By Lynette Magnino
Photography by Cathy Joyce
(In photo above: Salvador and Delores Martinez with their children at Presentation School in Sacramento. Left to right: Judith, Araceli, Salvador Jr. and Belen.)
The news of a Catholic school closure reverberates throughout a community as families worry about options, students fear change, and neighbors mourn the imminent loss of a valued community beacon. The National Catholic Educational Association reports that for 2016-2017, with a total of 6,429 Catholic schools nationwide, a net loss of 101 Catholic schools occurred across the country due to closure.
More than a year ago, the community of Holy Cross Academy in West Sacramento struggled to comprehend the end of their tight-knit school family of 180 students. The school had operated for six decades.
“It was very painful for everyone,” admits Lincoln Snyder, superintendent of the diocese’s Catholic schools, referring to families, teachers, staff, the Catholic Schools Department and Bishop Jaime Soto. While the healthy-sized student population suggested viability, the low tuition had been heavily subsidized by the diocese for many years.
“While tuition was $2,500, the real cost to educate one student was more than double that,” Lincoln explains. “It wasn’t sustainable,” he about the diocesan subsidies, conceding that a failing physical structure in need of significant repairs and maintenance made it impossible to keep Holy Cross Academy open.
Students not statistics
While Holy Cross Academy became a piercing statistic as one of last year’s 101 closures throughout the nation, Lincoln stresses the human factors and heartfelt outreach that worked to remedy the pain and initiate new pathways for displaced students.
“A school isn’t the facility,” he notes, turning the focus to all the people who make up a school community. “It’s the students in the school” who create and foster the environment they love, along with teachers and staff. He reports that about 50 percent – just more 100 students – have found a renewed sense of belonging in another Catholic school.
“Bishop Soto’s commitment to the needs of the families made this possible,” Lincoln says, describing his desire to help families stay in a Catholic school if they chose to do so. This meant extending guidance, special accommodations and financial support for them to attend any Catholic school in the diocese.
Bishop Soto “made a moral commitment, identifying $107,000 to help make it possible,” Lincoln says, referring to the bishop’s plan to reserve funds specifically for families who were eligible to receive financial aid. About 50 eligible students were awarded financial assistance after submitting applications through FACTS, a standardized tuition management and financial aid assessment system used throughout the diocese for need-based aid awards.
Beyond aid monies, the Catholic Schools Department exercised diligence in follow-up with every Holy Cross Academy family. Case managers made phone calls, reaching out to help them through their journey.
Receiving Catholic schools, likewise, opened their hearts to the new students, helping them to embrace their new school “home.” About half of the continuing students chose Our Lady of Grace School in West Sacramento. Six other schools welcomed other families who opted for schools near their workplace, on commute routes, or equally close to their homes.
We are ‘truly blessed’
Delores and Salvador Martinez took action immediately after it was announced during a Friday evening meeting in December 2016 that Holy Cross would close at the end of May 2017.
“I was shocked and I panicked because we have four children,” Delores relates with obvious concern. How would they find a school with room for Araceli in second grade, Salvador in third grade, Judith in fifth grade and Belen in sixth grade? Worry set in as they knew other schools would likely be far more expensive.
By the following Thursday morning, Delores and Salvador met with Carrie Donohue, principal of Presentation School in Sacramento. Years before, the couple had visited the school and loved it. Living in the Natomas area north of downtown, the commute is about the same distance for the family.
“We want our children to be in love with God and we want to share our faith,” Delores emphasizes, suggesting that continuing at a Catholic school was critically important.
“When we learned they had room, we didn’t wait,” she says, detailing how they prepared to move the children in January even though Holy Cross would be open through the end of the academic year.
All the children attended a “shadow day” to become familiar with the new school before beginning last Jan. 18. Now a year has passed and Delores feels the school “came to our rescue.”
The welcoming ways of the school families, principal, teachers, staff and Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist eased their transition, and financial aid eased their sacrifice. “We are truly, truly blessed,” Delores elaborates with thanksgiving for the past year. “I feel we were meant to be here.”
‘In my heart, it is providence’
Marta and Ramon Diaz recall their distress when they learned Holy Cross would close.
“It was like a big bomb – a big surprise,” Marta shares, reflecting on the questions raging through her mind at that time. In disbelief, she could only think of how children who had grown up together would possibly be separated.
Despite broken hearts, staying in Catholic school was very important. Marta knew her son, Estaban, then in fifth grade, must continue and follow the path of his older twin brothers Sebastian and Elian, who graduated from Holy Cross Academy.
(In photo above: Marta Diaz with her children at Our Lady of Grace School in West Sacramento. Left to right: Sebastian, Esteban, Damien and Elian.)
“Today, (public) schools remove God from school. It is important for our children to hear about God and serve,” she maintains, further advocating a small school-family environment “where my son can speak of God.”
Our Lady of Grace School became a new focal point for the family. Knowing that former Holy Cross principal Laura MacDonald was now the principal made a difference. “I like how she works, I like the school, and I knew some families, too,” Marta pauses, offering insight into the thought process that led them to Our Lady of Grace.
Most important, Marta and Ramon hoped for a comfortable transition. Acknowledging their son’s nervous anticipation of the new school year, they were thrilled when Estaban spoke of friendly classmates and exclaimed, “I really like this school!”
Marta feels blessed with solid academics and a place to share their faith. She believes “in my heart, it is providence.”
“The transition wasn’t hard and I am thankful for the help we received,” Marta notes, thinking of the underlying lessons she imparted to her children during their journey. “We taught the kids through all of this: ‘It is just another step.’” She echoes wise mantras which surely helped forge the family’s pathway to renewed happiness. “Keep moving. Make good choices. Work hard.”
LEARN MORE
About Catholic elementary schools in the diocese by calling 916-733-0110 or visit https://www.scd.org/schools.