Despite a sagging economy that has eaten into the money many families have available for private school tuition, non-public schools in Laurel have not been hit hard, and many have come close to maintaining their enrollment levels.

St. Vincent Pallotti High has seen only a minimal drop in its enrollment. Though the school has not lost as many students as administrators once worried it might, 2009 has still been a rough year for the school and a busy one for the school’s financial aid office.

“We’ve been very fortunate this year,” said Pallotti Principal Stephen Edmonds. “In February, things didn’t look so certain, but they’ve leveled off.”

In an average school year, the school enrolls about 125 freshman each fall. This year it actually exceeded that goal, enrolling 126.
Unfortunately, Edmonds said, the school lost 15 students after 25 upperclassmen left the school, while only 10 students transferred in to replace them.

“Unfortunately, several families had to drop re-enrollment because they simply could not afford it,” he said. “In some cases, a parent lost a job, in others, it was a difference between keeping their home (and paying tuition).”

Edmonds said he and the school’s staff sympathized and, in every case, tried to help re-arrange the family’s financial aid. To do so, the school moved $60,000 from the school’s general fund to financial aid to “lessen the blow.” In all, the school’s 494 students this year have been given $525,000 in tuition assistance.

Edmonds said that while the school lost six students, the loss might have been far worse had it not been for that additional money. In fact, as recently as one week before school began on Aug. 31, it appeared that the school might lose 15 students for the year before working out additional financial aid for nine students.

He mentioned that one family was prepared to remove their child after the father had lost some of his overtime compensation, but the school was able to “finagle his payments,” to make them more affordable.

“Many of the students we lost were rising seniors and it’s horrible that we’ve lost them,” Edmonds said. “But it could have been much worse for us and we’re thankful that it was not.”

Students and their families are not the only ones at Pallotti feeling the recession’s impact. It has extended to the school’s faculty and staff as well. With the school’s budget being squeezed, and more money needed for financial aid, “staff adjustments” were necessary.

In all, Edmonds said, three part-time teachers were let go, while several retiring teachers and staff were not replaced.

“The education will still be the same and we’ve made sure that class sizes will not increase because of this,” he said.

To make up for the lost faculty, Edmonds said many teachers are taking on one extra period of class and reducing planning periods from two to one. All teachers will still have at least one lunch period and one planning period.

Growing pains

But Pallotti is not the only school to see the effects of the recession.

Across Route 198, at First Baptist School of Laurel, the last year has been rough on the school.

While enrollment is up to 160 this year — from 140 last year — Principal Francine Frazier said the recession has significantly stunted the growth the school expected. Frazier said she believes the school likely would have 200 students were it not for the recession.

Frazier said that she expects First Baptist School of Laurel to coast through the remainder of the recession after last year forced the school to exist on a tighter budget.

“Last school year was brutal for us,“ she said. “We had to work with, at times, a shoestring staff and budget. I feel like we were the canary in the mine for every other school in the recession.”

The school dealt with layoffs of staff — 15 total — as well as cuts in programs.

However, Frazier said, the school was able to survive the budget crunch thanks to volunteer work from the members of First Baptist Church.

For instance, she said, the school’s library continued to operate after a congregant, who is a retired teacher, volunteered to run the media center twice a week.

Comes with the territory

St. Mary of the Mills Principal James Pavlacka said that although enrollment is down five students this year, enrollment is “stable.”
He said that the school deals regularly with constant turnover in its enrollment and does not believe that the five student drop is not likely due to the recession.

“The Baltimore-Washington corridor is a very transient area,“ Pavlacka said. “Families come and go all of the time. We see this with our enrollment on an annual basis … recession or not.“

Similarly, he said the school’s fundraising has also been able to maintain at the same levels.

The recession has not brought all bad news for Pallotti High School. The school’s fund-raising department has been surprisingly busy.
“Fund-raising has actually increased,” Edmonds said. “People are very aware of the (school) community’s situation and, as such, they are being very generous.”

Edmonds said he hopes that the increased generosity is a sign that the recession may be winding down.

“People have stepped up to the plate and we are thankful for that,” he said. “Hopefully, next year we won’t be losing any of our students (due to finances).”

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