October 2, 2006
Doing its Homework: Trinity Catholic's Extra Efforts Pay Off
with Increasing Enrollment
from The Stamford Advocate
By Chris Gosier
Staff Writer
STAMFORD -- Three years ago, Trinity Catholic High School was suffering
the same problem as other Catholic schools across the country: declining
enrollment.
The school responded with management changes, stepped up fundraising
and launched a new approach to marketing. It won over more parents
and students -- many of them from public schools -- and absorbed students
from another Catholic school in Stamford that closed last year.
Today, the school has a new executive position that incorporates
many management duties once handled by the principal, leaving him
more time to focus on instruction. As a result, enrollment is up sharply
at the school -- from 398 in June 2004 to 585 today. It boasts $1.1
million in upgrades, including new wireless technology in the library
and many renovations.
Kevin Burke, president and chief financial officer at the school,
had to pause before being interviewed a few weeks ago so he could
pick up a schematic drawing off the floor of his office. It was left
over from a meeting with an architect and design firm, along with
one of the school's board members, about renovating the school's athletic
fields to accommodate more sports.
Physical improvements are one factor in the school's enrollment turnaround,
he said.
"In this era of Catholic schools closing, it's a remarkable
story," said Burke, a retired Marriott International executive.
Burke's position was added in 2003 to help turn the school around.
Bishop William Lori of the Diocese of Bridgeport put him in charge
of finances, fundraising, marketing, school repairs and other management
issues, leaving Principal Robert D'Aquila free to focus on academics.
More Catholic schools nationwide have used that management model
over the past 15 years, said Sister Dale McDonald, director of public
policy and research for the National Catholic Education Association.
"I think the schools began to realize that there are different
skill sets" for running the financial and academic aspects of
school, Sister McDonald said.
The diocese uses the same management model at St. Joseph High School
in Trumbull and is considering applying it to its other three high
schools, diocese Superintendent Margaret Dames said.
Burke increased marketing efforts, touting the school graduates'
high rate of college attendance -- nearly 100 percent -- and the school's
education in religion and values. Financial management has improved,
which helps with fundraising because potential donors are better able
to see where their money would go, he said.
In addition to the wireless Internet network in the library, the
school's auditorium and science and chemical labs have been renovated.
Burke has worked to control tuition increases at Trinity Catholic.
It is $7,700 a year, up from $6,600 when he took over in 2003, but
this is the first time in 35 years tuition has stayed flat from one
year to the next, Burke said.
Those efforts to add students were boosted by the influx of 44 students
from Sacred Heart Academy, the all-girls Catholic high school in Stamford
that closed last year. The school has added the equivalent of six
full-time teachers.
The financial improvements helped counteract rumors the school was
on the verge of closing, said Roger Fox, a Merrill Lynch stockbroker
and president of the school's advisory board. Brochures highlighting
the college attendance rate, along with new emphasis of the school's
Catholic affiliation, diluted Trinity Catholic's image as a "jock
school," he said.
He credited the school's former spiritual advisor, the Rev. Thomas
Powers, with spreading the school's Catholic image through his presence
at extracurricular and community activities, and through his fostering
of student volunteerism. Powers left the school in summer 2005 to
work at the Vatican.
"He was just a great priest, in every positive sense of the
word," he said.
Powers came to the school in 2001 to replace the Rev. John Castaldo,
who was arrested that year for soliciting sex over the Internet from
an FBI agent posing as a 14-year-old boy. Castaldo later pleaded guilty
to the felony charge of attempted dissemination of indecent material
to a minor. He served a weekend in jail and was placed on five years
probation.
The school rebounded by cooperating with authorities, removing Castaldo,
and bringing in counselors and Lori to speak to students, said Joseph
McAleer, communications director for the Bridgeport Diocese.
"The Castaldo scandal did not, to my knowledge, have any impact
on enrollment or recruitment," he wrote in an e-mail to The Advocate.
The makeup of the student body has changed slightly since 2003, school
officials said. The number of Catholic students has dropped from 80
percent to 77 percent.
Also, more of this year's freshmen came from Stamford public schools
than three years ago. In 2003, 29 freshmen came from Stamford schools,
or 22 percent of the 130-member class. Today, 35 percent come from
Stamford schools, or 52 freshman of the 147-member class.
Sarah Arnold, spokeswoman for the public schools district, said public
school enrollment last year was close to what was projected. "There
was no withdrawal pattern that caused concern," she wrote in
an e-mail.
Some parents said they selected Trinity Catholic because its smaller
class sizes and smaller student body offer more security and safety.
"She's happy with the smaller environment," because of
the camaraderie, said Ann Boehn, whose daughter, Tina, came to Trinity
from other parochial schools.
Some said their children were attracted, in part, by the school's
athletic programs.
One parent, Donna Muller, said she did not need Trinity Catholic's
marketing efforts to tell her what the school was like; one of her
sons graduated from the school last year. She knew it had strong academics
-- "not that we weren't keeping track of it to make sure it stayed
that way."
The school has been boosting its academics to stay competitive with
public schools, D'Aquila said. For instance, teachers have been trained
in differentiated instruction, or adapting teaching methods to students'
different needs and learning styles.
Another organization has helped send a few more students to Trinity
Catholic. The Shepherds Program, a nondenominational nonprofit in
Fairfield, has helped more disadvantaged children attend Trinity Catholic
and other parochial schools by lining up adult mentors who pay for
all or part of the students' tuition. Corporations and foundations
also pitch in funds. The students tend to come from inner cities and
single-parent families and need extra academic help.
The program sent 17 students to Trinity Catholic this year, up from
about 10 in 2003, Managing Director Norma Darragh said.
Enrollment at Catholic schools nationwide is down 10 percent in the
last decade; last year, more than 200 schools closed and only 38 opened,
Sister McDonald said.
Demographics is a big reason. Inner-city schools in the Northeast
and Midwest have lost financial support -- and potential students
-- as the parishes they belong to have been eroded by the flight of
parishioners to the suburbs, Sister Dale said.
But founding a school in the suburbs is costly, leading to high tuitions
that can keep families and students away.
"We have the schools where there aren't people who can afford
to come," she said. "We've got kids where there are no buildings
and buildings where there are no kids."
Copyright © 2006, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.
2006 News Stories
2005 All-FCIAC East Offense
Row 1, Left to Right: Eric Wells, Bassick; Willie Epps, McMahon;
Pete Raymond,
McMahon; Bill Beattie, Fairfield Ludlowe; Roger Bel, Ridgefield; Andrew
Derito,
Ridgefield; Tyler Kirchoff, Ridgefield
Row 2, Left to Right: Dave Chervansky, St. Joseph; Vlad Ducasse, Stamford;
Chris
Patterson, Stamford; D.J. Stefkovich, Staples; Bryan Wrapp, Staples;
Gene
Devito, Trinity Catholic; Simon Kloeckner, Ridgefield.
Back
to Home Page
2005 All-FCIAC East Defense
Row 1, Left to Right: Joe Luchesi, Danbury; Greg Sabo, Danbury; James
Taylor, Danbury;
Tom Donovan, Ridgefield; Scott Hiller, Ridgefield; Tom Cody, St. Joseph;
Rick Piccirillo, St. Joseph
Row 2, Left to Right: Zach Sadler, St. Joseph; Alex Joseph, Stamford;
Lonson Becker,
Staples; Brian Levine, Staples; Wyatt Moss, Staples; Dylan O'Shea,
Staples; Vinny
Cortese, Trinity Catholic; Roland Carrington, Westhill
Back
to Home Page
