How Catholic schools in Pittsburgh have stayed open during pandemic
A half-dozen freshmen, wearing masks that are now part of their required dress code at Seton LaSalle Catholic High School in Mt. Lebanon, got to work on a pre-algebra pop quiz.
They sat at desks spaced apart at least 6 feet in accordance with standard recommendations for schools and other public settings. Two more students were tuning in via Zoom. As in other classrooms, a tripodmounted camera was recording teacher Phil McCaffrey, and he was also able to share a screen projected in front of the students.
Most students have been regularly attending in person, said Lauren Martin, Seton LaSalle’s principal.
“We have kids who are here every day learning, we we have kids at home every day learning,” she said. “It is challenging, but I feel we have risen to the challenge.”
Catholic schools in the dioceses of Pittsburgh and Greensburg, and throughout much of the country, have been open five days a week for most of this academic year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Like almost all schools, they had closed amid the first pandemic surge last spring.
Individual Catholic schools, or components of them such as athletic teams, have temporarily switched to all-online learning for brief periods after exposures to the coronavirus, and the Pittsburgh diocese routinely announces such measures in news releases. The Pittsburgh diocese’s school office declined to comment for this article. But other Catholic school officials interviewed around Pittsburgh and Greensburg say they are unaware of any outbreaks due to in-school exposure.
The Pennsylvania and Allegheny County health departments said they can’t independently verify those assertions because they don’t publicly identify COVID-19 clusters linked to specific institutions.
But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says on its website: “Evidence suggests that many K12 schools that have strictly implemented mitigation strategies have been able to safely open for in-person instruction and remain open.” And state and federal health officials have a series of recommendations for schools on what measures to take if they do open.
Students in the pre-algebra class said they do worry about the coronavirus, not so much for themselves as for the risk of bringing it home to older relatives.
But they value the chance to be in the classroom. “I stay more focused, and it’s easier” in person, said one.
Across the country, “We don’t have much evidence of student-to-student spread except during sporting events,” said Kathy Mears, interim president of the National Catholic Educational Association. “The kids for the most part are wearing masks and observing the distancing.” Even with athletics, “it didn’t ever seem to get out of hand because they did a lot of testing [for the virus]. If someone was sick, they didn’t get into thegame.”
The fact that Catholic schools have remained open, when many public school districts have either been all online or had hybrid online/ in-person setups for much of the school year, has led to some transfers into Catholic schools.
“I was in my junior year, and I didn’t want to waste anymore time ... because I already lost half of my sophomore year,” said Campbell Brown, who transferred into Seton LaSalle from a public school district after struggling with online classes.
Alex Boyce, a junior, transferred midyear along with his brother Matt, a freshman. “It’s important when it comes to your grades,” Alex said. They weren’t sure when their district would fully open, he said, adding, “You really can’t wait for someone else to make a move.”
Parents of those students asked that their previous schools not be identified, saying they didn’t want to open the districts to criticism.
At St. James School in Sewickley, principal Bradley Swiger said it was important to give students the option to learn remotely but also to learn in person. About 20% of students began the year online, but that’s down to about 10% now, he said.
“I think the kids need to be here and the kids are happy to be here,” he said. “They have socialization, that time to be kids.”
Maureen Marsteller, superintendent of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Greensburg, said its schools have stayed open by rigorously following basic recommendations on masking, minimizing class sizes, distancing, sanitizing and regularly consulting health officials.
But Catholic officials acknowledge their experience doesn’t easily translate to the public schools. For one, if a Catholic school reaches capacity for a safe number of in-person students, it can put new inquirers on a waiting list.
“I pray for them every day,” Ms. Marsteller said of the public schools. “Unfortunately, our lessons aren’t transferable to them. They’re doing their best during this crisis.”
Not a fair disease
Public schools face many challenges that private schools don’t, said Dr. David Dowdy, associate professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore. It’s harder to set up social distancing with larger class sizes, and the risk of transmission increases exponentially with class size, he said.
“If you have a room of 20 kids, the risk is a certain amount, but if one kid is infected, that one kid might transmit to 20 others,” he said. “If you have a room of 40 kids, the risk is not only twice as high, but if the person is infected, they can infect twice as many people.”
And even though many Catholic school students receive financial aid, privateschool parents tend to have professional jobs and often are able to work from home. Public school parents, particularly in poorer districts, are more likely to work in public settings, putting them at greater risk of bringing the virus home to their children, who could then bring it to school.
“We know that this is not a fair disease, and the populations that have been hit the hardest have been those that have been most disadvantaged already and very much likely to send their kids to public schools,” Dr. Dowdy said. “Also, the public schools have other considerations,” such as providing meals, transportation and social services on a much larger scale than private schools.
Ms. Mears agreed public schools face unique challenges that Catholic schools don’t, though she said they can share some lessons, such as the effectiveness of masking and distancing.
Nationally, about 85% of Catholic schools are open on any given day, she said. “We’re trying to do what’s right by science and what’s right for students,” she said. Enrollment was actually down 6.4% in its annual September survey in 2020, but much of that decline was in preschool programs, Ms. Mears said.
Catholic schools are also often built for much larger student populations, leaving lots of space for physical distancing — but that’s also a reminder of a vast decline in Catholic school enrollment over the past half-century. That trend has also led to numerous school mergers in recent years. And it’s not likely to be stopped by a small, short-term influx of public school transfers.
“We did get more inquiries at beginning of the year because we were in person, but we were having honest conversations if this is the right place for them to be,” Ms. Martin said. “Catholic schools are not for everybody. We have a specific mission and culture.”
Enrollment declines
Catholic elementary school enrollment nationally was 1.2 million in 2019, down by a third from the turn of the century, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. High school enrollment of 555,901 is down 15% over the same time, its figures show.
During the past five years locally, elementary enrollment is down by roughly a fifth in the dioceses of Greensburg and Pittsburgh. Both have less than half the elementary students than they had at the turn of the century, according to an analysis in the Official Catholic Directory. Catholic high school enrollment in the two dioceses is down by lesser amounts.
Factors include declining church participation (leading to widespread parish mergers), smaller family sizes and the rising cost of private school tuition. The old funding model is obsolete, in which each parish funded its own elementary school and, commonly, its own high school, staffed by religious orders that were once far more numerous. The Diocese of Pittsburgh has been consolidating parish schools into regional districts.
School mergers, including two sets announced at South Hills schools for the coming year, often bring controversy. A group has organized to keep open the century-old St. Philip School in Crafton, slated to merge with St. Margaret of Scotland School in Green Tree in the latter’s building.
Teachers in the Pittsburgh diocese were given the option of taking this year off, which some did, particularly if they or family members had health conditions putting them at greater risk of COVID-19, said Brian Klisavage, president of the Federation of Pittsburgh Diocesan Teachers.
On average, one or two faculty members at each school decided to take the leave, he said. The union represents teachers at many area Catholic schools and school programs.
Teachers agreed it was important for students’ academic and mental well-being to be back in school, he said.
There was “some anxiety at the beginning of the year, because of the unknown, and there’s constant news and social media putting out messages about the dangers” of COVID-19, Mr. Klisavage said. “But once they saw the plans established by the schools where all the protocols are adhered to ... I can’t imagine they could have done a better job of keeping people safe.
When Seton LaSalle guidance counselor Judy Caves meets with students in her office, she now talks to them through a plexiglass shield on her desk.
“I was very nervous coming in” to the new school year, she said, “and have been very, very careful.” But she’s been more reassured by the precautions. She believes the school’s Catholic culture helps ensure compliance with preventive measures: Not only is maskwearing part of the school dress code, but it’s taught in the context of respecting oneself and others.
Tuition varies at Catholic schools. A sampling of Pittsburgh-area Catholic elementary schools indicates tuition in the $5,000 range for K8, with $11,000 to $12,000 a year for high schools. Ms. Martin said more than half the students at Seton LaSalle receive some form of tuition assistance.
The Diocese of Greensburg this year actually saw a spike in enrollment, though Ms. Marsteller said it’s difficult to determine how many were coming from public schools due to COVID-19 and how many were availing themselves of a large new scholarship program, funded by $2.4 million from an anonymous donor, called the St. Pope John Paul II Tuition Opportunity Partnership, or TOP.
The vast majority of this year’s new enrollees are Catholic, Ms. Marsteller said, indicating there were relatively few cases of non-Catholic families drawn primarily for the in-person education.
Amelia Steele, of Penn Township, said she and her husband have three schoolage children at Queen of Angels Catholic School in North Huntingdon. They received help from another scholarship fund last year and from TOP this year.
“We previously homeschooled our kids, mostly because we thought we couldn’t afford a Catholic education” until she spoke with the school principal, who was able to arrange financial assistance. “We really believe in a Catholic education,” Ms. Steele said. “Our world has become very secular, and we want a place where they can speak about their faith, learn about their faith, be encouraged to pray when things get rough, to dig into the Bible when they have questions.”
The program’s first year “exceeded my expectations, especially considering these trying times,” the TOP donor said in a statement forwarded by the Greensburg diocese.
But whether such programs can be scaled up on a national level to reverse the long-term enrollment declines is another question.
“It might be, but a lot of dioceses are raising a lot of scholarship money already,” Ms. Mears said. “I don’t know how much the philanthropy community can provide us.”
Charter schools in the Pittsburgh region face the same challenges as their public and parochial counterparts: how to adapt to the ever-changing public health issues brought on by COVID-19 and get students back into real classrooms.
PropelSchools, which operates 13 elementary, middle andhigh schools in the region, has mostly been running on a hybrid learning model since October. Others, such as the Environmental Charter School and Manchester Academic Charter School, have optedto stay mostly remote.
Tina Chekan, the Propel superintendent, said most of the families the chain serves have preferred a hybrid learning model, which provides a mix of remote and inperson education.
“There is definitely not a one-size-fits-all solution. In a survey of families, we have found that 65% prefer hybrid, while 35% prefer remote learning,” she said. “Our school teams are all well prepared for both remote and hybrid learning, but we know that scholars learn best when theyare in classrooms.”
Propel began the 2020-2021 school year in a remote learning protocol for the first six weeks of classes.
In early October, Ms. Chekan said, about 65% of Propel’s roughly 4,000 students transitioned into hybrid learning, with two cohorts attending in-person classes four days a week on alternate weeks, while the remaining thirdstayed remote.
A spike in COVID-19 cases in Allegheny County in midNovember prompted Propel to move all students into remote learning until after the holidays. Now, most students have been back on the hybrid modelsince Jan. 25.
Ms. Chekan said Propel’s operational plans have been effective at keeping students safe and holding the school year together.
“Because of our diligence in following our health and safety plan, we are happy to say that our cases remain very low,” she said. “Our strong communication with staffand families has also kept everyoneon track.”
Other charter schools in the region have taken differentapproaches to reopening.
Aside from a small cohort of students who required additional in-person learning support, Environmental Charter School’s three campuses kept most of its nearly 1,000 K-9 students on a remote learning model from the start of the school year until late February.
School officials spent that time developing, with its teachers union, a plan to return to in-person learning, said chief operating officer James Doyle. That process included monitoring public health indicators, developing procedures to ensure physical distance within school buildings and assuring the quality of both in-person and virtual learningenvironments.
“We want to get this right, just like every other school in our area,” Mr. Doyle said. “The science showed that simple safety measures lay at the heart of all school district plans. Clear and open communication about expectations of all participants is important in ensuring success in reopening.”
The hybrid system ECS came up with differs significantly from Propel’s — one group of students attends in person Monday and Tuesday, another attends in person Wednesday and Thursday and a third cohort can attend all four days, if they wish. About 72% of ECS’ total student population currently uses the hybrid system, he said.The rest are still learning remotely.
In a test of its protocols, ECS identified a staffer at the Intermediate School last week who had contracted COVID-19, ECS’s first since it moved to its hybrid system last month. Mr. Doyle said the staffer isolated immediately and the school quickly implemented its contact tracing and cleaning measures. The building did not have to close.
“Any new routine takes time to adjust and adhere to. … We know that our procedures and protocols will continueto be tested,” he said.
Despite ECS’s relative success so far with its hybrid model, Mr. Doyle nevertheless expressed some frustration with the lack of direction from the state and national levels.
“It is critical that we prioritize in-person learning for students. We are now nearing a year into this pandemic, and our students are falling behind,” Mr. Doyle said. “It is very unfortunate that our policymakers can find a way to have restaurants, bars, casinos and sporting events remain open and available but not schools.
“There needs to be increased pressure on all the powers that be to prioritize schooling for our children so they do not continue to fall behind.”
Although they agree with Mr. Doyle that in-person learning is ideal, school officials at Manchester Academic
Charter School on Pittsburgh’s North Side have taken an even more cautious approach to reopening: The charter’s roughly 400 K-8 students won’t attend in-person classesuntil late March.
As students learned remotely throughout the school year, charter chief executive officer Vasilios Scoumis said school officials spent much time discussing with parents and teachers on when to reopen.
Mr. Scoumis said the school community has been supportive of the decision not to allow students to return untilcase numbers had taken a significant dive.
“I don’t think any district knows the right thing to do, and the problem is that you’re reading and hearing different things from everyone, and everyone has their own opinion,”Mr. Scoumis said.
“I’m not saying our approach has been better than anyone else’s — everyone is just trying to do the right thing — but it’s unfortunate that every school board is making their own decision on whento reopen.
“I think at least one thing that MACS has been consistent on so far is that kids have clearly known what they’re doing and where they are academically.”
While students learn from home, Mr. Scoumis said the charter school has encouraged teachers to actually teach from school buildings, an effort to make the transition back to in-person instructionas smooth as possible.
When the charter’s hybrid model begins March 29, middle school students will be split into clusters that will alternate attending in-person classes and remote classes in separate morning and afternoon sessions on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Elementary students will attend in-person classes all day on Mondays, Tuesdays,Thursdays and Fridays.
About 50% of the students have signed on to the hybrid model, Mr. Scoumis said. Those who don’t will continue learning fully remotely for the restof the academic year.
As for what the end of this school year and the beginning of the next will actually look like, Mr. Scoumis said it’s hard to say.
Because it’s clear many students have fallen behind academically during their remote schedules, MACS plans to offer a summer program to help them catch up. But it won’t be mandatory.
Mr. Scoumis said, despite all the difficulty, there have been positives from the remotelearning experience.
“Our teachers are pretty attuned to teaching wherever they need to teach from,” Mr. Scoumissaid.
“There’s been a lot of adaptivity all across the board, and I’m really proud of our teachers and kids. Attendance during remote sessions has been over 95%, and teachers have been going with smiles on their faces throughout all of it. They’re prepared for almost anything.
“Also, I don’t want to have to tell the kids this, but snow days might be a thing of the past.”