Catholic Schools

Catholic schools are hooked on phonics.Over the decades -- as fads in reading instruction have come and gone -- Baltimore-area Catholic schools, like many other parochial schools across the nation, have held to teaching children to read by first focusing on the sounds that make up words and sound-letter relationships.In stark contrast to most public schools, which in the 1980s tended to forsake teaching sounds for an early focus on reading stories, virtually all of the 70 elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore teach phonics as a separate subject in the early grades.

Anne Arundel County police are investigating sexual abuse allegations by a former student at Monsignor Slade Catholic School in Glen Burnie, officials of the Archdiocese of Baltimore said Wednesday. In a letter posted on the archdiocese website and sent to parents via email Wednesday, Barbara McGraw Edmondson, the superintendent of schools within the archdiocese, said county police searched the school Tuesday afternoon and that those being investigated have been suspended until "a determination is made concerning the veracity of the allegations.

I was disappointed to read that my archdiocese would not support a charter school in a vacant archdiocesan building ("Charters emerge as threats to Catholic schools," March 17). I was equally troubled by Baltimore schools CEO Andrés Alonso's comment that he was happy to be considered "the competition" to archdiocesan schools. As the situation at Tench Tilghman has taught us ("Prayer service at city school called improper," March 14), the philosophies of the two systems are different; however, the goal must be the same.

It has been nearly three years since my predecessor, Cardinal Edwin O'Brien, and the Blue Ribbon Committee on Catholic Schools released the Strategic Plan for Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Since that time, enrollment declines have been stemmed in many schools; innovative new programs such as our dual language and Montessori initiatives have kept our schools competitive; and systemic changes to the governance of our schools, renewed focus on school leadership - training of principals and development of local school boards, as well as system-wide accreditation - are ensuring Catholic schools remain an excellent value (average annual K-8 cost is approximately $5,000)

If the archdiocese had formed a commitee to increase the enrollment of Cardinal Gibbons instead of one to decide how to consolidate it, perhaps they wouldn't be facing this sad day. I will support Catholic soup kitchens and the Catholic Relief Services but not the archdiocese unless it changes it's decision regarding Cardinal Gibbons. Gibbons, Seton-Keough, Archbishop Spalding and Archbishop Curley are the only schools with a mission to serve those who are not rich. When they sell the land to St. Agnes, we will know what truly motivates the hierarchacy, certainly not a commitment to education for all. I repeat -- what would Jesus do?

Children's Scholarship Fund Baltimore is Baltimore's only need based, non-denominational program that gives lower income families tuition assistance for their children to attend the elementary school of their choice. Totally dependant on private donations, we are helping over 420 students attend 63 private and parochial schools in and around Baltimore. Students are chosen by lottery, so we are helping a few children from every neighborhood in the city. This school year 43 percent of our families have chosen to send their children to a Catholic school.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore announced Monday that schools Superintendent Ronald J. Valenti will retire at the end of the school year. Valenti, 66, who has worked for the archdiocese's Catholic schools for nearly 20 years, says the timing is right for him to step down because of the strategic plan being developed by the Blue Ribbon Committee on Schools. "The work being done by the Blue Ribbon Committee is extremely important and will require a long commitment," said Valenti, who added that he wants to remain active in the field of education.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore has a deep and distinguished history of commitment to urban education in Baltimore, dating back to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton's pioneering work more than 200 years ago. Yet, the rich educational tradition of Catholic education faces formidable challenges on a number of fronts as Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien leads an ambitious renewal of Catholic education through an organizational reset of archdiocesan schools. The Cristo Rey Network, a national consortium of 24 urban Catholic high schools, has been overcoming these challenges through its new model of education for more than a decade.

Facing rising costs and falling enrollments, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore will close 13 of its 64 schools at the end of the academic year, officials told employees and families Wednesday. Parents reacted with anguish and anger as word spread that 12 K-8 schools and one high school, Cardinal Gibbons in the Morrell Park neighborhood of West Baltimore, would be shut down in June. All are in Baltimore or Baltimore County. "This is a major blow," Ted Ewachiw said at Sacred Heart of Mary School in East Baltimore, where he picked up his two children after school Wednesday.

I am an avid sports fan. I love football and hockey and am a novice fan of other sports. As much as I love sports, I have very little patience for the overpaid, greedy, self centered pro athlete. With the impending 2011 NFL work stoppage on the horizon, one has to ask, when is too much money enough? We look at the pure greed in pro sports. The 1981 and 1994 Major League Baseball strikes, the 1992, 1994 and 2004 NHL lockouts, and the NBA lockouts are a testament to the greed in pro sports.

As many of you know, I was born and raised in solidly working class Arbutus. My family's Protestantism qualified us as an anomaly; the majority of the neighborhood kids were Catholic. Most attended local Catholic schools such as Ascension, Our Lady of Victory, and St. Mark's. A majority of them went on to graduate high school at Cardinal Gibbons, Mount St. Joe, or Seton. This school experience provided parents an attractive "three-fer": religious instruction, challenging academics and excellent athletics - at a reasonable price, to boot.

Gail Liss, the front desk receptionist for Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, went to a dentist appointment at noontime Wednesday, confident that a new pope would not be chosen before she got back to work. Liss was wrong. While she sitting in the dentist chair, she heard on the radio that white smoke had billowed in the Vatican, the traditional sign that a pope had been elected by the Vatican's conclave of cardinals. "I gotta get out of here," she thought. Liss rushed back to the Cathedral office on North Charles Street just in time to see the new pope, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, introduced.

Anyone hearing the ACLU's position on single-sex education would think something troubling is afoot in almost every town in America. The ACLU claims that single-sex education is an unlawful form of discrimination and that its supposed benefits are based on pseudoscience. In a supposed conspiracy to oppress children, the Catholic Church operates hundreds of single-sex schools across America. A handful of states have opened boys' and girls' schools themselves. The ACLU's lawyers allege that this practice amounts to gender apartheid, a misogynist attempt to hold women back.

Editor, I am writing in reference to your article entitled "Harford a hotbed for Md. Catholics" in the Wednesday, Jan. 30, edition. The article mentioned the growing number of Catholics in Harford County and Archbishop William Lori's visit to two of Harford County's Catholic Schools during this week's Catholic Schools Week. The article neglected to mention that there is one more Catholic School in Harford County, St. Joan of Arc School in Aberdeen. St. Joan of Arc School (SJA) is one of only seven STEM Schools in the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

As many as 240 AmeriCorps members will relocate to East Baltimore's Graceland Park neighborhood in the coming months, as the domestic version of the Peace Corps establishes an urban campus, the first of its kind. The classrooms at the former Sacred Heart of Mary School will be transformed into dormitories that will house the National Civilian Community Corps, an AmeriCorps unit that deploys teams of 18- to 24-year-olds to work with community groups and individuals in schools and parks as well as disaster areas.

Kathryn Barry Truax, an elementary school teacher recalled for her classroom presence, died of leukemia Dec. 2 at her Ruxton home. She was 30. Born in Baltimore and raised in Ruxton, she was a 2000 graduate of the Bryn Mawr School, where she played basketball and lacrosse. "Her smile greeted everyone, be it a friend or an acquaintance. She always had a kind word, an infectious laugh and a great sense of humor," said Gita Deane, who had taught her and is now on the Goucher College faculty.

Baltimore City Councilman Nicholas D'Adamo wants Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien to rent closed Catholic schools to the city for $1 per year ("Charter schools may emerge from closures," Mar. 8). The archdiocese can't afford to maintain these schools as Catholic Schools. Councilman D'Adamo wants the archdiocese to subsidize the city of Baltimore, when the Archdiocese of Baltimore couldn't afford Catholic Schools. The Catholic School system saves the Baltimore City, Maryland counties, and the state of Maryland millions of dollars.

The list The Archdiocese of Baltimore will close these schools at the end of the school year: •Ascension School, Halethorpe •St. Bernardine Catholic School, Edmondson Village •Fr. Charles Hall Catholic School (elementary and middle schools), West Baltimore •St. Clare School, Essex •Holy Family School, Randallstown •St. Katharine School, Queen of Peace Cluster, East Baltimore •Mother Mary Lange Catholic School, Northeast Baltimore •Our Lady of Fatima School, East Baltimore •St.

Linda Malat Tiburzi wanted a front-row seat inside a 4th Circuit Court of Appeals courtroom Tuesday, so judges could get a good look at her during a hearing involving a convicted child rapist who had taught at a Baltimore Catholic school. Though it's traumatic for Tiburzi to relive her alleged abuse at the hands of John J. Merzbacher, she said she and the 14 other men and women who took a bus from Pasadena wanted to show their commitment to keeping him behind bars. "I want the judges to see my face," said Tiburzi, 51, who said she was sexually abused by Merzbacher while she was a Catholic Community middle-schooler from 1973 to 1976.

Archbishop Curley High School student Matthew Avara, of Catonsville, was named a Commended Student in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program. Nine students at Mount de Sales Academy were also named Commended Students in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Program. Catonsville residents Colleen Finley and Ashley Santana-Trebes, as well as Meghan Brown, Marina Congedo, Mary Connolly, Claire Halligan, Veronica Rittie, Helen Rogers and Grace Woo were the students at the all-girls Catholic high school recognized.