SCHOOLED IN FAITH: CATHOLIC SCHOOLS CREDIT FAITH-BASED EDUCATION FOR ENROLLMENT GAINS

Tori Long, a kindergarten student at Immaculate Conception Catholic School in Jackson, led the class in the daily calendar lesson as her teacher, Kelly Blessing, and student Hilary Michelson watched.

Members of the planning committee for Catholic Schools Week met at Notre Dame High School, from left, Jaymie Frank, Melissa Maurer, Briana Welker and Erin Hamm.

Students in the area's Catholic schools are schooled in more than reading, writing and arithmetic. They are schooled in faith.

There are three Catholic elementary schools and one Catholic high school in the Cape Girardeau and Jackson area.

All have experienced growing enrollment.

Catholic schools are celebrating their accomplishments this week as part of the nationwide Catholic Schools Week. This year's theme is "Restoring Faith in Education."

"I think the reason that Catholic schools have grown is that parents are seeing the need for combining faith with learning," said Sister Mary Ann Fischer, principal of Notre Dame High School in Cape Girardeau.

Fischer said religion and morals have been taken out of the public schools. "If you don't educate these kids in faith and morals, what kind of society are we educating?"

Fischer said that doesn't mean all Catholic school students are angelic.

"It means that we are free to deal with faith and moral issues openly in our curriculum," she said.

"We pray in school. We expect the students to respect one another," Fischer said.

Catholic schools offer a no-nonsense approach to education, she said. That is true, in part, because parents pay the bills.

Parents have to pay tuition to send their children to Catholic schools. As a result, they are keenly interested in their children's education and what takes place at school, Fischer and other Catholic school principals said.

Tuition for a student to attend the high school is $130 a month for those families that live in parishes that provide financial support to the school.

For non-Catholics who attend, tuition is $235 a month.

About 5 percent of the high school's students aren't Catholic.

But their parents want them to receive a Christian education, she said. "If faith can move mountains, think what it can do for your child's education?"

The Catholic high school has seen enrollment grow from 229 students in 1990 to 360 this school year.

Fischer said enrollment is expected to continue to climb in the coming years.

The school is building a new high school that will replace the current structure, which is 45 years old. The new school is designed to accommodate as many as 600 students.

Fischer said principals at other Catholic high schools in Missouri have encouraged Notre Dame to build a new school that can accommodate future growth.

Notre Dame's new $6.7 million high school is designed to do just that. The new school along Route K should be completed by Aug. 1.

Sharon Thompson is the principal at St. Vincent De Paul Grade School in Cape Girardeau.

The school's enrollment has grown from 378 students in 1990 to 465 students this school year. The grade school has students enrolled from kindergarten through eighth grade.

Thompson said Catholic school put an emphasis on discipline. Students are expected to behave.

"We expect basic polite, respectful behavior. We demand it," she said.

Parents are heavily involved in Catholic schools.

"There is a real sense of caring community in a Catholic school, said Thompson.

The schools undertake service projects. Students and parents also come together to help families in need.

Parents, teachers, students and staff at St. Vincent de Paul Grade School currently are raising funds to help two families who are faced with life-threatening illnesses, Thompson said.

The school puts a strong emphasis on faith. "We adopted a theme at the beginning of the school year: A prayer a day leads us God's way," said Thompson.

St. Vincent's has been phasing in school uniforms over the past three years. Students in kindergarten through sixth grade wear school uniforms. By 2000, students in all grades will be in uniform.

"It was a controversial issue at first," recalled Thompson.

But parents have been won over by the fact that is cost efficient and makes getting ready for school a lot easier.

"There are no fights in the morning with your children. They know exactly what to wear," she said.

"I definitely think it promotes discipline,' she said.

Thompson is a product of Catholic schools in Ste. Genevieve.

Her own children have gone through Catholic schools. "It is a good strong education," she said.

Principal Tracy Holland of Immaculate Conception School in Jackson said the curriculum at her school is challenging.

She said students at the elementary school compare well academically with students in the public schools.

"Many of our students rank in the top percentage of their class when they go on to high school," Holland said.

The elementary school has 248 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Holland has taught in both public and parochial schools.

"It is just a whole different atmosphere. It is just more rewarding working in a Catholic school," she said.

Holland said families are more willing to work with the school and be involved in the education of their children.

Principal Carol Strattman of St. Mary Cathedral Grade School in Cape Girardeau also singles out parental involvement as one of the drawing cards of a solid Catholic education.

"We have terrific parent involvement, which makes us like a community, which makes us like a family.

"That makes all the difference in the world," she said.

Students in the parish attended the school free of charge until 1989. Today, parents pay on a fair-share basis.

Families pay what they can afford to pay, Strattman said. The parish also provides financial support.

The school began requiring students in the lower grades to wear uniforms last fall. Students in kindergarten through fifth grade must wear the uniforms.

By 2000 or 2001, all students in the school will be wearing uniforms.

"Our parents have been wonderfully supportive of this," Strattman said.

Even some of the students in the upper grades have been wearing uniforms this year.

"They all just look neat," said Strattman.

With uniforms, students are all on the same level regardless of their parents' income. "It just allows students not to have to worry about what they are wearing that day," said Strattman.

School uniforms give students an identity and foster school pride, she said.