Please review this letter to the editor of
The Reporter regarding why "Good Planning" takes
time!
Good Planning for LC's Relocation is Not A Delay
During his time as Archbishop of Philadelphia in
the 1950s, Cardinal O'Hara built, relocated or
rebuilt at least seven Archdiocesan high
schools. The effort was grounded in the desire
to prepare for Baby-Boomers and follow the
demographic shift to new areas of the city and
suburbs where the Catholic population was
relocating and growing. The planning effort was
monumental. The outline for building and funding
these projects had to move from feasibility
study stage to various committees and then to
Cardinal O'Hara for final approval. While it
took time, the planners knew that the children
they hoped to educate were quickly reaching high
school age. They started building as quickly as
they could.
The Archdiocese is about to embark on its most
ambitious high school building and relocation
effort since the 1950s with a plan for relocated
high schools in Royersford and Hilltown. This is
a monumental effort in our own time. It would be
silly to think that the survey results and the
fund-raising plan can be instantly available for
public inspection. Ordinary timelines will not
hold in such a comprehensive vision. Just as in
the 1950s, there must be a tremendous amount of
unseen preparation and committee work that needs
to be done. Impatience for groundbreaking is
natural. But what seems a 'delay' in announcing
the plan is simply good and responsible
planning. We are eager to see the survey results
and the architect's model. We want to help with
the funding for a relocated LC. Count me in! I
know I am impatient and excited for a new LC in
Hilltown. I am also realistic because I know
that good planning is necessarily a detailed and
complex process.
Thank you to the Knights Of Columbus #9736
for your Support
The Knights of Columbus #9736 have placed
two
large, colored ad in the Intelligencer on
September 3rd, 2006 and September 8th, 2006 showing their support for a
new high school and expressing their support for
the future of Catholic education.
The Knights have generously mentioned our
website and we would like to express our
gratitude.
A survey about the Lansdale Catholic High School
relocation was mailed out to parents of
Catholic School or CCD children in grades three
to six. This survey was mailed on August 11,
2006. The results of this survey will
determine whether the Archdiocese goes forward
with the construction of the high school in Hilltown. It is imperative that you support this
cause. Unless the Archdiocese receives a
high percentage voting yes, a new high school
will not be built. Please vote “yes”
to this survey! If your children do not
currently attend Catholic grade school, but you
would like to know this is an option when they
reach high school age, please support this cause
(vote “yes”). Help us to bring Lansdale Catholic
to its marvelous new home in Hilltown!
Let Your Voice be Heard!
The survey was mailed to parents of
Catholic School or CCD children in third
through sixth grade only. If
your children are in grades lower than third,
but you would like your vote to be counted, please
click on the Archdiocese Link. This will provide
you with access and a letter that you can e-mail
to the Archdiocese to offer your support.
The Survey has
arrived!
Kudos to the Archdiocese on compiling a
wonderful survey! The survey is presented
in a clear, easy to read, and fair format.
The questions listed in the survey indicate
undoubtedly how committed the Archdiocese is
to allowing our parish parents to be a key
part in this critical decision. Thank you
also to ICR, the excellent Market Research
Group the Archdiocese chose to collect the
survey data. ICR is a well know and well
respected market research group located in
Delaware County. ICR has been providing
marketing and polling services to large and
small businesses since 1983. This
professional group has an unblemished record
with The Better Business Bureau. We believe
ICR will consider this survey to be a top
priority to the community and present
accurate data to the Archdiocese to use when
making a final proposal to Cardinal Rigali.
Please Pass This Information Along
We need your help to communicate this very important information
to the local Catholic Community. Please forward this website
link to everyone you know with children in the Catholic
education system or who may be interested in this high school if
it is built. Also, please print copies of the
flyer and post it in
public places. Many grocery stores, diners, coffee shops, etc.
offer community boards to allow a forum to share public
information. Please help us to get the word out there. We can
not do this without you! Parishioners must know to look for this
important survey in the mail.
Right click these flyer links and
select "save target as" to download the flyer.
Flyer Formats:
(pdf format)
(word format)
Look for these signs popping
up everywhere showing support for the new high
school !
“Bringing Monsignor Joseph Schade’s vision into the new millennium”
January 28th 2008
New High school Plans Announced
PHILADELPHIA (January 28, 2008)
As a clear reflection of steadfast commitment to Catholic
education,
Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, opened
Catholic Schools Week by announcing that the Archdiocese
plans to build two new, state-of-the-art Catholic high
schools in Upper Providence Township, Montgomery County and
Hilltown Township, Bucks County.
Mission
This website was originally founded by parents in the
interest of providing factual information
regarding the Archdiocesan survey so parents of young
children who would be potentially enrolling could make
educated decisions. Additionally we also wanted to raise
awareness about the importance of filing and returning the
survey. We have completed that mission with great success
and would like to thank all the people who have provided
support, materials, editorials, resources and feedback. We
now have new plans for the website and a new mission before
us. We are upgrading this site to provide new data on
the progress of designing, financing and building the high schools. This will include
architectural design and site planning data which is the
next part of the Archdiocese's plans. We will also include
illustrations, designs, and exciting visual information as
it becomes available. Visit often!
Welcome to
www.buildourhighschool.com
Thank you for taking the time
to visit our website. The purpose of this site is to
provide the community with accurate and pertinent
information concerning the relocation of Lansdale Catholic
High School to Hilltown Township, Bucks County. Please
know that those of us who support this relocation have the utmost respect for the
great tradition and wonderful education that Lansdale
Catholic has provided to so many. It is in this spirit
that we support the building of a great new school which can
continue to offer students an outstanding education, in a
state-of-the-art campus, throughout the 21st Century and
beyond!
"Monsignor Joseph Schade Proposes the
Archdiocese's First Regional High School" -
April 1948
In April of 1948, Monsignor Joseph Schade wrote
a letter to Cardinal Dougherty to ask for
assistance in establishing a regional high
school in the area. Monsignor Schade clearly
indicated in this letter the reasons the high
school was so urgently needed and the broad area
the school was intended to serve. His letter
shows that Monsignor Schade obviously had a deep
commitment to Catholic education and affection
for all Catholic students throughout the region,
whether they lived in Lansdale, Doylestown,
Hilltown or elsewhere. Below is an excerpt
from the letter.
“Since Lansdale is easily accessible by train
and trolley, I know that many children from
neighboring parishes would attend a Ninth Grade
and a high school – in fact several of the
neighboring Pastors have asked me to lay this
matter before Your Eminence. The Sellersville
parish has eight girls attending the Wyncote
High School; these children go by train in the
morning to Wyncote and in the afternoon return
by train to Lansdale, where they must wait more
than two hours in the railroad station for a
train to Sellersville, whereas if there were a
school in Lansdale they could come and return by
a trolley which runs on a half hour schedule.
Some children of the Hilltown parish go by train
to Wyncote, but their school bus could easily
bring them to Lansdale in fifteen minutes. The
North Wales children would love to attend a
Catholic High School, but their parents cannot
afford the excessive train fares, whereas their
parish school bus comes daily to our school.
Doylestown is 34 miles from Philadelphia and 23
1/2 miles from Wyncote, whereas it is only ten
miles from Lansdale, and I feel certain that
some children of that parish would come to
Lansdale. Even the Pastor of Collegeville is
more than interested in a high school within
easy reach of his parish.”
It is very clear that his vision was to provide
the best Catholic education possible, wherever
and to whomever he could. Monsignor Schade's
former missionary territory has changed from
farmland to development land. His door-to-door
missionary work today would still be directed to
the same purposes, especially the Catholic
education of our youth in the best facility
possible where the population is growing,
Hilltown.
Be sure to visit and sign the Petition page if you
wish to support the new construction. There is also an
automated
letter sent to the Archdiocese for your use.
Click the play button below to listen
to...
"Comment Please" WNPV 1440
August 25, 2006
Listen to the radio program that ran on WNPV 1440
Radio! It includes a segment with Father Maloney
(President of Lansdale Catholic) and Joanne McHugh
(Member of the Planning Committee).
We would like to thank WNPV 1440 AM for allowing us
to make the audio stream available on this website.
WNPV 1440 has a website at
www.wnpv1440.com.
January 28th 2008
The Archdiocese
of Philadelphia today announced the plans to build
two new high schools. We will be posting images and
documentations on this site soon. Below you will
find some links to information about this
announcement.
New Press Releases Below!
Archdiocese of Philadelphia to Construct Two
State-of-the-Art Catholic High Schools in Bucks &
Montgomery Counties
“Keep
Catholic Education Affordable and Accessible"
Build Up” will “Drive Up” costs as well!An
area of concern about the high school relocation is
the cost of the project and the likely increase in
tuition at the new school. Tuition at all
Philadelphia Archdiocesan schools is the same each
year. For the 2006/2007 school year, the tuition is
$4,380.00. Each school, however, charges an
additional fee for the year, and that amount varies
from school to school.
This fee is typically a fraction of the actual
tuition costs and a change in the fee would not
include a change in the tuition rates. Examples of
current fees for this school year are:
Lansdale
Catholic:
$703.00
Bishop
McDevitt:
$438.00
Archbishop
Wood:
$850.00
Conwell
Egan:
$430.00
It
is fair to assume that a brand new high-tech school
will come with a fee increase for parents. The
Archdiocese is not able to determine what that
additional fee would be at this time; however, they
are committed to doing everything possible to keep
Catholic education affordable. Those opposed to the
relocation believe it would be better to undertake a
major renovation at the current Lansdale location.
We maintain that it would not be possible to achieve
any major renovations in the current limited space.
If it were possible, however, the renovations
would come with a hefty price tag too! This
renovation amount would also be passed along to
parents in their annual feeand still not
include the major improvements and enhancements.We believe
the costs passed onto parents for renovating the
current facility could be as much, if not more, than
a fee increase due to new construction. New
construction would enable leveraging economies of
scale by enrolling a larger base of students due to
bigger and better facilities, programs, and a
central location accessible by all Catholics in the
geographic region. New regions to the north would
now have a reasonable Catholic high school option
where, in the past, they have not had one. This
larger base of students would provide distribution
of the fees and a potential to reduce the fee rate
per student than that of other alternatives,
while accomplishing the improvement and enhancements
needed to compete for student enrollments.
For
those parents who may have difficulty paying tuition
and fees, there are programs available to help.
Currently Lansdale Catholic has a Sponsor-a-Student
program. Funded by private donations from alumni,
past parents, and corporations, this program
provides tuition assistance for those parents who
are unable to afford the full amount of tuition and
fees. Archdiocesan programs such as T.A.P. (Tuition
Assistance Program) and B.L.O.C.S. (Business Leaders
Organized for Catholic Schools
http://www.blocs.org/) exist, and
help a lot of high school students with grants to
qualified applicants. Business Leadership
Organized for Catholic Schools
(BLOCS), under the leadership of its Honorary
Chairman, Cardinal Justine Rigali, serves as the
Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s official fundraising
representative to the surrounding business community
in the five county region (Bucks, Chester, Delaware,
Montgomery and Philadelphia). BLOCS works to gain
financial support for the Archdiocesan Elementary,
Secondary and Special Education Schools, along with
private Catholic Schools and currently assists
approximately 99,000 children in our region
Other options used by various Archdiocesan high
schools to provide financial assistance include an
array of grants and scholarships. As an example,
some Archdiocesan high schools award presidential
grants, music/art grants, and memorial grants to
name a few. Many area high schools offer
Presidential Scholarships, Alumni scholarships,
Competitive Merit Trustee Scholarships, and various
other private scholarships.
We
believe strongly that those parents who genuinely
desire a Catholic education for their children, will
find a way to fund the slightly higher fee at this
cutting edge high school. We trust that the
relocated Lansdale Catholic will do everything
possible to keep the fee increase as low as
possible. For those who may find it a strain, we
believe the Lansdale Catholic tuition office will
work diligently to assist parents in finding the
means to allow their children to attend this great
school!
The Results Are in From The Reporter’s Reader Poll
The
Reporter ran an on-line poll on Wednesday, August 16th,
regarding the relocation. The Question of the Day was
“Do you think Lansdale Catholic High School should be
moved to Hilltown?” Readers could choose from the
following options:
No, keep it where it is
Yes, it could be bigger and offer more amenities
I’m not affected, but I think the change is
inevitable
No
opinion
The
results clearly indicated a community in favor of this
relocation.
37.6% voted in favor of LC staying in Lansdale
35.9% voted in favor of the move
22.2% voted that the change is inevitable
4.3% voted no opinion.
This
poll shows that 58.1% of readers favored or acknowledged
the need for this move. Since the Reporter newspaper
has its core reader base within Lansdale and the
immediate area, we would have expected higher results in
favor of remaining in Lansdale. We can only imagine the
poll results if the paper reached areas such as
Quakertown and New Hope! We can surmise from this poll
that the support really does lie in relocating this
great institution to Hilltown!
The Appeal of Hilltown
Township!
Hilltown
Township is a jewel in the crown of Bucks County. Located
along the border of Central Bucks, Hilltown is one of the
most prestigious communities in Pennsylvania. Hilltown
offers its residents and visitors fine restaurants, business
services, and shopping options, while maintaining the charm
of its rural heritage. Hilltown is home to such prestigious
sites as The Pearl S. Buck House, and just a stones throw to
such locations as Bucks County Community College’s Upper Bucks Campus
and The Sellersville Theater. A
short drive from Hilltown will lead you to esteemed
institutions such as The Mercer Museum, The Bucks County
Playhouse, and Delaware Valley College, to name just a few.
The area is rapidly growing, containing some of the most
beautiful new home sites, with a community committed to
maintaining open space to preserve its scenic beauty. Hilltown
is in close proximity to many major thoroughfares, and
allows residents easy access to Philadelphia, Allentown, and
New York City.
"I
never have to worry about my students who come from that
little school in Hilltown as they are the best prepared
of all."
- Monsignor Joseph Schade
Hilltown is proud to have Grand
View Hospital as a major medical center in the community.
Grand View Hospital is located less than five miles from
the proposed Archdiocesan high school site and can be
visibly seen from the land. Grand View Hospital, in
conjunction with The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
(CHOP), has established the CHOP Connection and CHOP
doctors are available to the emergency room twenty-four
hours a day. Another major medical center available to the
community is Doylestown Hospital. Doylestown Hospital is
easily accessible from Hilltown by major routes. Doylestown
Hospital is a Regional Healthcare Hospital with 196 beds and
380 physicians in 42 specialty areas. Doylestown’s
Emergency Room Department is considered one of the best
“ERs” in the Philadelphia area.
Hilltown
Township…a great place to live, to work, and to grow!
This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by
Lansdale Catholic High School or the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Copyright ⓒ [2008] Petrosky Consulting. All rights
reserved
additional fee for the year, and that amount varies
from school to school. 