Time for family reunion, WNY Tour

I'm departing Austin today for a solid week enjoying the company of friends and family in the summer green of New York State. First up is Independence Day in Plattsburgh and a few days with friends north of the Adirondacks.

 

Next week I will enjoy a nice, long drive down the Northway then to the Thruway and head for Western New York. Am looking forward to a Thursday lunch and meeting with JP Butler for a face-to-face update on AWHS, perhaps an opportunity to shoot some photos for the blogsite, and compare impressions of the school from someone who graduated 5 years ago and someone who graduated 41 years ago. Am also focused on the joys of a Beef on Wick repast, something that doesn't happen in Central Texas. This should be most interesting.

Then there's the family reunion ... I might even get to talk with Bob McFarland (AWHS board president) at the Steinbroner Nation Family Reunion on July 12. The following day, I'm headed back to Austin, no doubt my memory banks and cameras filled with images from a most enjoyable, but all too brief, vacation.

Fr. Allaire to step down as principal

There will soon be a change made to the administration at Archbishop Walsh High School, Mr. Robert McFarland, president of the board of trustees, recently announced.

Fr. Barry J. Allaire, who has been serving as principal at Walsh since the spring of 2006, will be assigned to the newly-created position of director of religious affairs after the completion of the current school year. Fr. Allaire, a teacher and administrator at Walsh for the last 25 years, will focus on the religious direction of the school while emphasizing the Catholic Church’s mission to students and the greater community. He will continue to have a positive impact and presence at Walsh, McFarland said.

Fr. Allaire will continue to teach various levels of religion, the classical languages and related courses.
The board of trustees also announced that it is currently in the process of finding a successor to Father Allaire. The new principal will be hired to concentrate on the day-to-day administration of the school, Mr. McFarland said.

Potential candidates for the position are asked to send a resume and cover letter to Archbishop Walsh High School, 208 N. 24th Street in Olean, N.Y. The new principal’s appointment will be effective immediately.

Dresser exec joins AWHS board

If you haven't seen this item, you may find it of interest. Just click on the headline above "Dresser exec joins AWHS board" OR scroll down through the following story from the Olean Times Herald

June 18, 2008

Dresser-Rand president

signs on to Archbishop Walsh

Board of Trustees

By JEFF SHAW
Olean Times Herald

OLEAN - In an attempt to keep the school open in the face of major budget cuts, Archbishop Walsh High School is bringing one of Olean’s most prominent businessmen to its Board of Trustees.

Vince R. Volpe Jr., the president and CEO of Dresser-Rand, agreed to join the board after meeting with several of its members Friday. His daughter attended the school. Mr. Volpe was in Europe and unavailable for comment by press time today.

After the Buffalo Diocese of the Catholic Church announced it was cutting back funding to its private schools, Archbishop Walsh faces the possibility of closing due to lack of funds. Mr. Volpe will spearhead the effort to keep the doors to the school open, Board of Trustees President Robert McFarland said.

“He’s very excited about the prospect of helping restructure Walsh,” Mr. McFarland said of Mr. Volpe. “He wants to be very involved with the future path of the school.”

The current goal of the school is to increase enrollment to over 150 students within three years while growing financially and enriching academic and student life, Mr. McFarland said, and Mr. Volpe will help them develop ways to go about reaching that goal.

“(Mr. Volpe) will work with the present Board of Trustees, volunteers and community leaders that have wanted to keep Walsh open and grow the school,” he said.

Besides having business experience, Mr. Volpe is also well connected in the Olean community, Mr. McFarland said.

“We’re working closely with the Diocese of Buffalo and with St. Bonaventure University,” Mr. McFarland said. “Mr. Volpe is a board member at St. Bonaventure as well, so we’ll be working with them even more closely.”

One of Mr. Volpe’s key tasks will be finding ways to keep money coming into the school to keep it open.

“We’ve had ongoing fundraising efforts that showed good success, but Mr. Volpe on board is an important aspect of that,” Mr. McFarland said. “When you get someone that is a name as a community leader, it surely helps in the fundraising effort.”

Father Barry Allaire, the school’s principal, said Mr. Volpe joining the Board of Trustees shows his commitment to alternative education and his belief in improving the Olean area.

“He’s committed to this community and committed to this school,” Father Allaire said.

Walsh 500 and More...

It has now been three months since we kicked off our Walsh 500 campaign and our attempt to obtain the commitment of 500 donors willing to donate $1,000 to the school each year for five years. To date, we have received close to $400,000 in 5-year pledges ($80,000 annually) and another $26,000 in one-time donations. All in all, 162 people and businesses have contributed to the drive in the last 12 weeks, pushing us to about 18 percent of the total goal of $2.5 million.

Unfortunately, Walsh 500 dollars are showing their first signs of tapering off since the campaign began back in March. To help put some life back into the campaign, we plan on using the rest of the school year (graduation is Friday, June 27) to continue to make personal phone calls, write to some of our key alumni and probably send out another mailing. If the money begins to come in at the pace it did in April and May, we should be making it into the next year.

In other news, many parents of our current seniors came together and agreed to donate $300 per family for parking lot repairs before graduation. Most of the senior families are participating, and we've raised enough to patch just about all of the potholes as you make the turn into Walsh off 24th Street. The paving company came by last week to clean out each of the holes and will be returning this Saturday to fill them in.

Also, the alumni newsletter, Walsh World, will be sent out this week and it contains more information on advancement and recruitment, a letter from Fr. Barry, as well as information on this year's Reunion. I know many people have been wondering when the Reunion is going to be held, and the answer is Friday, Aug. 1 right here at the school. The event usually runs from 6-midnight and, as I've stated before, we will hopefully be having a golf tournament the next day. There will be more information about both in the newsletter.

Again, please consider making a donation to the Walsh 500 as try to make sure the school makes it into next school year, and many more school years thereafter. God bless.

J.P. '03

Native Americans at School

One of the more interesting ideas outlined in the AWHS Strategic Plan involves the hope of more students from the Seneca Nation of Indians, many now attending in the Salamanca School District. This article ("On the Reservation and Off, Schools See a Changing Tide") from the New York Times evokes some of the possibilities worth considering.

Still, I find myself posing questions about which factors most appeal to Seneca families living between Salamanca and Jamestown who might be inclined to send their children on the long commute to AWHS in Olean.

(Moreover, I find myself wondering, in this time of high fuel prices, what factors might spur non-SNI families, from even farther away than some do now, to send their children on the long commute from communities to the north, east or south of Olean.)

Given the modern technology for distance learning and the growth of private home-based schooling, it would seem to follow that SNI parents who want non-public education for their children might instead establish their own private high school much closer to home.

Or, in the alternative, they could establish a smart-tech virtual high school with lessons available to other tribes (and perhaps to non-tribal individuals) beyond Western New York.

Such an alternative, it would seem, also is available even to non-tribal families (near and far) finding merit and value in home-based education focused on Catholic tradition and values.

Changing populations and the resulting changes in local economics appear to be the larger forces at play shaping the creation and the "de-creation" or end of physical-space schools. Some of these same forces are shaping the rise of virtual schools. Make no mistake, interested learners working synchronously or asynchronously can receive a serious, valued and real education in either sphere. Check out more on virtual high schools here.

As far-fetched as some of these ideas may sound at first, I'm still waiting to hear more from AWHS administrators or trustees as to what's next.

Walsh 500: Update

As Tim said, the goal of the Walsh 500 is to obtain the commitment of at least 500 individuals to donate $1,000 to the school each year for the next five years. As of April 29, we have received donations and pledges from alumni and friends of close to $350,000 for over the next five years. However, that is from the people who have made full 5-year commitments. I would like to clarify here that individuals can make "one-time" donations of any amount towards this goal. And many have.

In addition to the 5-year commitment total, we have raised an additional $25,000 from one-time gifts. All in all, we have received donations or pledges from 152 people and organizations since this fundraising campaign began on March 8. Also this year, we have made another $41,000 through the Walsh Fund for Excellence (annual fund), $31,000 in major gifts and $28,000 in donations to our scholarship fund.

While we've certainly had a great year in the advancement office, those monies raised -- in addition to tuition money and the dwindling dollar figure we get from the Diocese -- still fall short of our annual budget, which is now approaching $825,000. We're not getting the tuition money we once were, so this money will have to be made up through fundraising efforts. This is why we are asking our loyal graduates and closest friends to consider making a donation to the Walsh 500. Please don't feel that if you can't commit $1,000 a year for five years, then you can't join the Walsh 500 -- because even the $10 and $25 donations put us closer to our goal.

After seven weeks, we are still getting a positive response from our alumni and the Olean community. The envelopes have not stopped coming. Please consider joining your fellow grads and making a contribution.

- J.P. '03

Death in the family

James Jude Cunningham, known to most as Jude, but to some as Jay, is my brother. He attended Walsh High School briefly (1964-1965). A victim of cancer, he died, age 57, in Anniston, Alabama, on April 24, 2008. The Cunningham family will be gathering for a memorial service on May 1 in Anniston.

Walsh 500 raising funds

The Development Office at Walsh has undertaken a fundraising campaign called the Walsh 500. The goal of the effort is to obtain the commitment of at least 500 individuals to donate $1,000 to the school each year for the next five years. According to JP Butler (see elsewhere in this blog), since early March the school has received donations and pledges from alumni and friends of more than $300,000 for over the next five years. That puts the campaign at about 13% of the total goal of $2.5 million over five years. I'm hoping JP will report gains here as the campaign advances.

Questions to alumni and friends: Did you receive one of the letters asking you to join the Walsh 500? How about one of the phone calls via the phone-athon underway in April? If you haven't been contacted yet, and you're inclined to participate, give Walsh a call. If ever there was a time to call, it appears that now is that time.

It's nice to see people respond to this expressed need. Even so, I believe I would find the requests more attractive if I had some sense of the projected operating budget for each of the upcoming five years? Surely the rising cost of fuel has affected the school's expenses, as has been the case for individual household and business expenses. What other factors are in play as administrators develop a budget? So, what does it cost to operate this school for a year, especially in the face of declining enrollments. Even if recruiting efforts are very successful in the first year, what is the optimal enrollment? What will it take in bodies to reach this state? Increases on the order of 30%, 50% or more? While a 100% increase in enrollment sounds great as a percentage, that's still well below the total student population when AWHS was at its peak.

So, I find myself asking, even as the need has been identified and expressed: Whither comes the optimism?

Saving Catholic Schools

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute in Ohio has issued a report, "Who Will Save America's Urban Catholic Schools?" This is interesting reading for anyone interested in saving Archbishop Walsh High School.

Of particular note, seen in the executive summary on case-study findings (Page 5), is the idea that the primary causes of massive Catholic School closures have been demographics and economics.

While some cities actually are opening new Catholic high schools (as recently announced here in Austin, TX), demographics and economics are decidedly large factors in such growth.

In the case of AWHS, if the large circumstances of demographics (too few students, fewer parishes) and economics (higher costs for salaries and for fuel to warm facilities and run buses), the question remains: What next? What say you?

Phone-A-Thon Underway

Hi everyone,

As I mentioned in my last post, we have been working with some of our students and teachers on sending information about Walsh to all of the bishops in the United States. We sent the last of those letters out last week, and are now waiting for a response. The students included personal stories about what Walsh has done for them, as well as pictures of different things going on at the school. We are hoping there are a few bishops out there interested in helping save a Catholic high school.

While we await response, we have started a phone-a-thon to contact various alumni and friends. Fr. Barry and myself, as well as some board members, teachers and other volunteers will spend this week contacting different constituents about what they might be able to give to Walsh. Tonight was our first night and already we had a handful of people commit to giving $1,000 each year for five years.

While the money side of the issue is being tackled from every possible angle, I still have yet to receive word about enrollment for next year. Brother Mike has been meeting with many families in Bradford and Wellsville (where there are Catholic elementary schools), but I have not heard an official number of students registered for next year, or how interest has been in the Bradford and Wellsville areas. Hopefully I can post an update on that in the coming days.

On another positive note, I am happy to report we will officially be resurrecting the Walsh Alumni golf tournament this summer. I have been meeting with '71 grad Tim Flanigan, who works at Holiday Valley golf course in Ellicottville, and it looks like we'll be holding the event at that course on Saturday, August 2, the day after the reunion dinner and dance. We still have yet to work out the details, but the date is set in stone, so start spreading the word.

J.P. '03

Advancement news from JP Butler

JP Butler is working to advance the continued existence of Archbishop Walsh High School. Check here for his comments to an earlier blog entry. His remarks are the first we've heard directly from a representative from the school. As a result, he's been welcomed with author rights to this blog. We're hoping he can keep us informed of the discussions being held and decisions being made about AWHS. Of course, his work and that of many others is daunting in light of recent media reports about school closings in the USA. Welcome, JP.

Diocese downsizes BIG-TIME

The Diocese of Buffalo has been downsizing its holdings for some time, especially with its schools and parishes. This article from the Buffalo News details some of the effects of those downsizing decisions. We find that business decisions don't always mean "go and grow." Sometimes, in the natural course of things wherein we must admit the cycle of life has its ups and downs, we find that closure merits consideration. As with people, even beloved schools deserve someone mature enough to make needed DNR decisions.

For further consideration, I find myself reminded that buildings do not constitute the church, the faithful do. If this is so, then perhaps it follows that schools do not exist in the buildings but in the people who attend and who have attended. For now, at least, I find small comfort in this sentimental view that Archbishop Walsh High School may endure in our memories for some decades to come. One hopes that responsible people now are considering so-called "after-uses" of the school's campus buildings, if only as possible contingencies. Any ideas?

So, here's a question: What could redevelopment look like?
Adjunct housing or classrooms for SBU expansion?
Center for distance-learning in all of Western New York and beyond, employing the latest in technology to promote learning online that is faster, better and more affordable?
What say you?

Rescue effort under way

Here's the latest from the Olean Times-Herald on AWHS efforts to sustain itself. Looks like much work remains to be done. Here's the sense I'm getting: the money-raising part may be easy while the getting of students could be difficult. Disappeared students = disappeared school. Apparently, more will be evident in April, at least according to this article.

Quote: Brain drain's effects

“We do not have a job for all the people in the field or the majors that they graduate with. So we have individuals that get educated and then decide to stay either in the college community they went to school in or take jobs our community does not offer. It’s a personal choice to move out and try other communities.” –– John Sayegh, chief operating officer of the Greater Olean Area Chamber of Commerce, OLEAN TIMES-HERALD, March 20, 2008

Population declines on Southern Tier

From this news report in the Olean Times-Herald, it appears Cattaraugus County leads New York State in population decline. No doubt, this is a big factor as AWHS considers its future. Potential for gathering additional students appears limited by this one fact of life: the pool of potential students is smaller than ever, it seems. Thus, AWHS administrators consider casting a wider net (recruiting well beyond the bounds of a reasonable commute) or adding more grades (including a middle school, for starters). Parishes all over the Buffalo Diocese have consolidated and some have disappeared. Key reason appears to be population loss.

I was especially taken with the quote in the article about the effects of the "brain drain" from Cattaraugus County. Hey, where the jobs are, people will follow. Except for the snow, I suppose, I'd love to still be living in western New York close to family, but that won't happen for many of the reasons outlined in the article. I'm finding it best to be near family here in Austin and creating community where I am, not where I've been.

Back in the late 1960s, as we neared graduation from high school, many of us were encouraged by mentors to do exactly what we did, that is, move away for employment and life opportunities. It appears that many, many, many of us took that advice. What's your story?

Time to contact Walsh?

It's been more than a week since the big Thursday meeting that was scheduled at the school. Media coverage of the gathering has been VERY sparse and the school's website doesn't seem to offer an update. So maybe it's time to contact AWHS directly to find out what's happening. Click here for the school's contact info via its website. If you find out anything, please be sure to share with the rest of us.

AWHS considers its future

The story in this week's Olean newspaper makes it pretty plain that financial hard times are upon Archbishop Walsh High School. Emails have come forth from alumni to other alumni sharing the news. Challenges have come forth to raise funds, either from individual alums or to be gathered from entire class years. A big meeting is scheduled at the school tomorrow to weigh whether AWHS has a future beyond this year. Enrollment today is below 100 students. [Hey, my graduating class in 1967 was larger.] Fact is, parishes in Western New York have closed and there appear to be far fewer potential recruits to attend the school. What's to be done? Let the discussion begin; your comments are welcome.