Center City Public Charter Schools Inc. Update

It seems that Maureen Holla, President of the Center City Public Charter Schools, Inc., no longer works there. No announcement, nothing.

The Center City Public Charter Schools is made up of the Catholic schools which were closed by the Archdiocese a few years ago in DC. The parishes would received rent, in return for the Charter use of the schools.

Is this a sign of things to come for these schools?

Former DC Catholic Schools Seeking Identity

From the Washington Post:

St. Gabriel's Catholic Church in the District's Petworth neighborhood and the Center City Public Charter School next door share a parking lot and the shade of some trees. Until a year-and-a-half ago, they also shared a faith.

But the Archdiocese of Washington gave up control of seven of its financially struggling inner-city schools, stripping down crucifixes and turning the facilities into secular charter schools in three months. Dozens of teachers and hundreds of students departed; 1,000 new students signed up.

To read more, go here.

Have you guessed correctly?

The Catholic school which was converted into a Charter school and has not received the first lease payment...

St. Gabriel.



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I am going to take a couple of days off to be with family.

So, I want to wish each of you a very Merry Christmas.

Remember, without Christ, there is no Christmas!

Yesterday, we saw how the Archdiocese can take the closing of Catholic schools and turn it into a victory celebration (so to speak). However, not everything is perfect.

From my understanding of the situation, the Center City Consortium schools were not funded out of the original education budget. This means that the DC City Council would have to approve supplemental funding, from the educational funding reserve. Is there a possibility that they may not? Maybe.

As part of the plan to convert these schools, in a presentation made by Mr. Duffy, the Archdiocese would lease the school to the Center City Public Charter School (CCPCS) for a term of 5 years, with three additional 5 year renewal periods.

The CCPCS would get
- 24/7 access to the buildings
- pay 100% of the school maintenance (cleaning, lighting, etc.)
- pay 50% of the landscaping and common lighting area
- remove snow, ice, etc. (at apx. 75% of cost)
- allow for off hours scheduling access by the parish.

The parish would have to maintain the building and base systems, such as electrical, HVAC, etc. In addition, they could use the school for CCD, meetings, etc.

Based on this basic agreement, the parish would get between $85,000 to $100,000 in rent for the first year. In Year 2, between $125,000 and $140,000 and in Year 3, between $135,000 and $150,000.

(My guess is that the difference in rent in a given year, may be due to the number of students in attendance.)

Payment is to be made on a quarterly basis starting Nov. 1, 2008, with additional payments on Feb., 1, May 1 and August 1.

However, there is at least one parish that has not received a minimum payment of $21,500 yet. And the word on the street is that they rent may not come in until sometime in the Spring 2009.

Can you guess which one?

The answer tomorrow!

Orwell Lives

In this week’s Catholic Standard (Dec. 18, 2008 page 12), Thom Duffy (CFO Archdiocese of Washington DC) was recognized by the Greater Washington Society of CPAs as one of the city’s top nonprofit CFOs. He was given Honorable Mention for what the Society called “innovative work during the past year” that was “exemplary” and “worthy of recognition.” Congratulations!

Mr. Duffy stated that “I got the award on behalf of the Archdiocese of Washington and what we did last year, particularly for what we did in the conversion (of former Center City Consortium schools) to charter schools.”

Wait, let’s look carefully at that statement. Mr. Duffy received an award for closing Catholic schools and converting them into public charter schools. And, there is no guarantee that these charter schools will remain in existence, even past the first year.

Well, only in the Archdiocese of Washington DC and in the Catholic Standard can the closing of Catholic schools be lauded and praised.

Do the folks over in Hyattsville really believe what he is saying? Do they believe that we will just go "Yes! This is wonderful."

Personally, I don’t see the closing of Catholic schools as something to be really proud of, even though it may mean a larger revenue stream for the parishes which had those schools.

However, from what my sources tell me, not everything is perfect in paradise…