|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (2)
Notre Dame Academy's Catholic heritage in jeopardy
For more than 40 years, Notre Dame Academy in Middleburg has served as a private, independent Catholic high school for students in Loudoun County and the surrounding region.Now, a recent decision by the school's board of trustees has shaken that deep-rooted foundation, leaving some parents and students shocked, and the school community with a sense of uncertainty.
“We want a Catholic school,” said Diane Beauchamp, whose son Thomas is a freshman. “There are other schools out there that are private that are better academically, but I want that Catholic factor. I want my children to be balanced, and our Catholic faith is what really lays that foundation.”
Parents became aware of the policy change in an Oct. 10 e-mail from the board that informed them of the school's decision to no longer comply with the Diocese of Arlington's Policy 910, which requires that Catholic schools have a Catholic headmaster. The change will go into effect July 1, 2009.
The school currently has an interim CEO and is searching for a permanent head of school.
The e-mail from board members stated that “any limiting criteria placed on the process has reduced our pool of potential candidates and has hindered our search.”
In response to the new policy adopted by the board, the Rev. Paul S. Loverde, bishop of Arlington, sent a letter of his own.
“Without compliance with these policies (particularly Policy 910), the Catholicity of the school and its curriculum cannot be ensured,” the letter said. “[Once the change goes into effect], the school will no longer have the Blessed Sacrament reserved in its chapel and the diocese will not be able to guarantee the quality or authenticity of religious or other instruction.”
George Conway, interim CEO of Notre Dame, said the board's decision was made to ensure that a qualified headmaster could be found and to protect the school's future.
“We will not call ourselves an independent Catholic school because the bishop doesn't want us to do that, but we do think there are ways to continue to offer Catholic religion courses,” he said. “We very much want to help people understand what we're trying to do, and we hope people can rally around Notre Dame and keep the school strong.”
Parent Lisa Sherman, who has two children who attend Notre Dame, said she supports the board's decision.
"I believe that the board has the best interest of the school at heart in terms of its longevity," said Sherman, who is not Catholic. "It's been difficult for them to raise money. I think they are valid in looking at a different model moving forward."
But Beauchamp and other parents who are concerned say they were not warned of the board's decision, and they are frustrated with both the lack of transparency and the direction the school is now headed.
Beauchamp already paid $18,000 in tuition for this school year but said she plans to pull her son out of Notre Dame next year.
Like Beauchamp, Muriel Forrest also plans to move her freshman son Mark after this school year.
"There are two wonderful things about Notre Dame that attracted us," she said. "It's a community, and the spiritual foundation upon which you build everything else. Now the community sense has been destroyed, along with the Catholic foundation."
Others who have been involved with the school throughout the years are also concerned.
Jim Wilson, a former board member whose children attended Notre Dame about 25 years ago, has filed a lawsuit against Notre Dame Academy and members of its board of trustees.
The suit alleges that Maggie Mangano, representing The Frank Mangano Foundation, used a large donation to ensure herself a seat on the board, along with her treasurer Michael S. Hoover. The suit further alleges that Mangano promised not to change the mission of the school, and then proceeded to convince board members to take the school in a non-Catholic direction. Mangano did not comment and deferred all questions to CEO Conway.
“In the loan agreement, she demanded seats on the board, which gave her control of the school, but the board felt it was an acceptable bargain on paper,” Wilson said. “The problem is you have no assurances that they're going to keep their promise. As soon as she got the school, she moved it from being Catholic.”
Wilson said those who disagreed with what was going on resigned or were voted off the board, as he was in early November.
Originally there were 20 board members. Now there are 12 and only one is Catholic, Wilson said. There used to be a requirement for half of the board members to be Catholics.
About half of the school's 251-student enrollment is non-Catholic, but Forrest said they are also affected by this decision.
“Whether or not you're Catholic, the school is unstable,” she said. “I'm convinced the school will not survive with the plan they're putting forward.”
Contact the reporter at ecoe@timespapers.com
As the wife of a former trustee at Notre Dame Academy I find Dr Conway's comment that "the (Board) wants very much to help people understand" utterly astonishing. My husband served the previous year when this Board, led by Rev. Conway made the decision to dissolve its relationship with the Catholic Diocese. Throughout that year, browbeating dissenting members into silence and pushing many to resign, both Conway and the controlling members of the board continuously deceived parents as to their plan, even to the extent of sending letters to the parent-body denying the very actions they were concurrently putting to vote. They continue to deny current parents a forum for discussion and debate regarding this extraordinary decision, holding not a single open meeting, despite petitions bearing the names of over a hundred families and virtually all faculty. Parents were even refused the right to hold a parent meeting to be held under the auspices of the PTA. Many students currently enrolled at Notre Dame were led there under false pretenses.
Posted by capassar
Report Offensive Content
Plainly and simply, parents who entrusted their children's education to the care of Conway and the NDA board, believing that the school respected its Catholic tradition, were misled.
At tonight's board meeting, no questions were allowed to be contemporaneously posed (in writing only -answered later "if appropriate"), the chairman of the board at one point dissolved the meeting, and the board refused to make a presentation, instead relying on its attorney who on one occasion made a snide, bigoted reference about the faith upon which the school was founded. It must fairly be asked of the NDA Board and some of its upfront leadership, whether it is in fact, Anti-Catholic.
Posted by Misled
Report Offensive Content
You must be logged in to post a comment.