A 4-page anonymous letter that was circulated allegedly indicates that Seton, a Catholic School Team Management entity connected to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is apparently broke and has difficulty maintaining well qualified teachers and administrators at participating schools.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
April 22, 2019
Milwaukee, WI - The Archdiocese of Milwaukee is facing criticism concerning its partnership organization that has come to be known as Seton, a management team operating 11 Catholic schools in a network (SCSN). SCSN has also come under criticism after a 4-page anonymous letter was circulated and a January 11, 2019 letter response by Joan Shafer, the Seton interim CEO was sent to the Seton team responding to the anonymous letter. Both letters were made available to Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) indicating that SCSN has not been to transparent about their budget deficits, expenditures and are now dependent for survival on participating school budgets and tuition from parents that enroll their children in these Catholic schools.
According to information related to the Prince of Peace school, SCSN is paid at least $64,000 for service fees per year from the school budget.
The Catholic Schools are considered Choice Schools as well and are funded by the state of Wisconsin budget educational system that includes minimum accountability of education standards for this type of schools compared to statewide public schools.
According to information related to the Prince of Peace school, SCSN is paid at least $64,000 for service fees per year from the school budget.
The Catholic Schools are considered Choice Schools as well and are funded by the state of Wisconsin budget educational system that includes minimum accountability of education standards for this type of schools compared to statewide public schools.
So far, two Catholic schools that joined the SCSN, St. Matthias and Divine Mercy opt out within the first two years of initiating the SCSN program due to unsatisfied management and operating procedures that cost both schools. Just last week, parents at the Prince of Peace Catholic School (4K and middle schools) in the Southside of Milwaukee held a protest to seek independence from SCSN as well after a large turnover of teachers totalling around 25 in the last three years and the recent alleged resignations of the principal and two other staff members became public.
The parents at Prince of Peace are hoping their school can also opt out from SCSN, according to parents. The SCSN management team is mostly White and have no Latinos in the team, according to Latino parents at Prince of Peace, who say that their needs are not being met or taken seriously. One parent says that her child underachieved at Prince of Peace due to the turnover of teachers and he wasn't accepted at Marquette School when he applied and other similar cases with parents having underachieved children exists too.
The current SCSN participating Catholic schools include Catholic East, Mary Queen of Saints, Northwest Catholic, Our Lady Queen of Peace, Prince of Peace, St. Catherine, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Martin of Tours, St. Rafael the Archangel, St. Thomas Aquinas Academy and St. Roman. Some of the schools in the list are also facing similar allegations made by Latino parents who say that a mismanagement pattern is practice by SCSN, which has led to the underachievement of students, according to DPI test results. They have also expressed the same dilemma of not being able to get SCSN to be transparent about their budget deficits and to quickly fill vacancy teaching positions at schools resulting in extra work for those teachers in the network without compensation.
Parents at St. Roman Catholic School are also working to have their school opt out from SCSN as well.
The 4-page anonymous letter indicates:
• SCSN is broke
• Owes $2M to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee
• Financial issues has resulted in downsizing or cuts in teaching and staffing positions
• Schools under SCSN lack the freedom to develop their own professional development to best fit their students and staff
• SCSN has not developed a payscale to compensate teachers for their expertise and years of commitment
• Principals can't act independently to apply their own expertise and implement projects that fit the student population
The Seton letter by Shafer says:
• SCSN has taken some missteps and stumbling blocks
• Not everyone agrees with Seton's policies, practices, approach and direction
• Anonymous letter contains half-truths, rumors and innuendoes
• It can have a negative impact on Seton, enrollment and Archdiocesan Catholic Schools
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