Sustaining Catholic Education in and for the Black Community
By Lois J. Carson, Sr. Roberta Fulton, S.S.M.N., Dorothy Gupton, Veronica Morgan-Lee, Freida D. McCray, Mary Crowley McDonald, Kathleen A. Merritt, Sr. Jamie T. Phelps, O.P., Ph.D., Brother Gary Sawyer, ECSA, Deacon Marvin Threatt, PhD.
(Article: Page 9 of 35)
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Sustaining Catholic Education in and for the Black Community Resource List for Youth Ministers In the African American Catholic Community

Diocesan Support Models

Model 3: The Jubilee Schools

In July 1999, Bishop J. Terry Steib, S.V.D., D.D., announced a new paradigm for Catholic education. Urban Catholic schools that had previously been closed due to low enrollment and lack of funding would be reopened to serve those with the greatest need: the children of inner city Memphis neighborhoods. The goal of this initiative is to create a learning environment where children and their families can learn, grow, and be loved. The schools were named in honor of the Jubilee year, a year of mercy for the underserved.

Bishop Steib's vision led to a challenge that was directed to Dr. Mary McDonald, the Superintendent of Schools for the Catholic Diocese of Memphis. With a clear vision and unwavering faith, Dr. McDonald accepted the challenge and charged into unchartered waters with a simple perspective: “We don't teach students because they are or are not Catholic. We need to teach them because we are Catholic. Education is our mission.”

Rather than begin by opening a pre-kindergarten through eight grade school with the near-impossible task of re-educating older children, the Jubilee Schools offered only kindergarten classes during the first year of each school's reopening. A subsequent grade was added each year thereafter until the school was complete.

The rationale for this plan was simple. By beginning in kindergarten, the Jubilee students would come to know a challenging, loving environment at an early age that would foster personal responsibility, while allowing each student to realize his or her true potential.

In today's society, the words “private” and “urban” are rarely uttered in the same breath. Yet the Jubilee Schools – the quintessential icons of private urban education – are demonstrating to the city, and to the world, exactly how effective this approach to education can be. The continuing success of the Jubilee Schools model will inspire duplication in other cities, expanding its influence exponentially.

When the Jubilee Schools first reopened in 1999, they started with one class of 27 students. Within 5 years, enrollment jumped to 500. Today, the Jubilee Schools encompass eight schools with more than 1,400 students currently enrolled, and the numbers are continuing to grow. Only 19 percent of the students are Catholic, while the remaining students represent a large diversity of denominations. However, the Jubilee Schools students all have one very important aspect in common: They are soaring to new heights.

The Jubilee Schools require assistance from each child's parent, the most influential teachers the students will have. All parents sign a pledge of their responsibility for their child and their participation in the Jubilee Schools.

These students are learning the value of being faithful Christians and good citizens. They are learning that there's more to life than the poor conditions in which they were born. They're learning how to be better people – educationally, socially, and spiritually. The results have been, in a word, miraculous. By the end of their first year at a Jubilee School, most students can read at their grade level.

Seven years of educating the children with the greatest need has confirmed what many already suspected: the plan is working. It's working amazingly well. The Jubilee Schools students actually outperform their peers on standard tests in reading, math, and science. In March 2005, The New York Times recognized the Jubilee Schools' success, writing, “The most successful model of all may well be in Memphis.”

The Jubilee Schools are owned and operated by the Diocese of Memphis under the direction of the Superintendent of Schools. Helping to fund the vision of the Jubilee Schools is the Catholic Memphis Urban Schools Trust (CMUST). This trust was established by the Catholic Diocese of Memphis for the sole purpose of raising and managing money for Catholic schools in the inner city and impoverished areas of greater Memphis community. In addition to tuition assistance, CMUST engages in fundraising throughout the year. Donors' monetary gifts enable the Jubilee schools to provide even more scholarships for students, helping to keep them on the path to success.

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