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Improve, don't merge CBA and LaSalle

In 1953, I graduated from Christian Brothers Academy in Albany. When they built their new school in Colonie, I paid for a classroom, and my name is on it. In 1982, I was transferred back to Albany, the same year the older of my two sons was ready to start high school. 

We went to CBA and talked with a brother who spent the entire interview talking about their football team. Neither of us was interested.

We went to LaSalle, where a brother talked about their advanced placement courses and generally about academics. I decided to send my boys to LaSalle and have never regretted it. I love both schools and want both to succeed.

In 1940, I went to St. Agnes School in Cohoes, where there were nine Catholic schools. When enrollment declined, two schools combined and one closed. This process continued until, now, all nine are gone.

The procedure continues today in other areas. Two schools are combined; they are given a new name; one school closes and the other continues. Usually, the survivor dies five or 10 years later because, in combining schools, we don't address the original problem of why the schools are losing students.

About 15 years ago, St. Pius X School in Loudonville had come through 10 consecutive years of declining enrollment. The school board discussed at what point the school would close. Then they elected a board president who was a school principal in North Colonie.

He said we should change our focus: Instead of always trying to cut costs, let's make the school as good as we can make it and charge whatever we have to. 

Today, St. Pius has more than 600 students. Those students come from 25 different school districts. More than 70 percent of the students come from outside the parish. More than 95 percent of the cost comes from tuition.

When Catholic schools are intelligently managed, they can succeed. They can't compete on the basis of price because public schools are free.

Both CBA and LaSalle have one simple problem: not enough students. Closing one school and calling it a merger will slash the number of boys in Catholic schools. One school will be gone forever.

If either or both schools admitted girls, they would get enough new students to increase enrollment sufficiently. The Military Academy at West Point admits girls, as do the Naval and Air Force Academies, Siena College in Loudonville, and Manhattan College; The College of Saint Rose in Albany admits boys. Single-sex schools have mostly disappeared. There are many other things they could do to improve both schools. 

Both schools have survived over 150 years with good management. They survived the Civil War, two world wars and the Great Depression. They need strong management and original thinking. Closing one school and calling it a merger may increase slightly enrollment in the surviving school, but enrollment at the other goes to zero forever.

(Mr. Brown, a retired banker, previously served as president of the diocesan school board. He lives in Loudonville and is a trustee at St. Pius X parish.)

(09/03/09) [[In-content Ad]]

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