Bishop seeks single Catholic school system

Developing a plan to bring Catholic schools in the St. Cloud area together in one system.

That's the mission assigned to a steering committee convened by Bishop Donald Kettler of the Diocese of St. Cloud earlier this year.

The committee has been meeting regularly to discuss how the potential system — which has been given the name Catholic Community Schools — would operate and be structured.

Their hope is to present recommendations to Kettler by the end of November.

"We're not talking about consolidating schools," said committee chair David Borgert, a member of St. Michael Parish in St. Cloud and a former Catholic school parent himself. "We're talking about consolidating the administrative and marketing functions. Those kinds of things. And bringing it all under one roof.

"Essentially what would be a Roman Catholic school district with its own superintendent and structure."

The schools invited to participate in the process were St. Cloud Cathedral High School, All Saints Academy in St. Cloud and St. Joseph, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and St. Katharine Drexel Schools in St. Cloud, St. Francis Xavier in Sartell, Holy Cross in Pearl Lake, St. Mary Help of Christians in St. Augusta and St. Wendelin in Luxemburg.

"Four of those schools (St. Francis Xavier, St. Mary Help of Christians, St. Wendelin and Holy Cross) are still the old-school, single parish model," Borgert said. "The other three (elementary schools) are already free-standing corporations owned by multiple parishes.

"So this is really a natural next step in a process that began when St. Peter and St. Paul (now part of All Saints) combined into a single entity many years ago." That happened decades ago.

The draft proposal contemplates an approximately $15 million budget for the 2016-2017 "transitional year," according to an update provided by the committee.

Borgert said the process is being modeled, at least in part, on what was used in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where area Catholic schools are consolidated into one system.

Kettler has written that he convened the committee in an effort to keep Catholic school education financially viable amid enrollment challenges and rising costs. Borgert said schools like St. Francis and St. Katharine Drexel are operating about at capacity. And All Saints Academy remains stable as well.

But some of the other schools would like to see enrollment rise.

"The bishop is concerned about the future of Catholic education and wants to make sure it flourishes," Borgert said. "That's why he called us together and tasked us with designing a system. We're just the architects. We're not the builders or interior decorators. All we're trying to do is show what a system like that could look like.

"We'll present our plan to him, at which point he'll make the decision on whether or not to proceed with that plan, to proceed with another plan or do something else entirely."

Borgert said the committee has not discussed any school closing or job reductions.

"Our goal is filling classrooms and freeing up principals and teachers to be able to focus on the spiritual and academic growth of their students," Borgert said. "That's job one.

"Our role as designers is not to ask those other questions. That would be a role left to the school board if this system comes about and that board is selected."

Michael Mullin, the president of St. Cloud Cathedral and another committee member, said the main focus has been on studying what advantages a consolidated system would provide to each of the individual schools.

"Can we accomplish more working together than we can by working apart?" Mullin said. "That's the question."

"Shared resources is a big part of this too," Borgert added. "An environment like this would make resources we have in one place available to all the schools. Things like art specialists, music specialists, even foreign language. To some degree, that's done now. But it's more cumbersome to offer somebody a couple of half-time positions in different places. This would allow us to offer full-time positions, even if the person might be working in two or three buildings."

Borgert said Kettler could announce a decision by the end of this year.

"He hasn't been in the dark at all," Borgert said. "He's been at the table with us for all but one meeting. So he knows what we've been discussing. I think he wants to take some time to think things through and pray on it. But I don't anticipate a big gap in between when we make our proposal and when the bishop makes a decision on how to proceed."

Times staff writer Dave Unze contributed to this story.