Many years ago, after leaving seminary and before serving in Catholic schools, I worked for a short time as youth minister at a parish in my home diocese of San Diego. I remember being excited about planning a picnic for families at a local park. I placed information about the event in the parish bulletin. When the day came, nobody else did! It became immediately apparent that I had to change my tactics. Have you had similar challenges trying to engage the families of your Catholic school in attending PTG meetings? In time, I found that cultivating relationships and personal invitation made all the difference. Bulletin announcements don’t make connections. People do.
There are multiple reasons why parents choose Catholic schools for their kids, and connectivity plays a big part. We form close communities, strong moral and spiritual foundations and partnership with parents. Among the many benefits parents experience in our Catholic schools, perhaps the most important factor is a faculty and staff who are caring, dedicated and effective role models. A Baptist parent enrolling her child in a Catholic school perhaps said it best, “A lot of schools focus on the brain; we wanted a school that also focused on the heart.”
There’s no doubt that Catholic schools have a certain leverage. We have a clear mission. We are relatively small. We know our people. We are nimble. We are aligned. We can pivot. We have results. To engage families more meaningfully in the school community, it takes everyone. Your ambassadors begin with the faculty, staff, priests, religious women and administrators who connect most closely with families. If a family sees their Catholic school as a place of belonging—a home away from home—they are more likely to be engaged. Not only will they participate, but they may also contribute to the school long after their children have graduated. Through personal invitation, they can join your team of ambassadors.
When so many Catholic schools saw an enrollment bump during the pandemic, most of these new families who were not Catholic stayed with us after the dust settled. Catholic schools not only provide quality education but also meaningful formation. With such an influx, we have an opportunity to evangelize and exercise our mission—which is the mission of the Church—like no other ministry. For three decades, studies have shown that parents matter most when it comes to their children’s faith development and the eventual transmission of faith (or not). Families often need help navigating their children in the faith, especially with so many conflicting cultural influences, and so they turn to our Catholic schools.
Benchmark 4.5 of the National Standards and Benchmarks for Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools (NSBECS) states, “Every administrator, faculty, and staff member visibly supports the faith life of the school community.” If all of us working at the school have a place in this responsibility, do we know how well our staff are formed both to teach and to give witness to our Catholic faith? The teacher shortage has not helped matters. Consider that between 2010 and 2018, enrollment in traditional teacher preparation programs dropped by roughly a third, and as fate would have it, students are being taught by inexperienced or out-of-field teachers. These teachers need help navigating the mission, too.
It may be helpful to review all the ways you are already engaging families—as well as faculty and staff—in your Catholic school’s mission. Parents like options. Here is a starter list of strategies:
You might already be implementing many, if not all, of these strategies, but do you know if the effort is having an impact by way of bringing the adults on your campus closer together as a community and closer to the person of Jesus Christ? Are your teachers and staff equipped and comfortable in being ambassadors in this effort? This is our mission. It is the mission of the Church. If you are looking to measure where or how your school needs to grow in engagement, find out how NCEA can partner with you in defining your path at www.ncearise.org.
John Galvanjohn@ncea.org