$250,000 or bust: Newark parochial school threatened with closure

by Roma Hadzewycz

NEWARK, N.J. - $250,000. That is the amount that must be raised by April 15 if St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School is to be open in academic year 2003-2004.

The Newark, N.J., parochial school, which has served the Ukrainian American community since 1939, today has an enrollment of 79 students in grades K-8 - a dangerous decline from the level of 103 just two years ago, and one that presents a threat to the school's future. The decrease in income from tuition is compounded by the fact that St. John's Ukrainian Catholic Parish itself faces a serious shortfall of funds and can no longer afford to support its school. Furthermore, the pastor and trustees argue, the continued existence of the school threatens the existence of the parish.

"I am not in a position to bankrupt the church with only $165,000 in the bank," stated the Rev. Bohdan Lukie, explaining that by June of this year the parish is projected to have only that amount left in its accounts.

News of the requirement to raise $250,000 to ensure the school's future for next year - but with the deadline originally given as March 1 - was made public on Sunday, January 26, via the church bulletin distributed during liturgies that day; parents of St. John's schoolchildren were notified three days earlier. Since then, the Rev. Lukie and the Parish Council have granted a newly organized parents' committee an extension, giving them an additional six weeks to come up with the money.

A message from the Rev. Lukie released on Wednesday, January 29, after consultation with both the Parish Council (which consists of 25 council members, two trustees and the pastor) and the faculty, confirmed the new deadline.

It was the Parish Council, as an advisory body, that voted on January 20 to close the school "unless $250,000 can miraculously be raised before March 1 to cover next year's deficit and to help with future years," as the Rev. Lukie put it. The reason for the deadline, the pastor explained, was to give teachers and parents enough time to make alternate plans. The Parish Council's advice notwithstanding, the Rev. Lukie explained that it is the pastor who has the authority to decide the fate of the school, while the ultimate authority rests with the metropolitan-archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church's Metropolitan Archeparchy of Philadelphia.

The schoolchildren's parents,are determined to not only save the St. John's School for the 2003-2004 academic year, but to work toward its development and successful functioning in years beyond in keeping with its three-pronged mission: "to develop a Christian way of life in daily living; to provide a thorough education in academic fields; and to develop a love and knowledge of our Ukrainian heritage."

Indeed, the school has a tradition of excellence. Its students have consistently scored in the 90th-95th percentile (the average for the period 1990-2002) on standardized achievement tests, and its graduates are sought by the top private high schools in New Jersey, with a significant number receiving scholarships. The admissions director at the prestigious Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit, N.J., recently commented: "We have had an endless stream of excellent students from this school."

As for the Ukrainian character of the school, it is worth noting that the Ukrainian language is taught daily as a subject, the music program encompasses choral singing in Ukrainian, and myriad school programs underline and reinforce the Ukrainian heritage, from Taras Shevchenko Day concerts and assemblies commemorating the historic events of November 1, 1918, in Ukraine to St. Nicholas Feast Day programs and the annual Christmas concerts performed for the community at large.

Parents take the lead

As a result of a general parish meeting held on December 15, 2002, parents and parishioners agreed to discuss the creation of a board to find ways to preserve the school, and an ad hoc committee composed of parents, alumni, teachers, parents of future students, and supporters of the school began holding weekly meetings.

At the most recent meeting, on Friday, January 24, concerned activists decided to formally establish the Committee for the Development of St. John's School and elected the following to its executive committee: Myron Martynetz (chairman), Rostyslaw Robak, Bohdan Duchnycz, Volodymyr Stashchyshyn, Volodymyr Kovbasniuk, Lesia Frazier and Kristina Rak-Brown.

During the course of that meeting, the determination to save the school was palpable as speaker after speaker noted the special nature of St. John's School and the unique opportunity it offers for children to be educated in the Ukrainian Christian tradition. Mr. Martynetz, a parent of three current students and one alumnus of St. John's, spoke of the school's "incredibly caring and nurturing environment" and how that benefits the children who are part of its extraordinary community.

As fifth grade teacher Robert Sanzari, who has been with St. John's for three years, put it: "If [Parish] Council members came to my class they would see that each kid is special and they would be fighting to save the school."

Ms. Rak-Brown, a graduate of St. John's School, told The Weekly she will fight to save the school because, "I recognize that St. John's School provides its students with an outstanding Ukrainian Catholic education that is culturally and spiritually rich."

"My biased opinion aside, secondary schools throughout New Jersey also recognize St. John School's academic quality and actively recruit its graduates. The facts speak for themselves," she continued. "Many of the school's alumni are now successful professionals and productive members of society. St. John's is a unique educational institution that is absolutely worth saving. It is incumbent upon every member of the Ukrainian American community to support St. John's School."

Schoolchildren involved

The schoolchildren, too, are contributing to the effort to save their school. They have taken their traditional Christmas concert on the road to neighboring parishes in Whippany and Elizabeth, N.J., and are scheduled to perform in Jersey City's Ss. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church this Sunday and afterwards possibly in Passaic, N.J.

At the first concert, held on January 12 in the hall of St. John's Ukrainian Catholic Church in Whippany, Jarema Rakoczy of the school's Fathers' Club introduced the program and informed the audience that there have been reports the school may be closing. "But we will not let this happen," he underscored.

The children received a warm welcome from Whippany's parishioners. Their pastor, the Very Rev. Mitred Archpriest Roman Mirchuk, concluded the program by thanking the children for their extraordinary gift to his parish of beautiful and unusual Ukrainian carols, and by announcing a contribution of $1,000 from the parish and his own donation of $500 toward the school fund - this despite the fact that the Whippany congregation is now fully involved in its own fund-raising activities for a new church and cultural center. "We hope that your school will continue to educate our children," stated Father Mirchuk.

This week, during the nationwide Catholic Schools Week, St. John's schoolchildren celebrated what Catholic schools have to offer. In addition, the Rev. Lukie spoke with students in their classrooms about the painful decision that might have to be made regarding the future of their school.

Father Lukie related: "We had the kids ask questions - it was a chance for them to share concerns. ... I told the seventh graders what a wonderful education they had already received during their eight years (beginning with kindergarten) at St. John's." Father Lukie said he also underscored how much the school's teachers had contributed. "Every teacher has given $25,000 per year just by choosing to teach here. They could easily be making $25,000 more elsewhere."

Contacts with Philadelphia Archeparchy

That the school was in dire financial straits was evident already at the beginning of the current academic year.

Father Lukie told The Weekly that in the autumn of 2002 he had written a letter to Metropolitan-Archbishop Stefan Soroka, the primate of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the United States, requesting financial assistance in the amount of $50,000 to help the school get through the 2002-2003 academic year. He said he has yet to receive a response.

Then, in November he authored a message that he said was "painful to write," notifying parishioners and the community at large that 2002-2003 might well be the last year for St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School.

Meanwhile, according to the Philadelphia Archeparchy's newspaper, The Way (issue dated December 8, 2002), a meeting of what was referred to as "the newly established Catholic Schools Commission of our Philadelphia Archeparchy" was held on October 18, 2002. The commission comprises pastors and principals of the archeparchy's seven parochial schools - three in New Jersey: St. Nicholas in Passaic, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Perth Amboy and St. John's in Newark; and four in Pennsylvania: St. John the Baptist in Northampton, St. Josaphat in Philadelphia, St. Nicholas in Minersville and Transfiguration of Our Lord in Shamokin - as well as St. Basil Academy and Manor College, both located in the Philadelphia suburbs. Participants of the commission's meeting reportedly discussed "recruitment of a development officer to assist in searching and applying for grants available for school operations and student programs."

The brief news item in The Way also noted that the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Education Fund supports the efforts of the archeparchy's Ukrainian Catholic schools and encouraged donations to this cause. [A Weekly editorial of December 22, 2002, had encouraged donations to this fund or directly to local schools to help "provide tangible help to this essential but struggling facet of our community."]

The Weekly contacted the chancery of Metropolitan-Archbishop Soroka on Friday, January 24, in hopes of getting an interview with the metropolitan and more information both about the Sheptytsky Fund, which was established back in November 2001, and about the Archieparchial School Commission. We were informed by the metropolitan's secretary that we should send our questions in writing, which we did immediately, via fax. As of Tuesday morning, January 28, The Weekly had received no response.

After another call to the Metropolitan's Chancery we learned that the hierarch was too busy to respond to our questions and that we should not expect to receive a response anytime soon as the metropolitan would be leaving town later that week and would be unavailable until mid-February, when he would be back for several days and then would be traveling once again.

A follow-up fax sent on Wednesday, January 29, nonetheless asked Metropolitan Soroka if he would like to make a brief comment on the threatened closing of St. John's School. As of press time there was no response.

Concerns date back to 1995

The concerns of St. John's Church regarding the deficit of its parochial school were first spelled out in a letter dated June 30, 1995. A body called the Tuition Financial Committee noted that the school's 1994-1995 deficit was more than $60,000; appended was a report from the two parish trustees who indicated that in order to preserve the "financial integrity" of the parish, "starting with the 1995-1996 school year the parish must limit the amount of money it contributes to cover the deficit associated with the operation of the school to $35,000." Any shortfall, the trustees noted, would have to be made up by the parents, whether by tuition increases or fund-raising, or both.

In succeeding years, the Fathers' and Mothers' clubs, as well as various school committees worked hard to increase enrollment, and thereby income, as well as conducted a variety of fund-raising activities, ranging from big-ticket raffles and solicitations of donations from alumni, to bake sales, dances and other special events. In addition, there were campaigns to raise funds for financial assistance to newly arrived immigrants from Ukraine whose children were enrolling in increasing numbers at St. John's. At the same time, increases in the price of tuition were instituted.

In 1998 a special appeal was addressed to parishioners seeking their donations to the school and assistance in recruitment efforts, as well as sponsors for the growing number of students who needed financial assistance.

Enrollment increased in the 2000-2001 academic year to 103 students - an increase of 20 students from the previous year - portending a bright future. However, the next two years saw enrollment drop to 93 students in 2001-2002, and 79 for the current school year. Simultaneously, the costs of operating the school were increasing.

According to the Rev. Lukie and the current parish trustees, George Dolinsky and Joseph Wynarczuk, over $600,000 has been spent by the parish to subsidize the school in the past six years alone.

A painful announcement

Via the parish bulletin of Sunday, November 3, 2002, and an e-mail message sent out to a group list of several hundred names that evening, the Ukrainian American community learned from the Rev. Lukie that "St. John's Ukrainian Catholic School, which has faithfully served our Ukrainian community so gloriously over the past 63 years and has successfully educated thousands of our children, is on the verge of becoming part of our recorded history. The possibility of closing its doors at the end of the 2002-2003 school year is very real and may be tragically unavoidable." (A similar message appeared in The Weekly on November 24. 2002.)

The message went on to note that the parish "must budget for approximately $680,000 this year to maintain our church and school. Already as of last Sunday, October 27, we are burdened with a deficit of $84,721.00 for this year alone. By the end of the year [2002], all our liquid assets and savings will barely amount to $200,000. Truly within two years our church could sadly face bankruptcy." A general meeting was announced for December 15, 2002, in order to allow the school and parish community to come together and share ideas.

A follow-up message the next Sunday again encouraged all to attend the general meeting. It also referred to the fact that St. John's is "not unique in facing this painful problem" and went on to note the closings in the last 15 years of Immaculate Conception Cathedral School in Philadelphia, St. Volodymyr School in Elizabeth, N.J., and Ss. Peter and Paul in Jersey City, N.J.

Most recently, on January 26, the Rev. Lukie announced in the parish bulletin that $250,000 must be raised in the next few weeks if St. John's is to open in September 2003.

The latest projections for the year 2003-2004 at St. John's foresee a deficit of $221,800 based on an enrollment of 70 students. That number takes into account the number of students graduating or otherwise leaving, plus an incoming class of kindergartners, but does not foresee any increase in enrollment despite the development committee's plan to intensify recruitment efforts. It must be noted that the total deficit is $20,000 higher than figures released just five days earlier as the new projection appears to take into account discounts for families with more than one child, plus the reduced tuition paid by those families considered hardship cases - primarily members of the Fourth Wave of immigrants to this country.

In a separate letter to the parents of schoolchildren, the Rev. Lukie noted: "The Parish Council has seriously and realistically assessed the financial/student situation and has made a difficult and painful decision. This decision has been conveyed to the Metropolitan Archbishop, [Stefan] Soroka, in Philadelphia, and His Grace acknowledges that this is the closure of another sad chapter in our Ukrainian Church."

Immediate action needed

But this chapter will not end if the parents and friends of St. John's School have anything to say about it. Parents simply refuse to give up without a fight, arguing that their children's well-being is worth fighting for. Supporters say that, if the school shuts it doors, the closing of the parish won't be far behind.

Among the immediate actions that the newly created Committee for the Development of St. John's School intends to take are: a phone-a-thon targeting alumni of St. John's School, mailings to Ukrainian American community members, and a recruitment drive to enlist more students.

Most pressing, of course, is the April 15 deadline, by which time the committee must raise $250,000 to ensure that the school exists next year. However, its chairman, Myron Martynetz emphasized that executive committee members already are looking ahead to the development of their beloved school beyond the 2003-2004 academic year.

Donations may be made out to Committee for the Development of St. John's School and sent to: Selfreliance Ukrainian American Federal Credit Union, 734 Sandford Ave., Newark, NJ 07106. For information, readers may telephone Volodymyr Kovbasniuk at the credit union, (973) 373-7839.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 2, 2003, No. 5, Vol. LXXI

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