Ideally, parishioners support their parish (and the school and other parish programs) through the regular offertory collection each weekend -- additional fundraisers are often necessary but are NOT the solution.  It is hardly fiscally prudent to run an educational institution depending on weekly Bingo revenue and an annual bazaar to keep the lights on and the staff paid.

Putting on a three-day bazaar or festival is a MONUMENTAL TASK.  

As past co-chair of my parish's annual festival for many years -- I can simply tell you that
a) it takes a large number of volunteers to pull it off .. and quite simply the younger folks (20's to 40's) are NOT willing to give the time like the now older folks did when they had young families;
b) even if you get the  volunteers -- there is no guarantee of making the large profits once associated with
annual parish bazaars and festivals  -- the expenses have gone up every year (not as many donations of services, food and supplies as in years past) and gross revenues have either plateaued or dropped off.
So while the annual bazaar or festival is a nice social event, it can not be depended on to make up the difference of what should be coming in the weekend collection basket.   If the funds can not be raised through the weekend collection basket, the only prudent and responsible thing to do is to reassess all programs and spending ---- and cut out what the parishioners aren't willing to sustain financially

Bottomline -- If Catholic Schools are to survive, folks can't just sit back and expect Father to magically produce the revenue to keep the place open.   The people in the pews have to be willing to show how much they believe in Catholic Schools and the other parish programs by generously supporting the weekly offertory collection  AND by registering their children or grandchildren in the schools.   Unfortunately, too few people are doing either.

No one expects father Carlino to magically produce money. What we want is for him to stop standing in the way of the methods that will help the school to generate their own money. Tuition negotiation is something that has worked for other school successfully but that has not been allowed. The costs to the school are in large part fixed, ie. Hearing costs, salaries... And do not change largely from 84 students or 250 students...you lower tuition for multiple children, lower for lower income and it becomes "found" money. More revenue without increased costs.  It has not been allowed though.

Quoted from Parent

No one expects father Carlino to magically produce money. What we want is for him to stop standing in the way of the methods that will help the school to generate their own money. Tuition negotiation is something that has worked for other school successfully but that has not been allowed. The costs to the school are in large part fixed, ie. Hearing costs, salaries... And do not change largely from 84 students or 250 students...you lower tuition for multiple children, lower for lower income and it becomes "found" money. More revenue without increased costs.  It has not been allowed though.

Tuition negotiation is like a property tax exemption - some one has to actually produce in real dollars the difference between what is received in revenue ( tuition or property taxes) and what it costs to provide the service.

It is all well and good to propose tuition negotiation -- we had it back when our school was open -- but it is not "found money" .... the actual problem is that someone has to FIND MONEY through another revenue source to make up for the difference between tuition paid and the actual cost of the providing the education (per pupil).

I would also question your statement that the costs do not change largely between 84 and 250 students --- certainly the PER PUPIL COST would change .. so tuition could be lower  if the cost is divided between more students.     And certainly if you went from 84 students to 250 students - class sizes would become an issue and require hiring additional faculty and providing additional classroom space (but certainly that would be a good "problem" to have.)  

Personally, I think that the solution to the Catholic School problem was proposed 30 years ago -- we need to move away from Catholic Schools that are run by an individual parish to a system of regional diocesan elementary schools.   They did it for the middle schools and high schools; it should be done for the elementary schools, too.

Here we go with the spin and a desire to turn it all over to Hubbard and the atheists he surrounds himself with over at the Diocese.

The costs do not radically change. The teacher is making the same salary whether they have 9 students or 25 student. You add 16 more students for a bargin price of $2,000 and that's an additional $32,000. It is basically found money because adding those students into a class dies not dramatically increase the costs of running the school. You do that fora short time and the cost per student does go down and then lower tuition costs can be available for everyone. The cost per pupil is only so high because there are fewer students available to cover those fixed costs- salaries, electric, heating, etc. There would not be many additional costs to providing education to the students -same service would now becovered by a greater amount of people- albeit some at a lower cost, but that lower cost would still provide greater revenue than no additional money.

Fighting the politics of any problem seems to be the problem....

Inevitably. it will not be in the best interest of the children.....Catholic education is much needed for those who prefer

that education....why is it so terribly hard to give to our children what WE think is best for them...

The Catholic religion has always been rich in wealth.....yet, the riches in faith seems to be forgotten....

Just to add.....the priests have a far better life than  their so-called sacrifice as it has been portrayed...nice cars, housekeepers,
travel, etc.,

Yet, many parents sacrifice all that for a Catholic education for their children....I as a Catholic am ashamed of the way

the Diocese has handled this.....Where is the priest anyway, out of the country???   where would that be, pray tell...

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

  
Putting on a three-day bazaar or festival is a MONUMENTAL TASK.  

  
Bottomline -- If Catholic Schools are to survive, folks can't just sit back and expect Father to magically produce the revenue to keep the place open.  

Uh, DV, they had well more than enough people to volunteer for the bazaar.  I called these friends of ours who DO know first hand, the FACTS.  YOU, do NOT belong to the parish, you do NOT know the FACTS.

They had so many volunteers that even when people signed up to work actually at the bazaar, there were so many people that volunteers pretty much got one 2 hour shift.   Therefore, the FACT is that it was not a case of not enough people, it obviously wasn't like one person had to work 10 hours in a booth because of lack of people willing to volunteer.

And again, tell us DV, where is the pastor????????    Why did he flee the country instead of face his flock????


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Quoted from Parent

The costs do not radically change. The teacher is making the same salary whether they have 9 students or 25 student. You add 16 more students for a bargin price of $2,000 and that's an additional $32,000. It is basically found money because adding those students into a class dies not dramatically increase the costs of running the school. You do that fora short time and the cost per student does go down and then lower tuition costs can be available for everyone. The cost per pupil is only so high because there are fewer students available to cover those fixed costs- salaries, electric, heating, etc. There would not be many additional costs to providing education to the students -same service would now becovered by a greater amount of people- albeit some at a lower cost, but that lower cost would still provide greater revenue than no additional money.

The only problem is that the COST per student is more than the $2,000 TUITION per student.   That difference has to be made up and if you have negotiated tuition that just means that there will be more difference to make up.   But as I said I know we had negotiated tuition at our school and it is a great idea and it makes Catholic education affordable and attainable for more students.  

The real issue is the OTHER SOURCES OF REVENUE.  

One source of revenue comes from the diocesan school assessment -- some portion of which goes to sustain the diocese's  middle school-high schools and elementary schools.  

Another source has been BINGO, festivals/bazaars, bakes sales, etc --- which while they may be great social activities and community-building events .. they require a lot of volunteers and the financial outcome can vary widely from year to year.

One particular problem with the festivals/bazaars is that the expenses have risen so much over the years.  Years ago, it was possible to get a lot of food and supplies and even the entertainment DONATED either by the vendor or by some of the parishioners or other parish societies (Holy Name, Rosary, etc).  
For example, we used to put on at least 2 Ziti Dinners a year ---  and I had sources where we got the pasta and the salad fixings at no cost, another couple in the parish used to be able to get a certain Italian bakery to donate all the bread or at such low cost that they paid the difference and did not submit a bill and we had other sources that donated the ingredients for the meatballs and the sauce.   Except for paper supplies and a few minor items, it did not cost the parish anything to put on the dinner -- so it was almost 100% profit.  
Over the years, it is harder to find folks who will donate that much -- and between that and the fact that prices have risen on everything -- the cost of putting on a festival or other function has gone way up.  Ethnic foods which are the "bread and butter" of parish festivals aren't exactly cheap to make -- if you want to make them well and with consistent quality.  Even with great attendance -- and our events our well attended -- you can only raise the prices so far to cover the higher costs ... so inevitably the NET PROFIT will go down.

But the biggest single factor in the demise of the parish festivals/bazaars is the decline in people willing to volunteer as workers.    It takes many workers -- working for months ahead of time  .. not just the day(s) of
.. and quite honestly --- the younger folks do not volunteer for that kind of work.   And without  the volunteers the food -- particularly the ethnic foods which are time-intensive to make -- will not be made.

I NOMINATE DVOR FOR PRESIDENT....He is the only person on earth that has the solutions for everything that is wrong, has failed, or needs to be done. No one else is obviously smart enough to come up with the same solutions......or rather than actual take a position they are just ABSTAINING !!!!!

Quoted from DemocraticVoiceOfReason

But the biggest single factor in the demise of the parish festivals/bazaars is the decline in people willing to volunteer as workers.    It takes many workers -- working for months ahead of time  .. not just the day(s) of
.. and quite honestly --- the younger folks do not volunteer for that kind of work.   And without  the volunteers the food -- particularly the ethnic foods which are time-intensive to make -- will not be made.

GEEEEEEEE, the Festa at St Anthony's is still going strong.    The Festa at Mt Carmel is still going strong.

Interestingly, the priest is pastor at St Anthony's where they still have their "bazaar" (festa).   Fortunately, the people there will NEVER allow Carlino to put a stop to that one.

Go figure,  DV is not a parent, he never has been a parent, and he never will be a parent, but he thinks he knows what's best for parents and thinks he knows what parents will do on behalf of their children.   Just like he is not (never had been and never will be) a property taxpayer but he thinks he knows what's best for the homeowner taxpayers (i.e., hike their taxes and make them pay for the taxes of the millionaires downtown).   A grown-up who is not a self-sufficient, responsible, independent adult most definitely cannot speak about/for/on behalf of self sufficient adults with children.



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And again, where is the pastor?    Why is he avoiding the parents?     Why did he flee the country?



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DV, you really do not seem to grasp of cost per student  The cost per student is only $6000 for 84 students. Each student you add lowers the cost per student. Based on the costs of running the school if there were 250 students the cost per student would only be about $2000 per student. You don't seem to be understanding simple division. If the yearly expenses for the school are $504,000 and there are 84 students the cost per student is $6000. If there are 250 the over all costs of running the school do not change, or at least not significantly, and the cost per student goes down dramatically. There is not more to make up. The teacher salary does not increase per student, electrical and heating costs do not go up per student, there is not a significant increase in costs.

Better negotiations in tuitions means more students which means lower cost per student which means less to be made up by other means such as fundraising. And certain fundraiser still seem to do well. Rumor has it that Madeline Sophieraises about $20,000 from their yearly gala.

Parent -- you obviously do NOT pay attention very closely when DemocraticVoiceOfReason and MANY others who are VERY much in tune with the issue are saying..   They are TRYING to assist you and the children... To continuously cast aspersions at the Pastor AND the Bishop -- which are entirely unfounded -- then I can only assume that you are acting in concert with the nattering nayboobs of negativity.   Do NOT listen to any of the negativity regarding the matter that is being spewed by the He-She Monkey or his band of assholes ............   They know NOTHING regarding the gravity of this matter NOR do they care about the lives of the children. I am certain that DemocraticVoiceOfReason has a much better inside handle on the scope of this issue than any of the troublemakers who just want to knock the Church and it's flock DOWN. The Bishop is working on a solution and I myself have made several germane recommendations to him in this regard.   I expect that everyone WILL be pleased at the results.

I have said nothing about the Bishop other than he basically rubber stamped the decision. He was given a suggestion, he said ok. No one at the school faults the Bishop for this. I have made no accusations against him. The pastor, yes there has been nothing that I have said that is untrue. I don't have to listen to others negativity. My family is living it. My children are loosing their school, their friends, and their teachers. I don't think you understand the toll that this has ad on the children.

The pastor has done nothing in the past few years that have made parents believe that we have his support. He has done nothing, absolutely nothing, in response to this closing. As parents we have received letters from the pastors of both St Helens and Madeline Sophie that were supportive and kind, yet still we have not heard anything from our own pastor.

@ Parent.   Just so you know, DV and Hamburg are the same person.   He has used Gravel Gertie and Scotsgod too.   When you've seen his writings over the couple years, you'd know they are the same person.

The primary person of all those names is to cheer for the continual increaes of property & school taxes on the homeonwers of the city of Schenectady in order to fund downtown.  Most of the properties downtown---that were fixed up---were fixed up on the taxpayers' money--which of course reduces the amount of money parents have to pay for their children's Catholic education.    Many of these downtown properties are owned by millioniares, Paul Mitchell (the salon school) is a Forbes BILLIONAIRE, yet his school does not pay one dime in property taxes.   With all those properties being 100% tax exempt (we have provide the evidence on these boards DIRECT from the OFFICIAL RECORDS which are at the county website) with no end date in sight.  

You look at message and see how he gets his jollies as he cheers for city employees to get paid upwards of $150,000, pad their pensions, and cheers for certain city employees to have SUV's (city vehicles) to be provided totally at taxpayer expense, so that these certain employees can take their daily pleasure drives home to Saratoga Co.

I'm sure there are families who live outside of the city who have sent their children to St John's, and there are people who live in the city who have sent their children there.  Families within the city, if they own their homes they are paying higher taxes in order to pay the tax bills of millionaires downtown.  Families within the city who rent see higher rents to cover the cost of the higher taxes on the landlord/property owner in order to cover the cost of the tax bills of millionaires downtown.  You'd think Paul Mitchell would send a check for $100,000 to the school; he'd never miss it.  Ditto for the Hiltons.   And think about this.  St John's school is considered a not-for-profit.   Proctor's Theater is designted as a not-for-profit despite really operating a for profit business with it's lavish mutlmillion dollar Braodway shows, it's "catering hall" reserved only for the rich, the rents it collects from the small businesses there.  Proctors does NOTHING at all for the poor in the city; it gives back nothing to the taxpayers who gave tens of millions in grant money AND now pay the property tax bill.  Well, think of Mrs Keenan's (the CEO) pay compared to the lavish pay for the head of Proctors (over $200,000 per year he gets)

Regardless of name used, he will not provide any evidence of the statements they make.   And so, of course, you are a parent, you have children, you have connections to St John's so OF COURSE you know much more than DV aka Hamburg aka any other name he may use.   You will notice that everything that you mention which has worked in the past (to keep St John's operating), that DV aka Ham will continue to criticize them, trying to claim the dont' work, regardless of username he will give total support to the pastor no matter how much the families are hurt.  He thinks that his lack of adulthood, lack of parenthood, even lack of being a parishoner at St john's makes him know more about St John's than you and other parents and parishoners do.

Watch long enough, and this so-called Catholic will respond to you by saying "GFY" and you know what that is an acronym for.    We know who he is.

At least you won't have to put up with his crap on the facebook page, he wouldn't dare make an appearance there.  


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