A taste of the real world at new Newark school

Work-study program to give teens business experience

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

BY JEFF DIAMANT

Star-Ledger Staff

Most children entering high school don't have to worry about workplace etiquette.

But for the 106 freshmen at a new Catholic high school in Newark, Christ the King Preparatory, it is essential to know, right now, how to communicate with adult colleagues, answer office phones, and give off a professional air at the workplace.

The students, from low-income families, will be doing clerical work in offices one day a week, and the salaries they receive will go toward the budget of their school. The new high school is part of a national urban network of Cristo Rey (Christ the King) schools that have won accolades for high rates of graduation and college attendance.

Office decorum doesn't always come naturally to kids, so the students spent three weeks in August at the school in a boot camp of sorts, learning to type, file records, give firm handshakes, tie a tie, and speak appropriately to bosses. They also are reading the best-selling book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens."

"Sucking your thumb would be a bad habit" for the office, Pam Rauscher, a teacher and admissions officer at the school, joked in class last week, before quizzing students on the book's lessons about proactive thinking, communicating and setting priorities.

The belief is that by meeting workplace realities, students will be more mature, less likely to drop out, and better qualified for college and the work world. Those interviewed said the workshop classes have helped them, even if they would rather spend their August days with friends at beaches or the mall.

"It has helped me as far as communicating," said Petrae Simpson, 14, of East Orange, who hopes her weekly job is at a law firm. "I listen to people more, in the form of eye contact and body language ... I've learned to listen to how others feel, see things from another person's point of view. I show less of an attitude."

Monica Nunes, 14, of Newark, said she expects her adult colleagues to be impressed by her workplace habits and those of her peers.

"The people in the job are gonna be like, 'Wow! That's a 14-year-old?'" she said.

About 25 companies -- including Broadway House, City National Bank, Seton Hall University Law School, Parsons Brinckerhoff and The Star-Ledger -- are paying Christ the King $25,000 for the year to "hire" four students one day a week. The students will be taking classes at the school the other four days.

School administrators hope at least some of the students can secure summer internships from these employers, as students have done at Christ the King schools elsewhere, said Anthony Nicotera, director of development for the Newark school.

"If they (the students) are observant, they'll come to understand how it is that certain firms and corporations and industries work," he said.

When it opens Sept. 4, the Newark school will be one of 19 Christ the King schools nationwide. The first opened in Chicago 13 years ago.

The network has won attention -- not to mention a $15.9 million donation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation -- with statistics like these: a tiny 2.6 dropout rate for the 2006 graduating class and a 99 percent acceptance rate for its students into at least one college.

Its officers hope Newark's Christ the King can be a beacon in a city where public high schools have an approximately 60 percent dropout rate and where tuitions at other Catholic schools are considerably higher than the $2,500 family-paid tuition for Christ the King. The school is not run by the Archdiocese of Newark.

The business sponsors, collectively, will account for about 70 percent of the school's operating costs.

"It (the school) doesn't work without it," said Kevin Cuddihy, the principal. . "It enables kids and families to afford a private Catholic education which they otherwise would not be able to afford."

The students will learn any day now where their jobs are. School administrators surveyed them earlier this month and hope to match students with their preferences.

"That won't always be possible," said Sister Maureen Sullivan, the school's business manager. "One of them wanted to work for the CIA."

Jeff Diamant may be reached at jdiamant@starledger.com or (973) 392-1547.

© 2007  The Star Ledger

A 'Rey' of hope for urban education to shine in Newark

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

BY JEFF DIAMANT

Star-Ledger Staff

James Gonzales knows the education promised by Christ the King Preparatory School is unconventional for Newark. That's why he's so excited about it.

That's also why the Newark company he runs, Broadway House Continuing Care, will give the new school $25,000. The money will pay the bulk of 2007-08 tuition for four students, who will do clerical work for Broadway House once a week in lieu of attending classes.

The Newark school, to open in August with 100 freshmen, will be part of the Cristo Rey (Christ the King) network of urban Catholic schools, which has won acclaim for its students high graduation and college-attendance rates. All students spend one day each week working instead of attending classes.

"It was a no-brainer," Gonzales said last week, of his company's decision to participate. "We're here to support the North Ward of Newark and thought it was a terrific idea when it came to us."

The archdiocese had hoped to open for the 2006-07 school year but couldn't sign up enough sponsors. That changed this year, said the Rev. Edward Glynn, hired in April as president of Christ the King.

About 25 to 30 area companies and agencies -- including Broadway House, City National Bank, Parsons Brinckerhoff, and The Star-Ledger -- have agreed to pay the bulk of tuition needed to run Christ the King, in return for students' work-hours and a high-quality college preparatory school in Newark for children in low-income families.

"What I'm hoping it will do for the community is, a group of students whose families are below the poverty line will be able to attend a demanding college preparatory school," said school trustee John Gibbons, of the Newark law firm Gibbons Del Deo, which also will pay the school $25,000 and "hire" four students part-time. "There's lots of talent among the youngsters in these below-poverty-line families that is currently going to waste."

A great hope of Cristo Rey schools is the social and business demands of the workplace will make students more mature, less likely to drop out and better qualified for college and the work world. To that end, first-year students spend three weeks in August taking classes on workplace behavior as basic as giving firm handshakes and, for males, tying a tie.

"A lot of people have given up on urban education," said the Rev. Glynn, a 70-year-old Jesuit who has been president of St. Peter's College in Jersey City, Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., and John Carroll University in Cleveland. "As a result, hundreds of thousands of lives of kids are ... never developed. But this has worked."

Most executives interviewed from companies participating said it shouldn't be much trouble to find entry-level jobs for the students, who do not get paid for their work.

"The opportunity to support students who would share a job, we saw as a worthy effort to make sure they had the opportunity," said Raymond Ocasio, of La Casa de Don Pedro, a social services agency in Newark. "At the same time, it will meet one of our needs. We have needs for workers to help out answering phones."

To be considered for the school, students must come from families eligible for the federal government's free or reduced lunch program.

When it opens with a freshman class, Christ the King will be one of seven Cristo Rey schools starting in August. Others are opening in Baltimore, Indianapolis, Omaha, Washington D.C., Minneapolis and Birmingham, Ala.

There will then be a total of 19 Cristo Rey schools nationwide, including one in New York. The first one opened in Chicago in 1994.

When people rave about Cristo Rey schools, these are the types of figures they cite: A minuscule 2.6 dropout rate for last spring's graduating class, more than nine-tenths of which was Hispanic or African-American; and a 99 percent acceptance rate for its students into at least one college. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is so impressed that it has donated $15.9 million to the Chicago-based network since 2003.

"Newark was an obvious choice for a school," said Jeff Thielmann, vice president of new initiatives for Cristo Rey. "The need there is great. It's a city that needs educational alternatives, especially at the high school level."

In convincing the Cristo Rey Network of that need, the archdiocese noted the 60 percent dropout rate for Newark's public high schools, high levels of gang violence in the city and a lack of affordable Catholic schools for low-income parents who don't want to send their children to public schools.

Without the companies' contributions, tuition at Christ the King would be out of reach for many students, Glynn said. Tuition will be $2,500. Tuition at Newark's three other Catholic high schools -- St. Benedict's Preparatory, St. Vincent's Academy and Our Lady of Good Counsel -- range from $3,650 to $6,800.

Glynn plans to hire administrators and teachers for the school by spring. And when that is done, he and others will ask more companies in the area to give money for the 2008-09 incoming class, and then for classes after that. The school needs 25-to-30 companies to donate for each grade level to keep it funded.

The archdiocese has given the school a building, the site of the old Our Lady of Good Counsel elementary school on Woodside Avenue in Newark, which closed two years ago. It also is contributing $200,000 for the first year, $100,000 for the second year and $50,000 for the third.

Parents can receive an application for Christ the King by e-mailing the Rev. Edward Glynn at eglynn@ctkprep.org, calling (973) 497-4596 or writing to the Office of the President, Christ the King Preparatory School, 171 Clifton Ave., Newark, NJ 07104.

Jeff Diamant mat be reached at jdiamant@starledger.com or (973) 392-1547.

© 2007  The Star Ledger © 2007 NJ.com All Rights Reserved.

Cristo Rey on 60 Minutes