by Jeff Barlis and Travis Pillow
Catholic Schools Week is a national celebration of Catholic education, but don’t tell LaToya Jones of Jacksonville that it only lasts for one week.
Jones celebrates her school – St. Pius V Catholic School – on a daily basis.
The church rents its former convent to Jones, who lives with her three daughters two doors down from the school that has transformed their lives.
A year ago, the family was rocked by the loss of husband and father Lionel Jones, who died from complications of diabetes. Already struggling in a variety of neighborhood and private schools, the girls had a hard time coping.
At St. Pius, LaToya found a new home and a new home away from home, and her girls are thriving.
“It’s like our extended family,” LaToya said. “They help us out a lot. There’s always something going on, and the facilities are always open. It’s like a family away from home. They know my girls like their mom and grandma and auntie would. All the way down to the coach and janitor.”
Catholic schools have long provided more than just education to families like the Joneses. They strengthen communities for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Yet nationally, over the past decade, there has been a net loss of nearly 1,000 Catholic schools. Enrollment has shrunk by 17.6 percent. This represents lost community assets and squandered social capital.
But Catholic schools in Jacksonville, and all over Florida, are starting to buck this trend. Catholic school enrollment is no longer declining. It’s been slowly, but undeniably, growing. And disadvantaged students are benefitting.
This fall, the Diocese of St. Augustine will open a new $10-million school. The new facility will combine St. Pius V and Holy Rosary Catholic schools, with more than 400 students.
Guardian Catholic School will have twice the capacity of either existing school, with a maximum of 500 students, Deacon Scott Conway said late last year in a news release. The new campus will have the latest in technology, a STEM lab, art and music areas, and something that neither school has now – a gymnasium.
St. Pius was founded in 1921 by the Sisters of St. Joseph to educate African American students in Jacksonville. Most students in both schools come from low-income and working-class families, and pay tuition with the help of Florida tax credit scholarships*. Both schools serve primarily non-Catholic student populations.
Roughly 95 percent of the students who attend the K-8 schools go on to graduate high school, where they could soon have another new option. The Cristo Rey network of Catholic high schools is exploring the possibility of bringing its unique model to Northeast Florida.
In short, this week the Diocese of St. Augustine, home of Florida’s of the oldest Catholic schools, can celebrate new signs of vitality. And so can Catholic communities in other parts of the state, like Tampa and Orlando to Palm Beach.
Even though her daughters won’t be able to walk to school anymore, Jones is excited to send them to a modern facility.
“I’ve already enrolled them for next year,” she said. “They’re looking forward to it.”
*Step Up For Students, which publishes this blog, helps administer Florida’s tax credit scholarship program.
