Wisconsin Senate GOPs lead effort to damage school voucher program

Madison - Wisconsin's school voucher programs could not move beyond Milwaukee and eastern Racine County, under a bill the state Senate approved Tuesday.

Republicans in June included a provision in the state budget that established a voucher program in eastern Racine County and would put in place similar ones in other school districts when they met certain criteria.

Green Bay meets three of the four criteria for having a voucher program and is likely to meet all four soon. Some Republicans, led by Senate President Mike Ellis of Neenah, opposed expanding the voucher program beyond Milwaukee and Racine County and cut a deal this summer to prevent Green Bay or others from having voucher schools.

Ellis said Tuesday the change would ensure the Legislature decides which districts allow voucher schools, rather than having a formula automatically determine that.

"I want the Legislature to decide and I want the Legislature not to be hamstrung," he said.

The state's initial voucher program started 20 years ago and allows low-income students in Milwaukee to attend religious schools and other private institutions at taxpayer expense. Each voucher is worth $6,442 annually.

The budget expanded the program by eliminating a cap on the number of students who could participate, raising the income limits and allowing students from Milwaukee to attend private schools outside the city limits at taxpayer expense.

The budget also created a formula to establish voucher schools for second-class cities (which generally are those with populations from 39,000 to 149,999) that have 50% or more of their students eligible for free or reduced lunch and meet certain state aid requirements.

MJS

Police investigate student hazing at Catholic HS in Milwaukee

St. Francis police are investigating an incident of hazing at Thomas More High School, according to a statement from police and a letter to school parents, and the police statement suggests it involved sexual assault.

The incident involves members of the school's football team, according to the letter to parents from Mark Joerres, the school's chief administrator. The letter was sent to the Journal Sentinel by the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

In a release Friday headed "Sexual Assault Child-Other," police said a preliminary investigation was started into "possible hazing incidents" among students at a Thomas More athletic program.

"The alleged actions of several students are being viewed as criminal in nature," says the release, which refers to a single victim.

The school's letter said police were called in after school officials met with the students involved and their parents. It added that the students have been suspended during the investigation, and that hazing "could be grounds for expulsion."

"Such behavior is not tolerable in a Catholic school environment and is inconsistent with every value of St. Thomas More High School," the letter said.

MJS

Appleton area Catholic HS getting new $4.7 million fine arts facility

TOWN OF MENASHA — An influential group of Neenah-Menasha businessmen is paving the way for the construction of a $4.7 million fine arts facility at St. Mary Central High School.

The Twin City Catholic Educational System announced today that it will build a 22,000-square-foot addition on the school's campus that will feature a 495-seat auditorium, a 96-seat forensics theater and state-of-the-art sound, lighting and production equipment. In addition, four new interactive electronic classrooms will be added to St. Mary Central.

The project is expected to be completed and operational by April 2013.

"The goal is to provide a superb, comprehensive educational experience for the youth of our community," said Dick Bergstrom of Bergstrom Corp., a strong supporter of Catholic education in Neenah-Menasha. "We've been working on this behind the scenes and it finally came to a conclusion early last month."

Bergstrom is one of five businessmen who raised $2 million in matching gifts for the project. The other members of the campaign leadership team are John Bergstrom and John Hogerty of Bergstrom Corp., Mike McClone of McClone Insurance Group and David Voss of Miron Construction Co.

A fundraising drive will generate the remaining $2.7 million for the addition.

The fine arts center has the support of Bishop David Ricken of the Green Bay Diocese, TCCES-affiliated parishes and the TCCES Board of Education.

continue at PostCrescent

Huge turnout for St. Thomas at Center for Catholic Studies opening event

Walking around the UST area on the first Tuesday of the school year, passerbys were most likely taken aback by the abnormal amount of people hanging around talking and playing yard games behind a huge house on summit. Little do they know, that huge house is the Center for Catholic Studies, and that large crowd was there for the Fall Kick-Off event for the year.

This year’s kick off event held true to its usual Ice Cream Social theme complete with CS Faculty and Staff. However, Catholic Studies decided to mix it up by adding a substantial food element. Clearly, this was a smart move because Famous Dave’s had nothing on Sitzmann Hall with the amount of people that showed up for some good ol’ BBQ. The attendance at this event was very high in relation to previous years (at least 200) and no one would probably deny that it was a success. To prove this perhaps undeniable statement even further, the event ran out of food. Twice. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, within the first half hour the BBQ and ice cream had run out. And then, when the thin red line of Davanni’s pizza kicked in, the food was again gone within the first 15 minutes.

As passerbys looking at the crowd and perhaps hearing murmers of Catholic theology, an inordinate amount of “Praise Gods”, or just seeing  general air of joy, they may have been asking themselves: I don’t know what that is, but there is something going on.

And in fact, there is something going on. Catholic Studies is providing education, experience, and community for yet another year for so many Catholics and Christians on (and off) campus. If the kick off event is to give any sign as to what this year entails, then UST better brace themselves because the Spirit is moving: Catholic Studies is back.

 St. Thomas U

HT Bliss

New Racine catholic high school works towards Archdiocese approval

A new catholic high school in Racine just opened its doors, but it doesn't have the blessing of the Milwaukee Archdiocese. The Milwaukee Archdiocese says there already is another catholic high school in Racine to serve the community. The Archdiocese believes a dwindling number of students in catholic private schools makes it unwise for another one to open.

St. John Fisher Academy Founder Dave Toma-Shevitz said, "What we wanted to do is provide a classic catholic education for parents of Racine, and in the entire state, with the opportunity to have an education in the catholic traditions without huge tuition payments." [SOLD!  Where do I sign up!]

The school is without the support of the Milwaukee Archdiocese and is getting no financial or religious support.

Clergy is not allowed to celebrate mass, administer the sacraments, or support the school in any way. [besides the frightening grammatical errors, doesn't this seem a bit harsh?  support in any way?]  The Racine school says it is operating in the catholic tradition and still trying to work towards approval from the Archbishop to become a sanctioned catholic school.

There is a meeting on September 23rd the school says the Archdiocese asked them to attend. They are not sure what will happen there, but the school says it's willing to talk.

Fox6(video there)

St. John Fisher Academy is on Facebook.

Catholic teachers in Philadelphia on strike

It's for the children. Wait, that won't work, since the kids are missing school. It's for the public good. Ummm... for the good of the Church? Right?

Photo: Catholic teachers picketing students' first day of school in Philadelphia today. If it's not about the money... What a disgrace.

Catholic News Agency:

Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput may become involved in ending a Catholic high school teacher's strike, though the archdiocese says he will not take any action until after his installation.

“I'm not averse at all to becoming involved personally, in a direct way, if that's good for our schools and good for our teachers," the recently-appointed archbishop told CBS 3 reporter Pat Ciarrocchi. Shortly after his arrival in the city, unionized Catholic high school teachers rejected a contract offer and announced they were on strike as of Sept. 6.

But the archdiocese's Associate Director of Communications Kenneth Gavin told CNA that if Archbishop Chaput does intervene, it would not occur until after his Sept. 8 installation [today]. The teachers' union says it will not picket the installation [how considerate of them] – expected to draw up to 1,500 guests, including 700 cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons, and seminarians – out of respect for the archbishop [and has nothing to do with the bad press that Catholic teachers picketing a Catholic archbishop would get, right?].

Archdiocesan Communications Specialist Meredith Wilson said that negotiations with the teachers would begin the next day, even though church officials “wanted them to start today.” The meetings are slated to last through Sept. 12, with a break on Saturday [what about Sunday?].

As of Sept. 6, the archdiocese and its unionized high school teachers had failed to agree not only on a future contract, but also on the matter of what had caused the strike.

Read the rest of the article here. Read the Archdiocese's letter to parents here. Archbishop Chaput certainly has his work cut out for him.

I would ask why there is a Catholic teachers' union, but perhaps that answer is a little too obvious.