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Short on Students, but Not on Spirit: St Anthony School Looks for Money Students If It S to Continue to Serve Community

Posted on: Saturday, 4 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Anna L. Mallory, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.

Mar. 4--Outside, a group of fenced-in kindergartners climbs on red equipment and one student tugs at his teacher's skirt to come join.

Inside, the walls of St. Anthony Catholic School are filled with student artwork and promotions for its sports teams.

Principal John Fitzwater seems to know and greet everyone as he walks the narrow halls, pointing out the hand-drawn pictures.

It's a typical school, with a couple of catches. The playground equipment still isn't paid off, some classes have fewer than five students and officials are looking at a payment plan to get rid of about $400,000 in debt.

The school, on Sixth Street on Charleston's West Side, is one of the smallest of the Charleston-Wheeling Diocese's 25 elementary schools. It has 90 students prekindergarten to eighth grade, with fewer than 10 students in several classes.

According to 2005 enrollment figures from the diocese, seven of the grade levels had fewer than 10. This year's figures show just three more students than last year.

John Yelenic, the diocese's superintendent of schools, said schools generally have to sustain themselves financially to remain open, but if a school is vital to a community exceptions can be made.

The problem is opening potential students' eyes to what a Catholic school does, administrators say.

"People come in and think, 'Oh, they're going to make you Catholic,'" Fitzwater said.

But Fitzwater, who attends a Pentecostal church, said he is proof that view is a misconception.

Only 10 percent of the students and faculty at the school are Catholic, he said. Traditionally, St. Anthony has worked to include some middle-class members of its community. Students from six counties attend, and minority students comprise more than 50 percent of the school's population.

Over the years, the Diocese has seen the school as an important part of the community, Yelenic said. "St. Anthony has always been more to serve families of need than the more well-to-do. I've never seen a school that works so closely with the community."

Enrollment in Catholic schools has dropped statewide. In 1968, more than 14,000 students attended Catholic schools in West Virginia. Twenty years later, fewer than 7,000 attended. Today, roughly 6,300 attend 32 schools.

Administrators are familiar with the plight of a school that needs more students and more money. The school owes about $350,000 to the diocese, according to Father Dismas Young, the parish priest. Another $50,000 is owed for textbooks.

Still, the school fears it might have to drop some of its middle-school classes. To trim costs, the seventh and eighth grades are combined. Already, some of the higher grades have fewer than five students.

The school combines its sports teams with those of another religious school and competes against public schools. It uses a basketball tournament as a fundraiser, as well as an annual awards ceremony and a chocolate factory for the holidays.

Young brings a background of teaching to the school, complete with time spent in urban areas in Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

He said the school performs well both academically and in athletics. He prides himself on the discipline instilled in each student. Parents also play a role at St. Anthony. They often contribute by working as volunteers in exchange for tuition breaks.

"A lot of people look at our school and they don't know what's going on," Young said. "We have a family spirit here where everyone has to pull in his own weight."

To contact staff writer Anna L. Mallory, use e-mail or call 348-5163.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Charleston Gazette, W.Va.

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Source: The Charleston Gazette

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