Forging a path, the risks of the first few classes

A new school, new administration, new teachers … is it worth the risk?

By the time the first class applies to Saint Dominic Savio early next year, we will likely see construction well underway, experienced principal and administrators hired, lots of dedicated volunteers helping out, but what else am I looking for as I consider whether to send my child to Dominic Savio in these early years of the school?

1) Is it going to be large enough to offer a variety of classes, a variety of sports in the early years?  Will the students be able to take Biology and Algebra II (or Geometry) during their freshman year?  With at least 35 in the entering year (class of 2013), and 50 in the class of 2014, I think that this is doable and those enrollment numbers seem possible (even if there were far fewer feeder schools).

2) With an unknown school, class rank is less important (fortunately students from college prep private schools are often ranked more favorably by colleges than those from public schools), but what factors will help early St. Dominic Savio graduates get into good schools?

• the ability to say something on their on their essay few can say “we started a school; we created a tradition.”
• The opportunity to take at least one AP test their Junior year (two would be better). US History, for example, is one of the easier ones for younger high school students to take. Having at least one AP test (which are more objective measures of the ability to do college work) out of the way by the time applications for college are due …
• STEM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) curriculum: In contrast with most most high schools, Math and Science will be a focus from day one. US high school students rank poorly compared to other industrialized countries in these critical areas (needed for the jobs of the 21st century) in part because Math and Science are not a strong enough focus. Here we have a chance to fix that.

3) What about sports? Catholic schools are legendary at sports, and in the long run it is likely that Dominic Savio would be too. But what about the first few years? I like the idea of having soccer available early as has been mentioned (and have talked with four or five select soccer players who are considering it already). This is not to challenge the nearby nationally ranked St. Stephen’s soccer program (yet), but because of convenience and practicality: the school is close to a well regarded select soccer program and because soccer requires fewer players and simpler facilities than some of the other sports programs. Similarly, offering Basketball early, and volleyball makes sense and seems doable even with a relatively small student population in the early years.

4) What about writing? Science and Math are great, but what about writing? St. Theresa school has done a great job preparing students here, as do many private grade schools, but will Dominic Savio challenge the students to become even better writers? Will it have a rigorous English/Writing program?

5) What about the teachers? A well regarded principal, a few well regarded teachers in the sciences and math to build a program around … I trust the administration will find suitable candidates but it is something that the parents will watch closely.

6) Will it have a clear mission, and a clear Catholic identity? Based on the quotes from Bishop Aymond, it sounds like this won’t be a problem.

What about Westwood?

A challenge facing private schools which overlap the Round Rock School District (RRISD) boundaries is the “Westwood problem.” Westwood is ranked highly among public schools (e.g. in average number of advanced placement tests taken per student). If a student could get into the IB program at Westwood, why would they choose an alternative?

As one that could face this dilemma, I have been thinking about why some might chose St. Dominic Savio or St. Michael’s over Westwood:
1) Strong Catholic identity – if the culture at the Catholic school is supportive of those with strong faith, shows good moral examples, is not hypocritical (“walks-the-walk”), incorporates service to others into the school culture ….

2) If the students are reminded that all of us have a vocation (and if some recognize a calling specifically to priesthood or the religious life that is great too). At a smaller school, students are more likely to find a place, and realize that God is calling them and that they have unique gifts.

3) Even when fully built out St. Dominic Savio’s total enrollment would be a manageable size – less than half the size of the smallest RRISD high school.  I want to know some of the parents of my children’s classmates … my family wants to be part of a school community, as we feel we have at St. Theresa elementary school today – not part of a “High-School-as-city” of almost 3000 students.

4) When I was a freshman High School student at a Catholic school of about 500 students … one day my soccer coach stopped me before practice and told me I needed to improve my work in Biology class – I needed to work harder on school. He knew because the school was a manageable size and the teachers, the parents, the students, the administration talked, worked together and generally trusted one another. Does that happen as often at enormous Westwood?

5) A fresh start … St. Dominic Savio has the luxury of not having years of “baggage” of lower expectations in some areas and more importantly not being tied down to TAKS, and the myriad regulations that give administrators, students and parents fits …

6) Sports, extracurriculars … at schools like St. Dominics and St. Michael’s, which are smaller than public schools, all students are expected to help out, participate and be active – a much higher percentage of the students have the opportunity to be fit. The Catholic High school I went to reached the State Championship tournament in multiple sports each year … even with a much smaller student population than the public schools we competed against. Sports and extracurriculars helped build community, build character and of course kept the students more fit than most public school students – I expect that St. Dominic Savio will be similar.

7) Academic Risk: Of course Catholic Schools and also the best public schools have high graduation rates and offer AP exams (or IB programs) but are the risks the same? At RRISD high schools about 90% of students graduate (much better than most public schools) and of these 87% of these RRISD graduates go on for more education of some sort – but 99% of students at schools like Dominic Savio and St. Michael’s go on to college. In a world in which college education is becoming more and more important do you want to risk having your child one of these statistics who don’t go on? Years ago a friend of mine who went to a High School very similar to Westwood talked about his high school days – a smart kid, at a great school, he coasted through high school, bored to tears, in the worst classes, keeping a low profile. In his senior year he surprised everyone by acing the SAT. His college counselor noted that he didn’t have enough college prep classes to get into the colleges he wanted to go to. Would a brilliant kid, taking the easiest classes, doing poorly, bored, have been noticed earlier at a smaller school – before his senior year?

Signs of early interest

Studies of population growth, statistics about the explosive growth in Round Rock expected over the next 10 years, demographic analysis of the location of the Catholic population in Williamson and northern Travis county, review of the distance to the nearest private and Catholic schools … these are useful, and they indicate that the school should grow quickly, but there are other measures.

One very obvious measure is the interest shown by prospective parents and/or donors during the informational meetings.   I attended one which was quite well attended and included many parents with children in the Holy Family school, and my wife went to the recent informational meeting at St. Theresa which was also well attended.   What do I conclude from these early meetings?

1) there are going to be enough students for a more-than-minimal-size initial freshman class.

2) those who want to help include some very bright, well educated, well connected and strongly motivated Catholics

3) the interest is not from just one elementary school – this is by no means “Holy Family High School,”   even though the new high school is close to Holy Family elementary school.  Based on comments from prospective parents it looks like the first few classes at the new high school will include students from many schools.

Some thoughts on a name

“Saint Dominic  Savio” … not a household name for most, at least those who aren’t familiar with the Salesians and the better known St. John Bosco (Dominic’s famous teacher).  As the youngest non-martyr to be canonized,  Dominic Savio has a plausible connection to high school youth, but there is one better and very obvious point that I missed at first:

“Savio” == “Wise Man” or “Wise” (in Italian)

And don’t we all pray for Wisdom for our children every day.