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WASHINGTON(September 2, 2005)—Catholic schools from across the nation
are opening their doors to students displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
The Diocese of Shreveport, Louisiana, which has seven elementary
schools, for example, enrolled more than 200 students in the days after
displaced people from afflicted dioceses moved into the Shreveport area.
Shreveport Superintendent Sister Carol Shively said the increased number
of students calls for an increased number of teachers. “We are in need
of teachers who are willing to simply donate in the name of the Lord,”
she said.
Dioceses are offering tuition-free attendance, free books and backpacks,
and whatever else students need as students begin the school year away
from home. Relatives living thousands of miles away who are taking in
nieces and nephews from the Gulf Coast area are finding that their local
Catholic schools also have agreed to help displaced persons.
In some areas teachers also have been advised of special needs that
students will have because of the trauma of the upheaval.
Schools in non-affected areas, such as the Diocese of Owensboro,
Kentucky, are twinning with affected schools and planning various
fundraising activities. One named “Katrina’s Kids” already is underway
in the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida.
Routine concerns about cost, paperwork, even class size, have been put
aside.
Sister Glenn Anne McPhee, the U.S. Bishops’ Secretary for Education,
praised the work and pledged that Catholic schools across the country
would do whatever was needed to bring stability and hope to students
affected by Hurricane Katrina.
“Our top priority are students, from pre-school to college,” she said.
“Throughout the country there are efforts to bring stability to
students’ lives by providing them with educational opportunities so that
their schooling will be as uninterrupted as possible.”
She also applauded the efforts of the National Catholic Educational
Association (www.ncea.org) and its Child to Child campaign whereby
Catholic school children and students in religious education programs
will be extending a helping hand – one dollar at a time – to their
counterparts in areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
In Jackson, Mississippi, where the population doubled in four days,
Sister Deborah Hughes, superintendent of Catholic schools, said the
diocese will have open doors for whoever wants to come to any Catholic
school in the diocese.
“The financial aspect (tuition, hiring new teachers, etc.) of all this
cannot be a priority right now,” she said. The diocesan school office
will assist schools if they have financial needs as a result of bringing
in these new students. “I believe in my heart that people will come
forward to help,” she said. Catholic school superintendents from
throughout the country already had contacted her, she said.
Three Catholic schools in the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma, accepted
students, as did schools in the Archdiocese of Washington. just days
after the hurricane struck. Similar announcements also have been made by
the Diocese of Corpus Christi, Texas, and elsewhere. The Dioceses of
Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri also is seeing students from the
stricken area arrive to live with relatives and attend local Catholic
schools.
In the Archdiocese of Washington, all pastors and principals were asked
to welcome students from Catholic schools in the devastated region and
to waive tuition for those who are financially in need and to contact
the Archdiocese’s Catholic school office for assistance in providing
uniforms, books and supplies. Principals throughout the nation also are
contacting uniform companies and text book companies to assist as
needed.
Private Catholic schools run by religious orders are assisting other
schools of their order. In Tulsa, for example, the Christian Brothers
high school is helping their brother schools in New Orleans. A school
staffed by the Salesian order in St. Petersburg, Florida, will assist
other Salesian schools the Gulf coast region.
The superintendent in the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, notified
schools to enroll refugees even “without proof of birth, immunization,
or tuition as may be necessary” she said. Other dioceses have issued
similar notifications.
Catholic schools in the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, in opening
their schools tuition free to displaced children noted that “schools
will be handling uniforms, books, supplies and lunch money for these
children,” said Superintendent Linda Cherry.
Susan Mueller, superintendent of schools in the Diocese of
Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida, said the local schools have
approximately 45 students from the New Orleans and Biloxi, Mississippi
areas. “Our diocese is offering one year’s free tuition (including other
fees to all those who are here because of Katrina,” she said. “We are
also starting the ‘Katrina’s Kids’ fund to help them and the schools
that welcome them in any way we can.”
The Diocese of Dallas, Texas, is also accepting students. Dallas’s local
Reunion Arena is being used as a shelter so the diocese has asked all
schools to collect games and toys and books that can be given to the
people in the Reunion area. The diocese also has asked displaced
teachers “to come and apply to be substitute teachers.” Schools in the
diocese also are making parents aware of families housing relatives that
have been displaced and are trying to unify a support system for the
hosting families.
In the Diocese of St. Petersburg, Florida, Brother John Cummings,
superintendent of schools, alerted schools to deal with the stress
students may experience. He distributed advice from the Jackson Health
System and the University of Miami School of Medicine.
In the Diocese of Venice, Florida, Catholic schools are welcoming
displaced elementary and high school students and providing backpacks
and school supplies. Efforts also are being made through parishes and
schools to locate housing for these students and their families.
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