‘This shows we heard you’: Quincy Catholic Schools Board plans no facility changes for next year

QUINCY — Any reorganization of students in Quincy’s Catholic grade schools has been put on hold for at least one year.

A document recently published on the Quincy Catholic Elementary Schools (QCES) website from the Quincy Catholic Schools Board (QCSB) said no “substantial” facility changes will be implemented for the 2025-26 school year.

“This decision allows us the time necessary to carefully plan and thoughtfully implement any adjustments to our Catholic education system, ensuring a smooth transition for our students, families, and staff,” the document read. “We understand that more discussion is needed to address how our parishes and schools will remain connected, how transportation will be structured and how academic and fine arts offerings will be strengthened.”

The working facility plan proposed by the Quincy Catholic Elementary Schools was introduced to families during a series of listening sessions in September at the Connie Niemann Center for Music at Quincy University.

It called for Quincy’s four K-8 Catholic grade schools — Blessed Sacrament, St. Dominic, St. Francis and St. Peter — to continue to be used as attendance centers. However, Blessed Sacrament and St. Dominic would have been used for preschool and kindergarten for the 2025-26 school year. St. Francis would have been the site for all students in grades 1-4, and St. Peter would have been the site for all students in grades 5-8.

The plan was created by the Provisional Advisory Board. Members are:

• Andrew Mays and Amy Siebers from St. Peter
• Brian Dreier and Aaron Weiman from St. Francis
• Chris Wiemelt and Jacob Tadeo from Blessed Sacrament
• Dan Reichert and Donna Richmiller from St. Anthony/St. Dominic
• Erin Frazier from the Quincy Catholic Elementary Schools
• Terry Ellerman from Quincy Notre Dame

The plan met plenty of opposition. Christopher Gill, chief administrative leader of QCES, said the plan was “just a working idea” when the sharing sessions were held.

“It wasn’t a set plan, and it wasn’t a ‘We’re doing this come hell or high water’ plan,” Gill said. “It always was, ‘This is what we’re thinking about. What do you guys say?’ And the community let us know what they thought. The community has lots of opinions.

“People were expressing emotion. They were sad. They were angry. They were upset. They were frustrated. Some people are thinking about things that happened 20 years ago when Blessed Sacrament came into existence after they closed St. Mary’s and merged St. John’s and St. Boniface, There’s still some residue from that 20 years ago, so I’m dealing with all of that.”

Gill said the Quincy Catholic Schools Board received 491 responses to a community survey, and he received more than 125 emails while personally meeting one-on-one with many families. 

“It’s best for us to work together, so maybe we need to look at some new things,” Gill said. “I would say nothing is really off the table. We just don’t think that launching any kind of facilities plan changed by the fall is in our best interest.”

The QCES document published in November said the consistent suggestions that emerged were support for unification of the four grade schools into one system, closing a building, raising tuition for all, removing a subsidy for non-participating Catholic students, maintaining the K-8 model and fundraising to make up the budget shortfall.

“There weren’t a lot of suggestions about what we should do,” Gill said. “There were a lot of opinions about what we shouldn’t do.

“However, I will tell you the majority of the stuff we received was that probably 90 percent, maybe even higher than that, of the people like the idea of unification. They think that’s smart. They think we should have done it 20 years ago. They think we need to have a central office and have a central budget. There’s been a couple who said, ‘Just leave me put, and get your grubby hands off me. I want to be left alone.’ But the majority like the idea of unification.”

Gill said the board received plenty of thoughts about tuition and whether raising it could make the schools healthier financially.

“We do have families who won’t bat an eye if we raise tuition by $1,000, but we have other families who, if we do raise it by $1,000, will start to have questions about, ‘Is it worth it?’” he said.

Several parishioners asked about the financial status of the schools and parishes. The November QCSB document said the Finance Committee has worked with parish bookkeepers and finance councils to review financial data and future projections. That information will be shared during parish sessions in December. A system-wide report also will available.

The QCSB previously said equalizing services across all four schools and keeping them as pre-K through 8^th-grade campuses would cost approximately $1.21 million per year more than the proposed working facility plan. That figure did not reflect the costs of the necessary capital improvements at a minimum of two campuses to accommodate the additional services.

Some parishioners asked if fundraising was possible to help cover that $1.21 million cost. 

“Many schools rely on smaller fundraisers to support operations, technology and other needs, and the Everybody Wins Mega Raffle provides additional unrestricted funds each year,” the QCSB document said. “However, the fundraising landscape has changed dramatically since COVID.

“The 2023 Giving USA Report shows that, after adjusting for inflation, charitable giving fell by 2.1 percent nationally last year. Locally, the Mega Raffle hasn’t sold out in multiple years. Many fundraising events have not returned or only lasted a couple of years beyond COVID, and parish giving has either remained stagnant or decreased slightly in recent years.”

The QCSB document said Quincy Notre Dame’s fund drive raises around $500,000 annually, and attempting to more than double that amount consistently “is not realistic.” The document said a large fundraising push could negatively impact the QND Fund Drive, the QCES Foundation Annual Campaign and regular parish giving.

“We want people to know that we’re always listening,” Gill said. “There’s still a misconception that we’ve already made up a plan, and it doesn’t matter what the community thinks. If (the decision to hold off on changes) shows anything, this shows we heard you. We’re going to consider looking at all points.

“But this isn’t a stop in our process. Let’s just make sure we consider all the other points and we’ve got everything set before we unveil a new plan.”