8. School Partnerships

Schools serve in the foundational role of forming children and youth to live productive and meaningful lives. Both Catholic schools and public schools have essential roles and great potential within our cities. They provide the challenge and the opportunity for learning to understand and build a multi-cultural community, to appreciate the diverse gifts of God's people, and to overcome the alienation that grows from racial isolation.

These schools serve families from common neighborhoods and face the challenges of life in these neighborhoods. We cannot have healthy cities or stable neighborhoods without good public school systems.

Catholic schools have been very significant in contributing to the quality and stability of neighborhood life, as well as in attracting new families to an area. They provide opportunities to share our faith and Gospel values and to form youth with an understanding of ways to apply these values in their civic, economic, and public lives, as well as in their personal formation as Christians. Catholic schools also have proven to be signs of hope in maintaining the presence of the Church and a continuing commitment to serve children and families.

There remains a great untapped capacity for developing new forms of cooperation between Catholic and public schools.

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Develop strategies for strengthening Catholic schools and supporting public schools.

• create new partnerships in which educational leaders can regularly meet to give mutual support and challenge each other to provide the best possible education and environment for students
• explore and develop collaborative efforts and services for youth and families including youth programs and after school care centers using church and community facilities
• explore and develop innovative programs in the schools which are responsive to the needs and challenges of young people today and which will prepare them to lead and live in a way that is consistent with social justice principles
• encourage volunteerism to support school activities and programs
• develop coordinated efforts to advocate for systemic change and public policy which will improve the overall quality of education for all children.

Be proactive in dealing with issues of social-economic and multi-cultural diversity

by promoting and building upon new forms of cooperation between urban and suburban parish day schools and PSR programs.

• explore programs for cross-registration between urban and suburban schools
• utilize the available capacity of existing schools in the suburbs and urban areas to serve children on waiting lists before new additions or schools are built.

Strengthen the presence and accessibility of Catholic elementary schools and high schools through the development of new models of cooperation, resource sharing and restructuring.

• learn from past efforts and existing models of effective collaboration
• utilize the support of the Office for Catholic Education and their Catholic Schools Futuring process
• continue to address the role of the whole diocese in assuring and supporting the presence of Catholic education opportunities, particularly in our urban areas.

Continue to address the enrollment of families from different Catholic parishes and other faith traditions by developing cooperative relationships and policies.

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For questions or comments, please send messages to: citc@igc.apc.org URL = http://www.citc.org/citc/

1996 The Diocese of Cleveland, Cleveland Ohio (216) 696-6525 ext. 350