CATHOLIC SCHOOL CLOSING TO REBOOT
Hales Franciscan shutting down for year to adjust curriculum, get ‘island of tranquility’ on solid financial footing
Hales Franciscan High School, a Catholic school that for 53 years has sought to be an “island of tranquility” in the lives of young black men on the South Side, will shut its door to students for the 2016-17 school year so it can raise money and adjust curriculum in order to reopen next year.
Melody Spann-Cooper, who took over as chairwoman of the school’s board last year, said the decision was hard to make but essential to get the school on solid footing.
A total of 37 students were enrolled in the school last year and nearly all of them received financial assistance to cover the school’s $7,500 tuition.
School officials will help students settle into new schools as Hales Franciscan “hits the reset button,” she said. Four teachers will be out of a job.
On the bright side, 37 students took the school’s latest entrance exam.
Enrollment at the Bronzeville school, at 4930 S. Cottage Grove Ave., had reached between 150 and 200 students in the past 10 years.
Spann-Cooper, chairman of Midway Broadcasting, the parent of WVON radio, said the school has hired a new principal to overhaul curriculum and is in the process of hiring someone to reach out to the city’s philanthropic community and get the school’s alumni more engaged.
“If you look at the other successful Catholic high schools in Chicago, they have a strong alumni association who contribute,” Spann-Cooper said. “Unfortunately, Hales alumni have a lot of passion, but they haven’t been tremendous donors.”
Many potential donors see strong alumni support as a prerequisite to making a worthwhile investment in a school, she said.
The alumni situation stung the school in the case of former Chicago Bull Michael Jordan.
Jordan donated $5 million to Hales Franciscan in 2007 but follow-up donations were contingent on the school forming a solid alumni fundraising system, Spann-Cooper said.
“You have to put your money where your mouth is,” she said. “People don’t want to give to things they don’t think are going to survive. We’ve got to change that narrative.”
“Chicago is a rich city and I think people will step up and do it, but we have to offer them something that’s worth their investment. I’m very serious about this.”
Spann-Cooper plans to ask former U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan for guidance. She said Chicago investment executive Mellody Hobson, who’s married to film director George Lucas and graduated from St. Ignatius High School, has been a big supporter of Hales Franciscan.
The school is independent of the Chicago Archdiocese.
Even so, Spann-Cooper said she met with Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich to discuss the school’s situation. Spann-Cooper said Cupich was sympathetic but the archdiocese, which itself has been closing schools and parishes, was not in a position to lend a hand.
Spann-Cooper, after taking control of the board last year, reversed a previous board vote to close the school. She also returned the school to an all-boys student body. The decision to go co-ed, made two years earlier, was meant to help save the school by increasing enrollment but had the opposite effect, she said. She never expected to devote nearly half her time to the school when she took on the role, the role is personal for Spann-Cooper, who attended Catholic grade school, high school and college in Chicago and attended dances at Hales Franciscan as a youth.
“Hales Franciscan offers a value system that’s beyond that of academics,” she said.
“We’ve got to teach these young men how to be gentleman and Christian values as they navigate the streets and deal with confrontations, and we need to instill core values that will help them get out in the world and really be able to compete,” she said.
“Most of these young men, unfortunately, don’t have fathers at home. So who’s teaching them these core values that will help them survive? That’s what Hales does,” she said.
“We’ve kind of run out of runway, but this is a comma not a period. We have to reboot and find people who are willing to invest. People love Hales.”
“UNFORTUNATELY, HALES ALUMNI HAVE A LOT OF PASSION, BUT THEY HAVEN’T BEEN TREMENDOUS DONORS.” MELODY SPANN-COOPER, chairwoman of the Hales Franciscan board