Catholic School Matters
October 19, 2020
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
Catholic Schools
Catholic Schools Closing
Leadership
Teaching & Learning
Miscellany
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
Catholic School Matters
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
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
What I'm Reading
The Last 5 Books:
- Caste: The Origins of our Discontents (2020) by Isabel Wilkerson
- A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix (2017) by Edwin H. Friedman
- 101 Questions & Answers on Catholic Social Teaching, 2nd ed. (2013) by Kenneth R. Himes.
- Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism (2020) by Anne Applebaum.
- The Practice of Adaptive Leadership (2009) by Ron Heifetz & Marty Linsky
Click this link for a full list of my professional reading
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