Daily News du lieu suivant : New York, New York • 99

1 1 VI MJ3 .1 3 UAIIT Thursday rSepterabler 7. i DOB MraB(fllD(SS Mother of 6 is new superintendent of Catholic schools By JOHN LEWIS In addition, there is a growing non-Catholic student population, especially in the archdiocese's inner-city schools, which parents prefer over public schools because of the so-called "Catholic, identity." "We give non-Catholic parents a hope for the future," Hickey said in an interview in her office at the New York Archdiocese's headquarters at First Ave. and 55th St. "Ninety percent of our high school graduates go on to four-year college or some form of post-secondary education. Having a Catholic identity is what attracts people to us." Hickey succeeds Brother James Kearney, who held the post for 12 years.

She is the first layperson to head the school system. As a result of a Daily News Staff Writer By day, Catherine Hickey leaves her Yonkers home for midtown Manhattan early every morning to oversee the 13th largest school system in the country that of the Archdiocese of New York. By night, she returns home to her role as wife and the mother of six grown daughters. Hickey this month became the 15th superintendent of schools for the archdiocese, which has 112,000 students in 257 elementary schools and 60 high schools. The archdiocese, covering Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island three-fifths of the city plus Westchester and six upstate, counties, runs the third largest Catholic school system in America.

Los Angeles and ITTMTiH IIUTT ilMMMMMllMIIMttrft Mill 1 I IIWl II I lege. Hickey said she' is unique in that she is the first archdiocesan school superintendent ever to have all of her children go through the Catholic school system. Stephen, her husband of more than 30 years, is a former New York City, public school teacher. "We always are facing the fiscal challenge of keeping our schools afloat," Hickey said. "We don't have public money, so most or our funds come directly from the "parishes.

It costs us $2,000 to $3,000 per student to educate. This compares with $6,000 per kid for public schools." In elementary schools in the inner-city areas of Manhattan, Bronx and southern Westchester, 24,300 students are from low and low-middle income families, 13 of them black, 20.2 Hispanic, and 9 non-Catholic. Yet, students in Grades 1 through 8 scored in the top third nationwide in reading, language arts and mathematics in a comprehensive test of basic skills given last spring. Tuition in archdiocesan schools ranges from $900 to $1,300 annually for elementary schools, and from $1,100 to $1,900 for high schools. Where nuns and brothers once constituted the teaching staff in Catholic schools, the majority of teachers today are lay teachers.

Lifetime decision "Our mission, however, has not changed," Hickey said. "We're very strongly Catholic and we teach religion as an academic subject Many of the non-Catholic children in our schools embrace Catholicism. We do not ask them. They come to us. "I insist that parents of such children come back to us two or three times before 'Ninety percent of our high school graduates go on to four-year college or some form of post-secondary education.9 Catherine Hickey SCHOOL'S IN: Catherine Hickey (stanaing) oecame tne 15tn superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of New York this month.

Here, Hickey is standing next to Rev. Hugh McManus, archdiocesan vicar of education. recent synod of the Archdiocese of New York, church leaders wanted to see more laypeople in positions of authority. So Cardinal O'Connor selected Hickey to head the system. Fordham graduate A graduate of Fordham University, Hickey holds a bachelor's degree in education and a doctorate in education administration and supervision.

She also has a master's degree in reading education from Lehman Col Chicago are bigger; however, that's because Catholic schools in Brooklyn and Queens are in the separate Diocese of Brooklyn. With children returning to classes yesterday, Hickey, a former principal of Sacred Heart School in Dobbs Ferry, faces two of the greatest challenges ever to confront the 189-year-old archdiocesan school system finding money for the ever-increasing cost of educating children, and a 2 to 3 annual drop in enrollment. dedicated teachers and tremendously supportive parents in our schools have forged a tradition of excellence and kept Catholic schools afloat during difficult times. "It takes a tremendous amount of work and money to keep our schools going, but it's worth it," she said. allowing their children to make the decision, because it is a lifetime commitment and the parents are responsible to see that the child will continue to get a Catholic education." Focusing on the three "Ps" parents, principals and pastors is her major, priority, she aid.

"Principals and pastors working with thew ByPJ. SAUNDERS panded to all six floors and will operate 24 hours a day. Notre Dame's move did not come without protest but, according to archdiocesan school officials, the move was essential. "The sisters of St Ursula, who owned Notre Dame High School, decided to sell because the cost of operating the property was becoming prohibitive," Murphy said. "Another reason was that the number of sisters in the religious order had diminished, and funds were needed to care for the older retired members." Less than 50 sisters of St Ursula remain in the United States.

It is estimated that the property, which includes two buildings serving as a convent on W. 78th St, is worth about $7 million. Schools in Nassau and Suffolk counties are in the Rock-ville, L.I., Diocese. It's 'temporary' "This is a temporary location," Brother Thomas Schady, principal of St Agnes said yesterday. "The building on 44th St needed an awful lot of work to continue as a high school We will be moving back when the property is further developed." How temporary remains to be seen.

Msgr. Eugene Clark said future plans call for a hi-rise development to be built on the spot, incorporating the school into the development However, he cautioned, "this is not in the foreseeable future. Someday it will be, inevitably." He said, since the tre Dame alive," Murphy said. "The sisters of St Ursula were not opposed. In fact, the principal at the new location is a sister of St Ursula.

They all worked together, approached the Archdiocese and found the property on St. Mark's Place." Notre Dame spent about $100,000 in renovating the building, which dates back to 1905, to make it suitable for a high school. "For example," she said, "they put in a science lab and things like that" One of the most noted of the graduates of Notre Dame is the current president of the Philippines, Cora-zon Aquino. The New York City Archdiocesan school system has 54,600 students in 149 elementary schools in the city. I Instate, there are another old St Stanislaus elementary school at 104 St.

Marks Place near Thompkins Square on the lower East Side. Closed in June Both Immaculata, a co-ed high school, and St Stanislaus, an elementary school, had to shut down in June because of dwindling enrollments, according to Nora Murphy, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese school system. "Just as an example," she said, "Immaculata had 270 students in June compared to an enrollment of 414 in 1980., When St Stanislaus closed in June, it had 72 students. The capacity of the building is close to 300." The New York Archdiocese includes Manhattan, Bronx, Staten Island and seven up- Daily News Staff Writer As the more than 190,000 students in the 317 schools of the New York Archdiocese's elementary and high school system began their autumn 1989 term yesterday, two of the city's oldest Catholic high schools opened their doors in new locations. St Agnes Boys High School moved into the old Immacu-lata High School building at 317 E.

33d St. Since its founding in 1892, the St Agnes school has occupied a six-story building on 44th St between Lexington and Third Aves. behind St. Agnes Church. The parish-owned school has been operated by the' Marist Brothers since it opened.

Notre Dame Academy, a 77-year-old prep school for girls, building is not "in good gSjXM studentship. ugh schools. Diocese, drop-in center will be. ex- sTudents wanted to keep No the Brooklyn year. It has moved into the.