26th: Jenny Oliver, the principal of St. Joe's in Auburn, CA
  • August 26th: Br. John Montgomery, FSC, the principal of Cathedral High in Los Angeles
  • August 26th: Leanne Geise, president of Dominican High in Wisconsin
  • August 19, 2020 Bea Kaleva (MT attorney) on COVID-related legal issues
  • August 12, 2020 Dr. Daryl Hagan of the Diocese of Evansville on reopening
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What I'm Reading

    The Last 5 Books:

    1. Caste: The Origins of our Discontents (2020) by Isabel Wilkerson
    2. A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix (2017) by Edwin H. Friedman
    3. 101 Questions & Answers on Catholic Social Teaching, 2nd ed. (2013) by Kenneth R. Himes.
    4. Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism (2020) by Anne Applebaum.
    5. The Practice of Adaptive Leadership (2009) by Ron Heifetz & Marty Linsky

            Click this link for a full list of my professional reading

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            Past Issues of Catholic School Matters

            Oct 5, 2020 "Governance Reform"

            Sep 28, 2020 "Autonomy & Radar"

            Sep 21, 2020 "Learning While Doing"

            Sep 14, 2020 "Connecting the Disconnected"

            Aug 31, 2020 "Racial Injustice"

            Aug 24, 2020 "Figuring it Out"

            Aug 17, 2020 Serenity Prayer

            May 24, 2020 Value Proposition During Uncertain Times


            For previous newsletters, click this link

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            Orchestrating Conflict

            Orchestrating Conflict: Case Studies in Catholic Leadership is now available on Amazon or on the Barnes & Noble site in print or e-book formats. The book explores issues in Catholic school leadership and the tensions between building community and following Church policies and introduces deliberate practice as a method for leadership formation. This is my first book and has been an ongoing project for the past couple of years.
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