By Michelle Martin
Staff writer

Kindergarten teacher Annie Hilpy stood in front of her class on the first day of school at Immaculate Conception on North Park Avenue.

“All right, boys and girls, we all know where the cross in the classroom is now. Let’s point our fingers to heaven and do our prayer,” she said.

With that, Hilpy turned on the tape deck and the children joined in a round of “Jesus Loves the Little Children” for a gaggle of media guests and Catholic school officials.

At Immaculate Conception, which just opened last year, the first-graders are the oldest in the school. They and the kindergarten occupy rooms in the renovated old school building, while three- and four-year-old preschool classes are in the new wing—among $36 million in Catholic school construction completed before the beginning of the school year. All students got to take advantage of the new playground.

On Aug. 27, the preschoolers seemed to have the better end of the deal, with air conditioning cooling the rooms filled with child-size fixtures and furniture. But many of the children were spending their first day away from home, so teachers and aides spent much of their time distracting and consoling tearful tots.

In kindergarten and first grade, by contrast, uniformed students were hard at work shortly after the opening bell.

The school served to demonstrate Superintendent Nicholas Wolsonovich’s message about the success of Catholic schools. Students in Catholic schools continue to score well above national norms on standardized tests (Complete story in the Aug. 31 edition of The Catholic New World), and fulfill their mission to teach each child in an explicitly Catholic environment.

“When you bring together education and religion, something magical happens,” said Wolsonovich, noting that the longer children stay in Catholic schools, the better they do academically and the more active they are in the church when they reach adulthood. “We deliver on our mission. We provide a thoroughly Catholic education that is academically demanding in a vibrant school setting.”

About 115,000 students were welcomed to 242 elementary schools and 41 high schools this year, with one new high school, St. Martin de Porres, slated to open in Waukegan next fall.

Challenges remain, including finding funding for inner-city schools, Wolsonsovich said. With 80 percent of school funding coming from parents in the form of tuition, and money for capital improvements very often coming from the capital campiagns of parishes, the archdiocese is looking for ways to help schools in poor neighborhoods.

The archdiocese already is committed to providing $6 million in grant funding for such schools every year, and the non-profit Big Shoulders fund provides another $8 million. (See the Interview, Page 11).