More News

Parents flee to church schools

At least 34 new schools started in past five years

Thursday, Oct. 20, 2005

Click here to enlarge this photo Allison Pasek⁄The Gazette First-grader Trinity McCurdy works on a spelling assignment at Woodstream Christian Academy, a school at Woodstream Church in Largo. About 360 students attend the school.

‘‘They used that same model [used at home] and that’s what appealed to us,” Gaskin said referring to the curriculum with a Christ-centered focus. ‘‘It was important for us to send them to a school that had Christian values.”

Gaskin is so pleased with Woodstream that she does not plan on ever sending her sons to public schools.

‘‘I never say never, but I doubt it,” Gaskin said.

She isn’t alone.

The number of church-exempt schools has exploded in the past several years, as public confidence in the county’s public school system has waned.

Catholic churches have run religious schools for many years, but an increasing number of other denominations are opening schools as well.

Prince George’s County now has 118 such schools. The Gazette found that at least 34 of them were

opened in the past five years.

The county reported last week that public school enrollment has declined for two straight years, even in the face of continuing population growth. The school population is about 5,000 students lower than school officials estimated it would be for this year.

Meanwhile, church schools that opened in the county only last year have seen incredible growth. Many schools have waiting lists of students hoping to enroll.

‘‘We have 35 kids this year,” said Sonya Hamilton, principal at Greater Mount Nebo Christian Academy in Upper Marlboro. ‘‘But we only had 10 students last year.”

She admitted a few parents have expressed dissatisfaction with the public school system, but said many just want to add a spiritual aspect to their children’s life.

‘Fear factor’

Gene Pinkard, headmaster at Lanham Christian School, which opened in 1977 as part of Grace Brethren Church of Lanham, said there are many reasons why parents are choosing to send children to church-exempt schools.

‘‘Some parents go to public schools and they just don’t like what they see,” said Pinkard, whose school has 292 students enrolled. ‘‘Some kids are afraid to go to school ... there’s a fear factor there. A lot of them are also just not satisfied with the academics.”

Pinkard said many parents are worried about county public schools’ low test scores, overcrowding and safety issues.

Prince George’s County public schools rank second to the bottom in the state, topping only Baltimore City in overall standardized test scores such as the Maryland State Assessment and the High School Assessment. Baltimore City had higher scores than Prince George’s on the government portion of the HSAs this year, but county students scored better in biology and government.

‘‘A lot of our kindergarten parents are asking what our SAT scores are like,” Pinkard said. ‘‘That’s their mindset.”

Parents also see long-term advantages of keeping their child in one school from kindergarten to high school, and Lanham Christian goes from kindergarten to high school.

Woodstream Christian Academy opened only three years ago and already has about 360 children enrolled. The school starts for 2-year-olds and goes up to the 10th grade. More grade levels are expected to be added.

The school’s headmaster, Richard Halloran, said many parents come to the school because of the classical education students can get as well as indoctrination in Christian fundamentals. ‘‘We’re unabashedly Christ-centered,” Halloran told The Gazette. ‘‘And I think that appeals to parents.”

Linda Teel, whose 3-year-old attends the school, said the curriculum was a prime motivator for enrolling her son.

‘‘What I love is that this is finally a school that raises the bar,” Teel said.

Overall, the curriculum for church-exempt schools and public schools appear similar, except for the spiritual component. For example, at Woodstream, children learn Greek and French, among other languages. Nine languages are also taught at public schools.

An important benefit for many parents, however, is that they can enroll children at an earlier age. Teel would have had to wait another year to enroll her son if she had selected public schools. County schools require that children be 4 years old before they can start.

‘‘I thought it was great that I could start him that early,” Teel told The Gazette, adding the benefit of not needing to transfer him as his education progresses. ‘‘I want him to matriculate [into elementary school] in the same environment, and I just heard wonderful things about the school,” she said.

Teel said her son is counting well, quoting Bible verses and becoming more proficient in language skills. Teel said she plans to keep her son in the school through high school.

Greater Mount Nebo, which currently enrolls 3-year-olds and children up to the first grade, plans to add a grade each year up to the eighth grade, Hamilton said.

Teaching qualifications at public and church-exempt schools are similar. Public school teachers must have their certification from the state as well as a post-secondary education degree. Darcy Tomko, principal at St. Mary’s of the Mills school in Laurel, a 451-student school affiliated with the Catholic church of the same name, said her teachers’ credentials aren’t really different from public school teachers. Other headmasters agreed.

The price of education

An education at church-exempt schools isn’t free. At Lanham Christian School, parents pay $5,500 per school year. At Woodstream, parents pay about $7,000 per school year and Mount Nebo parents pay $5,500. At St. Mary’s of the Mills, parents who belong to the parish pay $4,458 while nonparishoners pay $6,189 per year. The school year for these institutions runs from August or September to June.

The schools contacted by The Gazette do not require membership at the church for students to enroll in the schools.

Class sizes at church-exempt schools run the gamut from as low as six students per class in subjects such as trigonometry and calculus to 30 students in the earlier grades.

The average Prince George’s public school class size is 10 students for pre-kindergarten classes, 22 students for kindergarten classes and 25 students per class in elementary through the high school grades, according to the county school system.

The class size at Woodstream is about 15, according to school administrators.

Tomko said the average class for St. Mary’s of the Mills is about 30 students but said discipline problems are at a minimum. A spiritual, family-like atmosphere helps instill good behavior, she said. ‘‘We get to share our faith with them on a daily basis,” Tomko said. ‘‘There’s a friendly, family atmosphere.”

Judy Mickens-Murray, a county school board member from Upper Marlboro, said the church-exempt school enrollment doesn’t seem to have any impact on public school enrollment. However, she said enrollment at these schools could send a message if it reaches a critical mass per school. ‘‘If they are getting up to 300 and 400 students at a school, that’s really a challenge to the public school system,” Mickens-Murray said. ‘‘Then it becomes in my mind competitive to the school system. But people should have choices.”

Despite a two-year downward trend in enrollment, Mickens-Murray said she has not seen any evidence to show that church schools are responsible for the decline.

Public school enrollment has dropped from 136,095 last school year to 133,872 this year. Public schools were projected to have as many as 139,000 students this year.

Merylann Schuttloffel, a professor at Catholic University in the District and director of Catholic leadership programs there, said the spiritual dimension at church-affiliated schools is likely the main pull for parents.

‘‘There are a lot of parents concerned about values ... and they want to send their children to an environment that supports those values,” Schuttloffel said.

Public schools, she said, because of legal restrictions and incredibly diverse populations have to be careful how they teach values in comparison to church-exempt schools.

‘‘I’m sure the public schools are trying within their restrictions to provide character education,” Schuttleoffel said. ‘‘But they have a huge task to serve a large public with differing expectations. That’s very difficult and it makes it more likely that parents will become dissatisfied.”

E-mail Guy Leonard at gleonard@gazette.net.