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am V u^J^Hi^A - ' *,— •J-'rZ '**£ ** \ > lymmi f^^^^^^^^W^^ .week-vl^tUlto^m Cay£igi ? City-Catholic showdown .* /^ife^andfeM^Quaid b©Jfo ^do leagye ? baskOTall games fast Weefef ssltlftgth^ stage for a key M bal|le between the two |earns this Friday. Page 13. ^~r . r . Catholic Diocese of Rochester 50 Cents Thursday February 2, 1989 20 Pages Catholic schools await word on closing proposal By Rob Cullivan A \wait-and-see\ attitude characterized many of the comments coming from the north- east quadrant following two weeks of meetings between diocesan school officials and rep- resentatives of the six schools targeted for clos- ing by the quadrant's planning board. | The Northeast Quadrant Planning Board — one of nine groups charged with reorganizing Monroe County's Catholic school system — has recommended the June, 1989, closings of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and St. Philip Neri in Rochester and St. Salome in Irondequoit. Christ the King and St. James in Irondeqouii and An- nunciation in Rochester are slated to close in June, 1990. The plan also calls for the estab- lishment by September, 1990, of a junior high for the quadrant on the premises of Bishop Kearney High School. The proposal calls for the quadrant's seven remaining schools to house grades kindergarten through six, with each grade level divided into two sections. Each of , the remaining schools, would also offer a pre-K ' program, for a total o.f 15 operating classrooms in each school Of all the representatives of schoo s targeted by the proposal, Christ the King's have been the most vocal and persistent opponents c f the plan. Confusion .flyer. jhe„flumber of classrooms housBa'^jTTBe^school may have led t o the school's proposed closing. When Christ the King officials originally re- sponded to the planning board's survey oh the number of classrooms in the school, the parish's quadrant representative, Robert Gre s, counted only the rooms currently being use! as class- rooms. Greis claims he was unaware that the number could include rooms that could be po- tentially used as classrooms. At a meeting with diocesan education officials on Jan. 19, Greis said that the word \poten- tial \in reference to classrooms was never dis- cussed at quadrant meetings. \When I saw the words 'potential use' on Jan. 4 (the date of the planning board's last meeting before it issued the proposal), it was the first time I saw those words,, \he said. A report prepared by the parish council and distributed at the Jan. 19 meeting stated that in addition to the nine rooms currently being used for classes, Christ the King's facilities house six more rooms — four meeting rooms, a reading room and a kitchen — that could be used as classrooms. Diocesan education officials agreed to take a second look at Christ the King, and on Friday, Jan. 27, Evelyn Kirst, assistant superintendent for curriculum, toured the school along with Alan Taddiken, principal analyst for the Center for Governmental Research, which prepared the planning board's proposal. William Dillon, president of the parish council, and Tony Mor- Index Around the Diocese.. Calendar' Classifieds Columnists Editorial & Opinion.. Entertainment Features.... 7) Local News Sports., World & Nation \buth .: .Page 9 Page 17 Page 14-15 .Page 18 .Page 10 Page 6-8 ..Page 3 Page 12-13 Page 4-5 ..Page 11 74470\73013' 05 daci, chairman of the parish's Catholic school committee, met with Kirst and Taddiken. Following the meeting, Dillon said that the diocese no longer views the number of class- rooms as an \issue.\ Kirst commented that she was impressed by the tour, but she declined to comment on whether it would affect the.' school's proposed closing. Like Christ the King, Our Lady of Perpetual Help's parents and school officials want to keep the school open, but unlike the Irondequoit par- ish, Perpetual Help has no faulty classroom fig- ures to fall back on as an argument to keep its doors open. School representatives met with Brother Brian Walsh, superintendent of schools, and Father John Mulligan, moderator of the pastoral office, on Wednesday, Jan. 25. Following the meeting, Sister Clare Francis Mogenhan, principal, observed that although a recent parish survey showed overwhelming support to keep the school open, the building's limited space will probably seal its fate. \The school was never built to hold two classrooms per grade,\ she said, noting that the school has only seven classrooms. Nevertheless, she said, the school's small size is its greatest asset. \I'm not of the opinion that large buildings and masses of children in them' is the way of giving a good education,\ she re- marked. The school is above water financially, but \we're not living on easy street,\ she said, re- ferring to another reason cited by Brother Walsh and Father Mulligan as impetus for the school's proposed closing. The diocesan oi 'b also noted that the school has been una„ie to attract more of its neighborhood's Hispanics, despite the availabi- lity of a Spanish language program, a problem Sister Mogenhan attributed to the school's tui- tion. Families with one child in the school are charged $1,000, and each additional child costs another $1,100. \The parish has Spanish peo- ple who can't afford it. We can't afford not to charge tuition,\ she said. Despite the odds against it, Our Lady of Per- petual Help is the only Catholic school between the Genesee River and Hudson Avenue in Ro- chester, Sister Mogenhan pointed out, a fact she believes should have some bearing on any de- cisipn to close it. \We hope they'll take another look at us,\ she said. A second look is also the hope at St. Salome's School, according to Angela Fortunato, princi- pal. Father Mulligan, Brother Walsh and Sister Roberta Tierney, diocesan director of edu- cation, met with school representatives on Thursday, Jan. 19. The parish's primary objection to closing the school is the alternative offered in its place — St. Cecilia's, which lies southwest of St. Sa- lome's and southeast of Christ the King. St. Ce- cilia's is located on heavily traveled Culver Road, which is reason enough to concern St. Sa- lome's school parents, she said. Brother \Valsh said both Perpetual Help's and St. Salome's presentations, while not as elab- orate as Christ the King's, presented \cogent ideas.\ Responses from each targeted school and the planning board's proposal are currently being reviewed hyuiocesan officials, who will forward them to the Commission on Reor- ganization of Catholic Schools, headed by Wil- liam Pickett, president of St. John Fisher Col- lege. Along with the proposal, the commission will receive 400 letters from school parents at St.\ Philip Neri, according to Teresa Hinchcliffe. school secretary. Not one of those letters sup- ported the school's proposed closing, she said, but she noted that no representatives met with diocesan officials to discuss the closing. Continued on page 16 MAKING MEMORIES — Diane Kannel's third-grade students at St. Thomas Mote. School mark Catholic Schools Week by making certificates commemorating their own star, which is registered with the International Star Registry. For more on Catholic schools, see page 8. Linda Dow Hayes/Couner-Journall Kannel shows Michael Beaudom how to use a telescope. New Depaul clinic to emphasize group work By Rob Cullivan ROCHESTER — An increased demand for group and family work in the mental health field is the impetus behind construction of a new building and underground parking lot on the grounds of the DePaul Mental Health Center, an affiliate of Catholic Charities. The single-story building and its 50-car underground lot are being built adjacent to De- Paul's administrative and continuing-treatment offices and- recreation center in Bulls Head Plaza on the 800-block of West Main Street. Scheduled for completion by April 1, the new facility will house the agency's clinic, currently located at 819 W. Main St., and will increase the size of DePaul's facilities to 16,000 square feet from its current size of 10,800, according to Janice M. Bamford, assistant to DePaul's executive director, Mark H. Fuller. The clinical building at 819 W. Main St. has been leased to St. Mary's Hospital to be used as an primary care facility, according .to Ann Berry, public affairs coordinator forSt. Mar- y's. The facility will offer treatment in internal medicine, pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology, she said. Until. now, construction of the $2-million clinic has been financed by loans, but the ageiicy is expecting a grant from the New York State Office of Mental, Health that will cover most of the cost, Bamfdrd said. She was unable to specify when the agency would receive con- firmation of the state grant. ! DePaul's offers a variety of mental hejalth services, ranging\from clinical care to opera:ion of residences and supervised apartments for the mentally ill. Other programs sponsored by the agency are preventive consultation and edu-. cation. DePaul serves 1,700 clients in .its outpa- tient service alone, Bamford said, and sevpral hundred more in its supervised housing. '< The new clinic will enable the agency to expand its services by providing more rooms for group therapy and patient observation, Bam- ford said. \We have a great demand for groups and family work,\ she commented, noting Ithat the new clinic will have 50 percent more room space than the current facility, and will contain four observation rooms, two group rooms and an activity room. The new construction also signals the agen- cy's commitment to its neighborhood, a low- income area of the city, Bamford noted. \There continues to be a need in the (inner city) for this kind of service,\ she said. Keeping the center . in an inner city location makes it more accessi- ble to its clientele, many of whom have no other transportation .than the city bus service, she said. bnda Dow Hayes/Couher-JoUrnal Construction of the new clinical building for the DePaul Mental Health Center is expected to be completed April 1.