WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. January 26, 2009: The Archdiocese of New York has announced a reorganization plan to turn over day-to-day operations of key Catholic high schools locally to the schools, with the goal, said an Archdiocese spokesman, of making them totally “self-sufficient.”
Archbishop Stepinac High School of White Plains is one of those.
Zwilling said the Archdiocese of New York would continue to support the school financially, but did not put a timetable on how long the financial support could be expected to last. Asked if the school had one year, two years, or four years to make its budget, Zwilling said the timetable for withdrawal of Archdiocese monetary support has not been determined.
Zwilling said the school was expected to fund itself by creating new programs.
Asked if Archbishop Stepinac would negotiate its own labor contracts with the Lay Faculty Association, Zwilling said he could not answer that question. He said the Archdiocese has promised the LFA that it would meet with them to discuss the issue of labor negotiations and how they would be handled and the new independent arrangement. That meeting has not been set yet, Zwilling said.
WPCNR has reached out to Archbishop Stepinac, asking how the school plans to move forward in setting up the local Board of Directors.
The Archdiocese of New York has not issued a news release detailing the “independence” plan.
WPCNR has also forwarded a question to Mr. Zwilling on the criteria for how schools were selected to be put on their own.
