Catholic Schools See Jump In Enrollment During Pandemic

Speaker 1: 00:00 Schooling has been one of the biggest issues that parents have had to contend with throughout the pandemic. Parents have had anxieties over virtual learning versus in-person education. And that's led to one form of education. Seeing a boost in interest Catholic schools, amid concerns of social distancing and classroom sizes enrollment at a number of local Catholic schools has surged freelance writer. Jennifer McEntee joins us with more on her voices, San Diego story. And Jennifer, welcome. Hi, thank you. So to start, what are some of the schools in the area that have seen a notable bump in admissions Speaker 2: 00:37 Catholic schools at all grade levels since Sandy goes, saw a net increase in enrollment of a least 5% for this last school year, but there were a few schools that kind of popped up as particularly higher in enrollment, which included, uh, St. Augustine and also, um, cathedral Catholic high school. Those schools kind of stood out as ones that had a lot more interest in terms of applications enrollment. Uh, there's even a look to kind of expand their class sizes. Given the increased interests. Speaker 1: 01:10 The notion of in-person schooling has been a huge source of anxiety for parents throughout the pandemic. So why are we seeing increases in enrollment at these Catholic schools? Speaker 2: 01:21 Well, to hear the schools, administrators tell it, it really has a lot to do with the fact that they were able to offer in-person learning sooner. Um, they had a plan in place right away as to how they were going to space the students. If they couldn't do it in side of the classroom, cause they needed to limit their capacity. They would split the classes into cohorts and put some outside with the teacher, some inside with the teacher. And they were just able to do a lot more in terms of having this kids on campus, um, which, you know, for a lot of students, it is tough to do online learning. So for our families who really needed their kids to be with a professional teacher, that seemed to be a good option for them in Speaker 1: 02:11 The past. We've reported that enrollment at Catholic schools was slipping. So do you think this boost in enrollment could be a lasting trend that would reverse the decline at Catholic schools over the longterm? Well, Speaker 2: 02:24 So what was interesting and what kind of peaked my interest in this story is that I had heard similarly that national enrollment was down. So this last school year across the United States, uh, Catholic schools experienced their largest single decline in nearly 50 years. So they actually had more students leave the Catholic school education than had happened in 50 years, including, uh, during the clergy abuse scandals in 2003 and a economic downturn in 2008, but the numbers are kind of to track down because of course the problem is they also have a lot of schools close across the nation. So there was a consolidation or closing of 209 schools and Catholic schools in the United States. So that had a big impact on the number of students who actually went to a Catholic school education. Whereas in San Diego, we had fewer closures, there were some closures, but fewer of them, and again, there were these families looking for an option for their kids outside of the public school system. Speaker 1: 03:35 And so what are some of those big draws of in-person education at these schools? Speaker 2: 03:41 Well, people really feel like they need their students to not just have the in-person education aspect with the social aspect of it, the need to have instruction that's face to face versus on a computer screen, even just being outside and doing PE or recess seems to be important for kids. So yeah, it was a tough call I'm sure for a lot of families, right? Because it's a, it's a tough thing to know what's in the best interest of your child, you're weighing health concerns against academic and social and emotional concerns. And Speaker 1: 04:17 What kind of precautions did the area's Catholic schools take in terms of safety guidelines? Speaker 2: 04:23 So in the case of St Augustine, they were among those who filed the lawsuit in August, 2020 against governor Gavin Newsome saying that they didn't want to have to shut down. And so they said for, in way of their safety protocols, that they would use UV lights to sanitize the air, uh, electric static and disinfecting MIS system across the classes, which is one of those anti-bacterial type mechanisms. So they had plans to disinfect the classrooms as best they could. But that said, they did have instances of families, of students who did come down with COVID-19. And so in those cases, when there were quite a few numbers, they did actually close the school and revert to online. So, and again, the Catholic school say that that was one of their skills was to be able to actually switch quickly to online if needed. So they said they had some flexibility there that they wouldn't necessarily have with teachers union school boards, you know, in a huge public school district like we have here in San Diego. Speaker 1: 05:35 Yeah. I'm wondering, did reporting this story make you think any differently about how school could have gone for all students during the pandemic, Speaker 2: 05:44 They have such large school districts and to get all those moving pieces together is really tough. So I, I think that the public schools did have a huge challenge just like amongst your own, you can kind of control the spread and how much interaction you have a small school can have some measure of control, but at the same, you, it's not like going to the zoo and, you know, you're amongst all those people. It's a, it's a big difference, right? So I think the public schools here had a huge task in trying to get kids back on campus. You know, I have teenagers of my own and they said, you know, I can't imagine how the schools could keep all of the classrooms clean when the bathrooms typically aren't clean on campus. So just on a regular school day. So yeah, it's, it's a tough thing. And I, I can't imagine making teachers do the work of cleaning classrooms, you know, it's, it's a, it's a mechanism that our public schools weren't ready for. All right. Speaker 1: 06:47 Well, I've been speaking with freelance writer, Jennifer McEntee, and you can find her story on local Catholic school enrollment in the voice of San Diego. Jennifer, thanks for joining us. Thank you.