Technology and identity mark All Saints Catholic Academy

By ANGELA CAVE- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

"I can't find 'h,'" a kindergartner complained, searching in vain for letters on a computer keyboard. "What did you press?"

"'H' is this," her classmate said, pointing to the letter.

Similar exchanges - supplemented by cries of, "I don't know what to do!" - took place throughout the computer room at All Saints Catholic Academy in Albany recently as children learned to type the alphabet.

The weekly technology class for kindergartners was just one change that came out of the 2009 merger of Holy Cross School and St. Teresa of Avila School to become All Saints.

The building that's home to the new entity - the former Holy Cross School - also acquired a new computer lab and about 40 computers from St. Teresa's. Technology abounds: All nine homeroom teachers in the pre-K-through-eighth-grade school received laptops to upload grade books, attendance rosters and report cards. Three classrooms use SMART Boards - interactive, internet-ready chalkboards.

Technology teacher Kelly D'Alessandro doesn't let computer class become play time, either.

"I push them. The little kids come in and ask, 'Are we going to do games?'" Mrs. D'Alessandro said. "I say, 'No. We do that at home.'"

Young students learn how to type and research. Older ones learn photography, videography and graphic design; they also make PowerPoint presentations and build databases. They learn how to budget money, navigate online safely and perform mail merges.

All Saints' curriculum exceeds state expectations. Other teachers are participating in "curriculum mapping," a technique that will help to set new diocesan and state standards by 2013.

"We're not following textbooks page by page anymore," said Sister Mary Ellen Owens, RSM, principal.

Meeting of minds
Merging the schools had been challenging at first, with renovations, uniform changes and more. Teachers also had to reapply for their positions, since not all could be hired for the new school, which was "so hard," Sister Mary Ellen said. "We went home and cried."

Some children struggled with switching buildings or adjusting to new faces, but teachers have been impressed with their ability to adapt.

"It was really beautiful," said Janice Smircich, an eighth-grade teacher for more than two decades. "They just meshed. By June, they were fine."

Liam Owens, an eighth-grader, started his schooling at Holy Cross. All Saints was "different at first, but it ended up being fun to meet new people," he said.

Kaira Tragico, an eighth-grader who came from St. Teresa's, agreed: "I got to meet new friends. I may have lost some, but I made new ones."

Enrollment increased from 130 to 185 after the merger. It has declined since then - a result, Sister Mary Ellen said, of urban flight, parental job changes and economic insecurity.

However, the principal boasted that the school has a choir that sings at parish liturgies; after-school activities like recycling, yearbook, ski club and drama club; and monthly eighth-grade service days at the Teresian House Center for the Elderly in Albany.

Moving ahead
There's collaboration with organizations like the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center in Delmar and the Albany Institute of History and Art. First-grade teacher Julie Reilly, an alumnus of Holy Cross, launched a literacy program last year with the goal of students reading 1,000 books at home by first grade.

To remain viable in the community, Sister Mary Ellen wants to promote the school's Catholic identity - not just call it a "safe alternative" to city schools.

"We have to stay true to being countercultural," she said. "We are different. We live by our faith. We go against the grain of some things that occur in society. We have to be in tune with our Church. Whether we like it or not, we have to pass that on."

The school spent $10,000 on advertising and development last year. Mrs. Smircich said she'd like All Saints to be "the shining star of Albany. I'd like to be the example for other schools to follow - by our children's attitudes, by our education, by how they treat one another and by a good, strong community spirit."[[In-content Ad]]