L.A. Catholic Schools Do Their Part to 'Win the Future' for Obama -- Add 20 More School Days, Raise Tuition

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Opposition to 200 day school year mandate by LA Catholic Archdiocesewww.200istoomany.com

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Wow, I am not happy about losing my kids for another 20 days. My guess is the church needs more money. The only place our kids test lower than international students is IN history and geography. I think they should focus more on quality over quantity.

Do the teachers realize they are not really getting a 10% raise? If you assume they are working a 12 month year, they are increasing their work load by 8.3% which comes out to 1.7% raise. If you assume a 9 month work year, they are increasing their work time by 11.1% and losing 1.1%.

I THINK WE SHOULD ALL HOLD OUR KIDS OUT OF SCHOOL THIS THURSDAY FEB 3rd IN PROTEST!! WHO'S WITH ME?

Simone could have used a few more days in school herself - she's misspelled "diocese".

20 more days in a classroom will not make my 5 year old globally competitive. This is idiotic.

I disagree w/ the 20 extra days. My kids attend a very good Catholic school. Summer time is family time. It's for reconnecting. It's for my kids to have down time from their rigorous curriculum. W/ homework and projects almost every weekend, they look forward to the 10 week summer (which by adding 4 weeks of school, drops to 6 weeks of summer) to relax a little, enjoy an 'enrichment' summer class like music, art, etc.. It's family vacation time. Let's evaluate those 180 and make sure they're being used wisely and productively before we add more day ... like one person said, "it's QUALITY not quantity" . I have a lot of respect for almost all Catholic teachers (some have been teaching too long and are burnt out, and they need to retire). ... compete globally - really, a Kindergartner needs to worry about that??? The students at our school test well, have high GPA's, attend HS of their choice, and get accepted to to notch universities. The students at our school do NOT need 20 more days. I understand that other schools might need this, and I support those schools, but the LA Archdiocese cannot expect all its school to implement this policy.

I cannot help but take offense at your quote, "But before you get to pitying those poor overworked teachers, know that they're receiving a proportionate pay raise of 10 percent. Boo-ya. That's what happens when you make the good-headed decision to work for a private school." I hope you're trying to be sarcastic. I am a teacher in one of the schools making the switch next year, and even with a credential, a Master's Degree, and the pay increase I will still be making SIGNIFICANTLY less than a teacher in LAUSD. We're not getting a "pay raise." We're going to be paid for the extra month of work we will be doing. Do you suggest we don't receive a pay increase, and work that extra month for FREE? And, yes, even with the extra month of school, I stand by the decision of the Archdiocese. Like the teacher who posted before me, I think it's time we challenged our kids and rose to the competition of the rest of the world.

This is a total Scam! It's all about a marketing scheme to attract more people to Catholic Schools. Attempting to take away 1/3rd of my childrens summer and fond memories they should have of it is an outrage. Bad decision making at it's worst! What a slap in the face of the hard working Teachers and Principals who were not even consulted but had to take the outrage form concerned parents. If you think more time means smarter kids look up finland school system and low school days and get the facts.

We home school very successfully - but it costs more than parochial school because mom AND dad take salary hits to devote more time to our own curriculum.

What troubles me about this announcement is the timing and the manner: Cdl. Mahony is leaving in three weeks. How much discussion went into this, how much thought, and how much preparation?

Alas, the very political cardinal is dazzled by Obama -- like many bishops who believe(d), for good or ill, that the election of the great "O" represented a victory over "the structures of racism," of which we are ALL guilty (see US bishops 1979 pastoral on racism).

What Ab. Gomez must announce is this: Catholic schools reject every secular tendency that is embraced by the LA public schools. We fight for the family, not against it. We praise God, not deny Him; we study science with God in mind, and heart, instead of pretending He didn't create the world; and we infuse EVERY subject with our faith, instead of leaving it out on the curb.

In 1867, John Swett, California's director of education, claimed that the children belong to the state, not the family. He was fighting the rise of Catholic schools tooth and nail. This fight has been going on for centuries. Let's make sure that we don't make our schools pale carbon copies of the government's version with some Catholic salt dotted over the top. Let's make our schools the reflection of our Catholic homes -- the forge on which the steel of our faith is hardened and prepared for our constant fight against Satan -- and the atheistic government, which is the City of Man!

We are members of the City of God! In Caridinal M's words (with a different spirit), let's fight on! Lucharemos! Venceremos! Viva Cristo Rey!

Homeschool.

If I'm not mistaken, isn't this the Cardinal who is preaching bring all the illegals in? Paid out millions for sex abuse priests, closed dioceased? Doing their part for Obama is the only part I can believe, since Catholics are no longer pro life, they proved that in the election two years ago.

This is all about money - not education. Catholic schools already have a rigorous education. Students can barely keep up with the work and many have to give up extra activities. They rely on the summer for downtime and to enjoy activities they cannot do during the school year! This country has lead the world in innovation for 200 years and it isn't because of twenty extra days of school. It is quality not quantity that counts. Test scores are lower because the family has broken down. THANK YOU CATHOLIC CHURCH FOR ADDING TO THE CONTINUING BREAKDOWN OF THE FAMILY! You just want a bunch of mindless sheep!

I'm pulling my kids out!

This whole thing is completely dishonest-- it has nothing to do with competing with students from overseas of building leaders. Insiders at the Archdiocese have admitted as much. This is a marketing campaign to fill under-enrolled urban Catholic schools. The Archdiocese circulated a memo where it tried out the tortured "we need to compete globally logic" and they couldn't even convince themselves of it-- in the nex graf they were bragging about how great Catholic schools already are. Only at the end of the memo did they show their true colors when they said that they hoped this move would lead parents at LAUSD schools who are disaffected by the cuts over there to enroll in Catholic schools. For good measure, they cited the positive publicity this move would generate as another factor likely to bolster enrollment. The kids are pawns in the church's marketing campaign. It's a shame.

Well, that pay raise has to come some from somewhere. More than likely, it will need to come from the tuition increase. I'm a dedicated, highly productive member of the Roman Catholic Church. I'm also the product of a solid, values-based, parochial education. Most importantly, I'm a tuition-paying parent of a student in the LA Archdiocese. Many of us hardworking people, including myself, do not share the same sentiment as the folks downtown, or the author of this article for that matter. We are already cash-strapped as we "double-pay" for education. We pay our taxes, just like everyone else. Those taxes go towards an educational system our children do not attend. There are no vouchers for parochial education; at least I don't receive one. Then we pay tuition for our kids to attend school. Because of the economy, many of us have pulled our kids out of these schools as we can no longer afford it. Consequently, I predict that more families will have no choice but to pull their kids out of parochial school and send them to the already overburdened LAUSD. So tell me, how does this "tuition increase" improve the community of Los Angeles?

It's about time we try to compete with other countries that will take all of our industry! Instead of cutting days for budget purposes, let's do something that actually makes sense for the education of our future leaders. Face it, our public education system is failing. We are no longer an agrarian society, children do not need three months off to work in the fields. This new schedule will allow for plenty of breaks. The real "bummer" would be generations of Americans who can't function in adulthood because other nations have a better education system. This plan actually will allow for lighter nightly homework, more thourough study, and less retention loss over long breaks.