As we celebrated Catholic Schools Week, I couldn’t figure out why this article from Farnam Street was making my CD skip. If you have a minute, read this article about Chesterton’s fence. The quick summary--before we remove any fences that don’t seem to have practical value, let’s take a moment to understand why they were put there in the first place. I have driven past many closed Catholic schools, some in very small towns, who are metaphorical fences that are no longer useful.

There seems to be no shortage of people ready to declare that the time has passed for Catholic schools, a la Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi when he declares that it’s time for the Jedi to die. Today’s Catholic school critics usually center on the cost or lack of interest in the faith. But we first should take the time to understand why Catholic schools were here to begin with and explore whether those reasons might be fueling disappointment.

Catholic schools were originally formed as a response to the Protestant influence in public schooling as well as the unique immigrant cultural milieus. They were numerous, rigorous, and cheap when Catholic families were large and growing larger. At their enrollment height, they represented a muscular and militant Catholicism when the Church was declaring its position in the United States. That’s why those fences were built.

As the immigrant communities dispersed, families shrunk, vocations decreased, and buildings aged, the challenges began to mount for Catholic schools. More importantly, Catholic parishes serving as the center of family life through schools, activities, and Mass became the exception, not the norm. So we no longer have numerous, excellent, cheap schools serving at the center of a parish’s mission. Thus the disappointment.

The value of Catholic schools must be found in something other than numerous and cheap. Let’s focus on excellence and see if we can’t attract families to this model of school. After all, people will pay for what they value. Consider that families never used to pay for television (and it only used to be three channels and only on during the day!) or Internet, they paid only a small fee for a land line, and the thought of paying $8 for a cup of coffee would have been inconceivable (yes, I’m using that word correctly) a couple of decades ago. How much money do our families (who we think cannot afford Catholic education) pay for television, cell phones, and coffee? Our family pays $250 per month and I can’t imagine we’re far from the norm. I’m not arguing that we should *guilt* our families for paying so much for these items, simply that we should be placing the values of our Catholic schools alongside those other items.

If you don’t think Catholic schools do enough to promote Catholic identity and belonging in the Church, read this testimony. It’s a great story of how Catholic schools can form our faith. Or read this story of the impact of Catholic schools on a first-generation immigrant.

Luke Skywalker didn’t mean that the Jedi should die permanently. He meant that our old paradigm of what the Jedi order was should pass. And we should consider a new approach. In the same way, we should acknowledge that the “fence” of Catholic schools has become disappointing and we should focus on new expectations for what Catholic schools be. Focus on excellence and argue for the value of your school’s tuition.

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

1. The January 25th COVID mitigation memo suggests ways for schools to navigate the post-mask world.
   

2. It is our pleasure to share with you a scholarship opportunity for an eighth grade student who embodies the charism of the late Tim Russert – a student who has strong writing skills, is considered a leader in the classroom, is attune to the political landscape and who exercises critical thinking skills. The scholarship includes a one year, $2,500 Catholic high school tuition voucher. Here is the nomination form and additional details about the award.

3. Here is the nomination form for The Natalie Mattimore Lewis “Kindness Counts Character Award” presented to a seventh grade student. The deadline for submission is Friday, February 18th, 2022.

Our dive into sentence expansion continues with the introduction of kernel sentences. Kernel sentences have only one verb and no modifiers. For example, "Sally sang." These kernel sentences often appear in writing, especially for early writers. So, how can we use a sentence like this and expand it into an engaging, complex, and detailed sentence? Dive into question words! Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? If you want to expand the sentence, "Sally sang," you may prompt the writer to add detail about when and where Sally sang. Your kernel sentence "Sally sang" could become "Sally sang yesterday at the theater."

You may consider the following exercise with your students. Present the kernel sentence "Jane ran" and ask students to answer the when, where, and why question words.

• When: 7 am
• Where: park
• Why: to get into shape

Now mix it all together, and you get, "At seven in the morning, Jane ran in the park because she wanted to get in shape." (Hochman)

Once your students are comfortable with this process, you can build sentence expansion activities into the content areas. This can even come alive in the math classroom. Take a look at the example below from The Writing Revolution.

Problem: 2(x+6)=14

• Jasmine
• Maya

Step 1

• 2x+6=14
• 2x+12=14

Step 2

• 2x=8
• 2x=2

Answer

• x=4
• x=1

Prompt to students: She made a mistake.

• Who: Jasmine
• When: Step 1
• Why: Didn't distribute 2 to both terms inside ()

Expanded sentence: In step 1, Jasmine made a mistake because she didn't distribute the 2 to both of the terms inside the parentheses.

Wow! A student's writing can transform into a complex and detailed sentence with a bit of prompting. How will you bring this to life in your ELA class and in math, science, social studies, and religion?

Previous "Academic Corner" posts from Kari

Buffalo CARES Act Funds: From Jim Mule – “Cares Act funds (ESSER and GEER) are coming to an end. If you have funds available to spend through Buffalo Public Schools, you should have received an email on 2/2/2022. Buffalo is requesting all quotes be submitted by March 4th, 2022. Please send them via email to lsmaldino@buffaloschools.org. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Lindsey Smaldino, Associate Account Clerk, at 716-816-4014 or via email at lsmaldino@buffaloschools.org or Jim Mulé at jmule@buffaloschools.org.”

RISE Conference Feedback Requested: To better meet the needs of the religious and independent school community, the NYS Coalition for Independent & Religious Schools and the Commissioner's Advisory Council created a very short questionnaire to gather your input on the design of the RISE 2022 Conference. I've been asked to share the link and encourage you to complete it, if you have not already done so: https://forms.gle/i1xXbYNFrfQjRwaA9.

Mandated Services Update: If you have not already done so, please consider opening a new 2020-2021 Mandated Services claim via the NYSED Business Portal (http://portal.nysed.gov/); see last week’s Catholic School Matters for information on how to do this. Even though you may not be ready to enter any information for your claim, having the claim open will allow me to look it over to make sure everything from NYSED loaded properly (BEDS enrollment; test counts) and we have plenty of time to correct any problems.

Regarding your BOCES expenses for Mandate 19, I have copies of all elementary school invoices from 2020-2021 (Initial Service Request, Regents and NYS Science Scanning, and NYS ELA and Math Scanning) so I can help you determine what to claim for that Mandate. High Schools: if you share your invoices with me I certainly can help you as well.

Important Dates:

2/11/22 Buffalo Public Schools Special Education Meeting for Nonpublic Schools

2/14/22 High School Scholarship for Academic Excellence (SAE) Nomination Due

3/18/22 Last Day to Submit Erie 1 BOCES Textbook Orders

3/23/22 Deadline to Save Mandated Services Claim online for C. Riso Review

3/31/22 NYSED Nonpublic Safety Equipment (NPSE) Application Due

3/31/22 NYSED Elementary School AIS Purchases/Projects/Payments Completed

4/1/22 Online 2020-21 Mandated Services Claim Due to NYSED

4/1/22 Parent Requests for 2022-23 Transportation Due to Public School Districts

Previous posts from Mr. Riso

1. Weekly principal Zooms at 9:30 am on Wednesdays.
   
2. Principal meeting with pastors/canonical administrators on Thursday, March 10th
3. Primetime televised segment to support Catholic Education on Sunday, April 3rd, 2022 from 8:00-9:00 PM on WBBZ-TV
   
4. X-Stream Games, May 15, 2022.
5. 175th Anniversary Mass for 8th graders, Sep 20, 2022, 10 am at the Cathedral
6. Diocesan Professional Development Day October 7, 2022 at St. Amelia's.

1. The Executive Summary. of this year's school data.
   
2. Video recording of All-schools Mass at OLV with Bishop Fisher. Here is the link to Dr. Uhl's talk.
3. "Principal Task List." This is organized as a living Google Doc by month.
   
4. Here's a link to the forms on our website.
5. New Policy Manual
6. New Operations Manual
7. Administrator Goal Sheet and the new Administrator evaluation form

This week, my old friend Neal Wilkinson, SJ joins me to discuss his vocation and work as well as his struggles with living with Parkinson's. Previous episodes:

• Roy Petitfils joins the podcast to discuss the impact the pandemic has had on us all.
  
• Dr. Lauren Casella of LMU joins the podcast to discuss her work with our Principal PLN to strengthen Catholic identity.
• Last week's podcast is a discussion with author Mark Shea about the divisions and tensions within the Catholic Church.

• Last week's podcast is a great conversation with Diocese of Orlando Superintendent Henry Fortier. One of the few African-American Catholic school superintendents, Henry discusses the challenges of the past few year
• I was joined on the podcast by Dr. Ann Garrido, the author/speaker/ professor of homiletics.
• The December 27th episode was a conversation with Jennifer Daniels of the USCCB about government programs and school choice.
• In the December 20th episode, Bridgette Theurer discusses Resilient Leadership
• In the December 13th episode, I'm talking with Jodee Blanco about parents bullying the school.
• Here is the link to the Dec 7th conversation with Faustin Weber, the author of the great blog post "Top Ten Suggestions to Avoid Principal Burnout."

Here is a link to the podcast on Apple Podcasts.

If you have time to sign a petition to save Mother Seton Academy in New Jersey. here is the petition. Here is an article about the closing.

A weekly newsletter of resources to spur enrollment and excellence in our Catholic schools.

Email: catholicschoolmatters@gmail.com
Website: www.wnycatholic.org
Location: Buffalo, NY, USA
Phone: 716-847-5520
Twitter: @drtimuhl

1. The Power Broker: Robert Moses & the Fall of New York (1975) by Robert A. Caro
   

2. The Best of Me (2020) by David Sedaris

3. A Disarming Spirit: The Life of Archbishop Raymond Hunthausen (2018) by Frank Fromherz

4. Human Compatible: Artificial Intelligence & the Problem of Control (2019) by Stuart Russell

5. In the Midst of our Storms (2014) by Roc O'Connor, SJ

Click this link for a full list of my professional reading

February 1, 2022 "Catholic Schools Week"

January 25, 2022 Data & Discouragement

January 18, 2022 "Pastoral Practices"

January 11, 2022 "Practical Sustainability"

January 4, 2022 "Bifocal Leadership"

For previous newsletters, click this link

A couple of years ago I set out to write a book which would explore the challenges of Catholic school leadership. My premise that there are no easy answers and that we have to learn from our (and other's) mistakes in order to form a mindset appropriate for orchestrating conflict proved prescient as we all faced completely new and unexpected challenges in 2020. The book,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.