Posted by By Mary O’KEEFE
Parents at Holy Redeemer and St. James the Less Catholic Church were surprised to find that their two schools would be merging. St. James would accommodate kindergarten through fourth grade and Holy Redeemer would have students from fifth through eighth grade.
The reason given at a meeting Wednesday night with Father Ed Dover was financial. Due to tough economic times and declining enrollment the schools would have to go to this new system or one would have to be closed down. Dover is the priest for both St. James and Holy Redeemer Catholic churches.
“He just dropped [the change] on us at a meeting last week,” said Holy Redeemer parent Nigel Burns. “It came as a complete shock. No one ever told us the schools were doing so badly.”
That sentiment carried through at Wednesday’s meeting where parents questioned why they weren’t told earlier that the schools were in trouble.
“We may have been able to do something,” Burns said.
He added he had approached Dover earlier with fundraising ideas but had not heard back from him. Burns is an active, involved parent at the school. He is a member of the PTO, the parent organization similar to public school’s PTA, a Cub Scout Master and the debate coach. He also volunteers at the school functions and organized the school’s traffic safety measures. Being so involved in the school he was surprised that neither he nor other parents were consulted about the change.
At the meeting Dover stated the enrollment at St. James was 150 and 170 at Holy Redeemer. By splitting enrollment, it would increase the number of students at both schools and keep them open.
“Teachers will be laid off,” Burns said. He added Holy Redeemer has a good reputation and is academically sound. He worried about the teachers that would be let go.
Burns was also told tuition would be increasing and that the traditional discounts for siblings enrolled at the school would also be discontinued. He added that if the school were in trouble he would like to have had a choice in the solution.
Father Jack Foley blesses the animals at Holy Redeemer Catholic School, just one of the many events students share at the school. Photo Mary O’KEEFE
Up until this year, we have taken advantage of the public school system in Crescenta Valley while participating in religious education after school. My son was hoping to attend Holy Redeemer for middle school, but I am hesitant to send him with the sudden news we just heard about. With so many parents upset, it may pull the moral of the staff and families down. This may make it difficult for us to transition into a new setting. I have heard great things about Holy Redeemer and would hate to see any of the families/teachers uprooted or distraught about the upcoming change. The k-8 school setting in Catholic education is a tradition that has gone on for generations. Breaking it up may “break” the community and cause a ripple effect. I hope it works out. My son was looking forward to attending Holy Redeemer and excited about meeting new people.
A Middle School alternative to severely overcrowded Rosemont seems like a pretty good idea to me. Perhaps a middle school with some Christian values seems like a good idea to many other parents.
Mary O’Keefe shame on you! Did you even bother to contact Holy Redeemer or Saint James? Or did you just take the information from this one individual and take it as fact. Your shoddy reporting is filled with erroneous information.
Perhaps if Mr. Burns was at the PTO meetings he would remember a pie graph given to every parent showing the financials of the school. Or the last PTO meeting of the school year last year when Mrs. Fite, the principal herself explained the lack of enrollment and that this was a critical situation.
Mrs. O’Keefe,I implore you to report the truth of this story. Oh here is an idea, contact Mrs. Fite the principal of Holy Redeemer. Or perhaps you could contact the PTO President. Or maybe even someone from the Holy Redeemer Staff. I believe people in your line of work call it “investigative journalism” , try it! You might find that you have a more truthful story.
Wow…. Anne
Maybe you should take a closer look at the facts. Usually when people are as defensive as you are in the above comment it’s because they are defending an idea that can’t be substantiated. Maybe you should sit down with Mr. Burns so he can educate you on reality and common sense. The pie graph you make mention to above went along with the comment from Fr Ed that we needed 10 new students to enroll. Mrs Fite got 13. Have you been to any meetings?
Find the truth it’s out there. Oh and it’s not coming from the one person everyone expects it to come from.
To The Editor,
With respect to the response from “Anne”, I would like to clarify that I have served and continue to serve on the Holy Redeemer Parish Council. Indeed, I am the recording secretary and although there have been some corrections to my minutes, none involved the omission of Holy Redeemer School being in dire straits! In other words, no-one ever was told at Holy Redeemer that there was a significant problem and although the rnollment is down to approximately 171 students currently, it was previously at 131 students and the school and parish rebounded and later flourished. Further, at the last PTO meeting before school break in the 2008/2009 academic year, Fr. Ed challenged Mrs. Fite to bring in 10 additional students to deal with enrollment issues. Mrs. Fite covenanted to do that and Fr. Ed stated that she was putting her paycheck on the line. 14 additional students were enrolled and Fr. Ed nonetheless decided on doing this merger. This merger was not aimed at solving overcrowding problems at Rosemont nor will it. All it can do is dissuade parents interested in the K – 8 model at a Catholic school from enrolling in either Holy Redeemer or St. James. I have no additional comment on the integrity of the reporting or the comments and responses by Anne other than to note that I was raised to believe that if you felt strongly enough about something, you put your full name behind it.
Respectfully,
Nigel Burns
Anne (if that is your real name),
That pie graph you mentioned was a generalized version of the financials. I wonder if YOU were at the meeting where Father Ed and Mrs. Fite explained that Holy Redeemer needed 10 students enrolled to maintain the budget. HRS enrolled 14 new students. This fact was brought to Father Ed’s attention at the meeting on December 16, and his reply was, “I had forgotten about that.” It was also at this meeting where, in a show of determination to save and maintain the extraordinary community that has been built at Holy Redeemer School, three parents pledged forty thousand dollars to cover an admitted ten thousand dollar shortfall.
Suddenly and without warning, Father Ed informed HRS parents that the school cannot survive And will be split and merged with St. James. Faced with this abrupt announcement, parents and the Executive PTO Board made many requests to view the ACTUAL financials in order to gain a better understanding of the monetary needs of Holy Redeemer. every attempt has been denied by Father Ed, Holy Redeemer’s “Pastor”. This action is in direct defiance of Cardinal Mahony’s pledge to maintain financial transparency in the Archdiocese. At the December 16th
(continued) At the December 16th meeting Father Ed could not give a specific plan for the sustainablity of the merger other than “hope and prayer” Despite the fact that there is no proof that a merger can save HRS and SJL, he is not open to any other possible solutions and by his own admission purposely kept this plan from the families at HRS.
Anne, Don’t kill the messenger. Mary Okeefe’s article is accurate. I would suggest that before you accuse someone of not telling the truth, you should know what the truth is. Fact finding missions are not excusive to reporters.
I am a parent of a child currently enrolled at Holy Redeemer with another hoping to attend in the future. We as parents were never informed that Holy Redeemer was in such a crisis. Yes, we knew enrollment was down, but we were also told by Fr Ed if we could get 10 more students for the next year we would be okay. We surpassed that amount but yet a few months later were surprised to find out he was merging the schools anyway. Yes an alternative to an over crowded Rosemont is a good idea, but a better idea is a K-8 environment for our children. This plan has no financial documentation that it will even work and I am afraid in another couple of years both campuses will be in the same situation. All we are asking as parents of students and parishioners of Holy Redeemer is a real chance to save our school and our parish. Many parents have great marketing and fundraising ideas, but are not given the chance to implement them. I think this is a great opportunity for parishioners and the community to come together to save the school. Is this too much to ask?
I believe the core issue here is that Father Dover did not have faith in his parishinors of Holy Redeemer Church and the parents of Holy Redeemer School to allow them the opportunity to come up with ways to help fix the problems. The church and School iare a community and should work together during its hards times and enjoy the good times and the head of that community (our Priest)is supposed to be open and honest about what is going on within that community. That was not the case!!!! Parents and Parishinors of Holy Redemmer just want the opportunity to help and to save a school that has been servicing the local area since 1946.
Mary’s story is completely accurate. My understanding is the maybe 10,000 deficit is now none due to cost cuts. St James, announced by Father Dover at the meeting, is 70,000 in the hole. Sounds like he’s is sacraficing one to save the other. Holy Redeemer can survive k -8 . He is unwilling to accept the 40,000 and the pleges of more parents. to save the school and our teachers jobs. He know that that will not save HIS SCHOOL , Saint James . Anne.. you are in such the minuscule minority its laughable! Go to Archdioce LA look up a school. Find how many schools are below our number of 174 . They are not being merged or TAKEN OVER. This is because no pastor would allow his school to be taken, except Dover. But this is not his school, it is ours, and Father Jacks’s. What a major diappoinment Dover is. Anne, I think you must be a James parent or one of yes ed girls which we will all despise forever!
To The Editor,
I wanted to write in to tell the story of my change of views. You see, today as I was looking through books of law and other large worded hardbacks, I happened upon a book I have not read for over twenty years. Mistaking it for my old book on Plessy v Ferguson I accidentally read some of the Bible. It turns out that God in fact loves everyone despite their annual income. I also happened to notice that the whole lesson taught by Jesus was to treat everyone how you would like to be treated and welcome everyone with open arms. I realized that the schools are not doing so well right now and instead of having one close down I realized the true Christian thing to do would be to welcome this change. I would never want a school and a church to close down on my selfish behalf. I’m sorry for making such a fuss and I also pledge to donate some money myself.(You see Anne, I was raised that if you felt strongly about something you put your checkbook behind it) I also realize that this must be very stressful and worrisome for Father Dover and I would like to personally thank him for his hard work by extending a olive branch in the form of all you can eat dinner at Morton’s Steakhouse. I urge everyone to pick up a Bible and to really read it instead of calling themselves Catholic. We should all treat each other like the neighbors we are. I myself sometimes fall victim to people asking me to do chores for them against my will as my name sounds so much like a English butler.
One last thing. Please let me repeat the various titles I hold and groups I belong to. I am on the Holy Redeemer Parish Council, in fact, I am the recording secretary. I am a cub scout master and also am in charge of traffic safety measures. Lastly, I am Active in PTO. Please do not argue any further with me as I am also the Coach of the debate team.
Once again this is Nigel Burns and I wholeheartedly stand by what I have said.
Hello everyone, I will make this as concise as possible.
As opposed to taking sides or blaming others, why not use the time and energy it has clearly taken most of you to post these remarks and use it to improve the situation? If you are dedicated to your church and school, make it your mission to see them succeed.
Evangelize to friends, relatives, co-workers and otherwise about the advantages of attending private school, regardless of whether it is Holy Redeemer or St. James. As some of you claim to be lawyers, you should be able to afford the 6 cents per copy that Kinkos charges to make some fliers to be handed out around the public schools that express the advantages of enrolling your children into the private school system. Better yet, take that one sheet of paper and divide it into fourths, and now you are spending just over a penny per flier to potentially recruit enough new students to never have this debate ever again.
I said I would make this concise, so I am ready to close. I have attended both parishes and although the community within each is unique, the faith should be the same. It is a shame to see this imaginary political divide and you should all be ashamed of yourselves for turning this into a small yet damaging circus. Be adults, set your differences aside and use the power of faith and prayer to guide you.
God’s will is a powerful thing. If this “merger” is his will or not, the evidence will be clear soon enough. Stop the hate speech and do something productive to help your cause.
Sincerely,
James Roger Carney
In response to “My Name is Not Anne” . . . “yes ed girls which we will all despise forever!”? What are you, twelve?! It’s people like you that make me consider not returning next year – much more so than the difficult situation at hand.
I don’t even know how to respond to such immaturity except with . . . I’m going to take my ball and go home!
Although I somewhat blasted “My Name is Not Anne” in my last comment, I must give credit where credit is due – she has given me a brilliant idea for a fundraiser! We could print up T-shirts – some with “yes Ed girls”, and some with “Ed” inside of a red circle with a slash through it! We could sell them after masses, and all proudly display where our sentiments lie! Lay? I never can get that one straight. Anyway, all the proceeds could go to the schools, and we could move forward. And the real beauty of this idea . . . it looks like Nigel Burns could buy one of each!
Holy Redeemer and Saint James have both been long and great traditions in the Crescenta Valley. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and to make the best choice for the family . I dont think they are entitled to hurt what we have all loved for many years, my family for over fifty years. In response to Not Anne I would only say that injury to the spirit, families, and fiber of Holy Redeemer School and Church is the last thing that Monsignor Jack would want. I hope members of the same community will , no matter the outcome, know that we have all worked side by side with each other for years . I will also confirm that Mr. Burns has dedicated hours and hours of service to HRS for the benefit of our children and we thank him for that service. His family, as well, has an extremely long and committed tradition with Holy Redeemer.
I wish the CV Weekly would take down all the posts. Whether written with emotion, or sarcasm they hurt the reputations of the schools. What new parent would read them and think that’s what they want for their child’s school. But yes, I know free speech and all. I agree with Mr Carney about telling everyone the advantages of Catholic education and to Amazed( I cant keep these aliases straight) I hope since you are offering to sell shirts after mass , you will be back next year.
Julie Reif
I must admit that the fake posting by someone saying they were me was pretty entertaining although I have always been a little bothered when people use the bible and religion as a weapon, i.e., if you read the bible more, you would open your heart more-I can truly say that some of the nicest people in the world I have ever met have never read the bible but they have purity of spirit, you cannot get that from a book, even a book as powerful as the Bible.
The points raised about how it would be great if all of this energy could be used to make things work are well put, the problem is that we have tried to have improvements and fundraisers, including carnivals and bingo at Holy Redeemer and our pastor has blocked all efforts. Trying to help someone who refuses help can be frustrating. And with all this talk of division, there should be no division, this is not an us versus them thing and the comments that I have made and the parents that I have been involved with have never put it as such, this is a problem of our leadership not involving us previously and still not involving us and trying to make it collaborative.
Lastly to talk about evangelizing to people at public schools to convince them to come to a private school in this economy os somewhat myopic. I note that Mr. Carney is critical of the nastiness but not above calling everyone children, tossing out jibes at lawyers, etc., and telling everyone to be better Christians. I know parents who convinced their friends to enroll in HR this year and now have egg on their faces because the school they extolled will no longer exist. Everyone has a right to their opinion but instead of telling others what to do, maybe the critics should take action themselves. Physician heal thyself. A quote from the bible, I believe???
The Real Nigel Burns
Sadly, the person who wrote the false post above (Jan. 14, 9:17PM), which paints Nigel Burns as having a change of heart, has clearly illustrated the deception, dishonesty, and cowardice that has fueled this merger. The fake “Nigel” wrote, ” the whole lesson taught by Jesus was to treat everyone LIKE YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE TREATED and welcome everyone with open arms.” I guess the fake Nigel figures this only applies to others, since he/she maliciously put Nigel Burns’ name on the post to push an agenda. The “Christian thing to do” would have been to use Christian concepts such as “honesty,” “integrity,” and “truth” to write a rebuttal to Nigel Burns post using your real “Christian” name.
Ok, this fake name thing is getting super confusing. The above post from a fake Mark Rousseau is not me, the real Mark Rousseau. I do not agree with anything Nigel or the “fake” Mark Rousseau have been saying. I although do agree with what Nigel wrote on Jan 14th. I think there was a lot of good points brought up by him on that day and I am sad of his recent change of heart. You CAN tell this is the real Mark Rousseau BECAUSE i like to put certain WORDS in all CAPS to make my points. I am also very interested in peoples names, I still do not believe Anne is a real name. and i urge the real nigel burns to put down his true christian name because nigel burns is obviously just a fake name he got from a english butler SOMEWHERE.
What a pleasant surprise to log in this morning and read Julie Reif’s post. No hurling of insults, no sarcasm . . . and I’m pretty sure it was the “real” Julie Reif! My family too, has been a part of Holy Redeemer for many years, about 48 of them. Absolutely everyone is entitled to their opinion – and mine is this: As difficult and painful and challenging as this change may be, I do believe that change is inevitable. If there is one constant in life, it is change. How we respond to that change is the true measure of ourselves. We can stomp our feet and yell, call names, and play the victim, (and believe me I’ve been there in my life) or we can take a deep breath, and decide how we can best be part of the solution. We cannot change the past – what has happened is done. We need to move forward. We may not like the way these decisions were made, but now we need to shape our future as best we can by working together. You bet I’ll be back next year – and the year after that, and the year after that . . . It would take a lot more than the restructuring of our schools to push me out! I try to put it all in perspective – I am able to send my children to a private, Catholic school of my choice. If I am not happy there, I am fortunate that there are several other private, Catholic schools all in our area. There are people in the world that can only dream of having our “problems”, (I might have to drive 2 miles down the street to another nice, private school) instead of their own (I don’t have enough food to feed my family) so I count my blessings. Life is messy – just when I think I have it all figured out – the rules change, and I have to adjust. This is just the latest adjustment. A year from now, when all the dust has settled, and we have made our decisions and all our adjustments . . . something else in our lives will change, and we will all have to adjust – again.
I too agree with Julie that all this name calling, ill will between schools and sending false emails need to stop, we need to all work together to make both schools survive, either on seperate campus’s or one campus. Yes change is inevitable and by no means do I harbor any ill will towards Fr. Ed, I know this is a trying time for him also. I just feel that this is a rash decision that should be throughly thought out and in the end if seperating to two campus’s is the best thing moving forward, my family will wish both schools success and move on to a school that better fits our families needs of a K-8 structure.
I have been reading the posts for the last few weeks and I must say, if my son attends Holy Redeemer next year or even the year after, I hope I meet “Amazed Parent” and I hope my child is friends with his/her child. That is the kind of community I want to be in, one that realizes life is 10% what happens and 90% attitude. Obviously merging schools is nobody’s first choice, but hearing someone willing to adjust and make the best out of it is inspiring.