Save Wildwood Catholic Group Updates Supporters

NORTH WILDWOOD — The following are letters to Save Wildwood Catholic members and Father Michael Field updating them on the group’s efforts in saving Cape May County’s only Catholic high school:
February 15, 2010
Dear Save Wildwood Catholic Members:
First of all and most importantly, thank you for the incredibly positive response that so many of you have personally conveyed to our board members for the Save Wildwood Catholic plan “unveiled” at our last meeting at the Wildwood Catholic auditorium. It truly has been overwhelmingly gratifying to know that there is so much support out there for this plan which was developed after many hours of hard work, research and careful consideration.
We know that many of you have questions and soon need to make plans for your students. Since we were unable to hold last week’s meeting, we thought we would attempt to “catch up” everyone to where we stand right now in our dialogue with Father Field and the Wildwood Catholic Advisory Board.
To give you a chronology of events and a “brief” re-cap, the groundswell of support demonstrated by all of you at that first Save Wildwood Catholic meeting held on January 13th at the filled-beyond-capacity North Wildwood Fire Hall really ignited the whole movement and got us an invite to the table from Father Field. From there, the board members went into high gear with research, budget preparations with Principal Turco, and meetings with Father Field, who eventually became very supportive of the plan, to the point where he and Father Wallace pledged $1,000.00 of their own money to the Save Wildwood Catholic fund. This was announced at the January 28th meeting at the school auditorium when Board Member Joe Catanoso also respectfully requested that the demonstrations at St. Ann’s Church and the Crusader Bucks initiative be put on hold since Father Field was very receptive to the Save Wildwood Catholic vision and recognized that it was a credible plan to keep the school open.
At that auditorium meeting, the Save Wildwood Catholic “Two Schools, One Roof, One Mission” business plan and educational model was presented publically for the first time. The highpoint of the meeting was Zachary Mullock’s announcement that he had secured an agreement by the President of Mount St. Mary’s College to develop an on-line credit program whereby Wildwood Catholic students could earn up to a semester of credits, which could ultimately save parents up to $20,000.00 in tuition.
The very next evening, a group of board members were invited to again give our power point presentation at a specially-held Wildwood Catholic Advisory Board meeting with Father Field, Monsignor McIntyre and Nick Regina, the Executive Director of Catholic Schools for the Camden Diocese, in attendance. We were asked a few questions about the plan and afterwards we were told that everyone was very favorably disposed to the plan, including Nick Regina.
On Thursday, February 4 Glenn Ortman, the accountant who has graciously donated his considerable time and professional services pro bono to the Save Wildwood Catholic organization, was asked by Ken Calemmo, Wildwood Catholic Advisory Board Member, to attend a meeting with the Ad Hoc Wildwood Catholic Advisory Committee members, Joe Bogle, Bea Pessagno and Steve Del monte.
Although the Save Wildwood Catholic Board members were not specifically asked to attend, Board members Bob Mullock and Claudia Von Savage did in fact attend in order to be available to answer questions about the budget that we as Save Wildwood Catholic Board members had specifically prepared after two meetings with Principal Rich Turco, which were arranged by Father Field, and ongoing consultations with School House Strategies, the consultant for the Philadelphia Diocese school system.
Also in attendance at this February 4th meeting was Father Joseph Perreault, a former principal of Holy Spirit High School. Originally we were informed that the Ad Hoc Chair did not want to hear from either Save Wildwood Catholic Board member in attendance, but only wanted our accountant Glenn Ortman to answer questions. Eventually the discussion came to the point where Father Perreault asked the board members present if there were any strings attached to the $500,000.00 in Save Wildwood Catholic pledges as to how the money was spent.
Our reply was that we were not attempting to take over the management of the day to day affairs of Wildwood Catholic High School which would be the high school administration’s duties, and that of course Cape Trinity Catholic was its own autonomous entity. However, we did emphatically state that there was one really big string attached to that money: i.e., after the $100.000.00 is paid for our Save Wildwood Catholic subsidy to the school, the remaining pledge money had to be allocated to our fifty $1,000 scholarships, capital improvements and everything else that was part of implementing the Save Wildwood Catholic “vision” such as the college step and the professional internship programs. We considered this essential to enhance our academic offerings, give us a realistic opportunity to build up student enrollment, and secure a real future –beyond two years – for Wildwood Catholic High School.
At this time, we were also asked if Save Wildwood Catholic would be willing to fund a President’s position; we answered affirmatively and said that a $75,000.00 salary had been allocated for such from the $500,000.00 of pledge money and had already been included in our power point presentation. At that point, it was advanced by the Ad Hoc committee that Father Perreault would make an excellent candidate for the President’s position. We answered that Father Perreault should of course be considered along with other qualified candidates at a later date. The meeting concluded shortly after that.
As a result of that morning meeting with the Ad Hoc committee and Father Perreault, (Father Field had to leave for a funeral service), the board members of Save Wildwood Catholic held another meeting that afternoon. The Ad Hoc committee’s desire to hire a president immediately and the advancement of Father Perreault’s name was unsettling to us for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, we did not think it necessary to spend those funds right away because we were working under the assumption that we would all continue to volunteer our time to ensure the plan was implemented in the first year. Secondly, we also believed that having a volunteer in the lead coordinating position would send the right message to the community, including the business persons we would be asking to donate their time and services to the parents of WCHS students and prospective students, that we were so enthusiastic about Wildwood Catholic’s unlimited potential and committed to our vision that we were willing to donate a year of our time to see everything become a reality.
When we became aware that the Ad Hoc committee was focused on hiring a president right away, and that Father Perreault seemed to be their likely candidate, the board members concluded that Save Wildwood Catholic would have to come up with an alternative candidate who satisfied our main concerns. It was at this afternoon meeting that Bob Mullock nominated Claudia Von Savage to become the President of Save Wildwood Catholic, Inc. The vote was unanimously carried, with David and Claudia Von Savage abstaining from the vote. David volunteered to resign at the point, but his offer was unanimously rejected by the board.
The reasoning was that Claudia Von Savage’s position as President of Save Wildwood Catholic, Inc. could segue into her being approved as the interim Acting President by a newly created Board of Directors, composed of Wildwood Catholic High School Advisory Board members and Save Wildwood Catholic board members.
Time was, and still is, of the essence. Claudia could immediately begin implementing the Save Wildwood Catholic vision because she has been a vital part of developing the plan along with the other board members. She has an undergraduate degree from Duke University (sorry to say in French literature) and a law degree from Boston University. She taught social studies and law for two years at an intermediate school in Manhattan and was responsible for creating and implementing new student programs during her time there. She also worked to help develop and coordinate community adult education offerings, the Elder Hostel educational program and the Art Kane/Kodak Photo Workshop while working at the former Shelton College in Cape May.
Claudia is the mother of four children, the eldest a freshman at Villanova University, a current junior and freshman hopeful for Wildwood Catholic, and a second grader next year at Cape Trinity Catholic, which will give her tremendous opportunity to listen to parents and ensure that any concerns can be immediately addressed to keep a positive, upbeat climate within the two schools, one roof environment. She has the relationships to coordinate with other members of the board and the community to explore charter school status (Father Field’s idea), implement volunteer and professional mentoring programs, and establish the business sponsorships of the sports programs.
Lastly on this point, and most importantly, she has offered to coordinate our efforts to implement the Save Wildwood Catholic vision FOR FREE. She has offered to fulfill the president’s responsibilities as outlined in the letter to Father Field without any compensation. She has agreed to perform this work for the next school year in order to make the transition and transformation of Wildwood Catholic as successful as possible while the newly created Board of Directors initiates and finalizes the search for a permanent President. She will resign from her non-paid position after a year’s time when the newly hired President assumes his/her duties.
We believe that this appointment of a non-paid interim director/acting “president” will provide time for a more thoughtful, wide-ranging and judicious search for the permanent President while giving the search committee time to hone the exact job description. After all, we think we have a picture of what needs to be accomplished in the short-term, but as far as the responsibilities of a permanent President and the long term needs of the school go, that can all be “tweaked” during the next year of implementation and transition and after consultations with search professionals if necessary.
Unfortunately, we were not aware that a non-Roman Catholic Christian would be prohibited from being considered for the President’s position, even if it was an interim, non-paid position.
Understanding this point, we are now offering that Claudia Von Savage be considered for the position of Acting Interim Co-director of Transition, to serve for a period of not more than one year and without compensation. We initially employed the term “President” for Claudia’s position only in response to the Ad Hoc Committee’s advancement of hiring a President immediately.
The title is not important to us, nor to Claudia, but the work that must done is critical to the Save Wildwood Catholic Board.
In the spirit of cooperation and unity, we are also amending our original proposal of the Board composition: instead of seven Save Wildwood Catholic board members and six Wildwood Catholic Advisory Board members, we offer to make the composition of the board an even split of seven and seven between the two boards.
And to further demonstrate our good will and desire to work as a team with the Wildwood Catholic Advisory Board, we suggest that Ad Hoc Chair Joe Bogle agree to also accept the non-paid position of Acting Co-director of Transition for a term of one year to ensure Wildwood Catholic’s successful first year transition. Claudia and Joe have had a good working relationship to date and the Save Wildwood Catholic Board believes that these two individuals working together would bring an extra dimension and benefit to the school’s transition.
And finally, to bring you completely up to date, we are posting the Save Wildwood Catholic February 11th letter emailed to Father Field and the Ad Hoc Committee and then later distributed to the entire Advisory Board by Father Field. As you will see, the February 11th letter was not intended to be a detailed outline of our proposed business plan and educational model (please see facebook for the Save Wildwood Catholic Plan) but rather to let Father Field know that since the Church could give no commitment as to how long the school would stay open, our group felt very strongly that we needed some guarantees of being able to implement our plan or “vision” for the new school.
We are very aware that the great majority of Save Wildwood Catholic pledges were promised on the condition that the plan would be innovative enough to carry the school well into the future. As board members of Save Wildwood Catholic, Inc., we are not comfortable asking you to convert your pledges into cash without first securing the guarantee that we will have the opportunity to turn the plan into a reality so that the school can remain open for more than simply a year or two.
You will soon note that our letter to Father Field is as lengthy as this “brief re-cap” but we felt it was totally necessary and therefore we ask that you please take the time to read through the entire letter in order to have a complete picture of “where we are coming from” with our proposal.
We believe that Father Field and the Advisory Board will be meeting sometime early this week to discuss this letter. We will not be attending that meeting but instead we intend to let this February 15th letter to our Save Wildwood Catholic members and our original February 11th letter to Father Field stand as our honest appraisal of how far we have come in all our deliberations and research, where we want to go in transforming Wildwood Catholic into a top notch Catholic academy, and what guarantees we feel that Save Wildwood Catholic must have in order to get there.
Although we do not yet know the official response of Father Field, the Parish Trustees and the entire Wildwood Catholic Advisory Board to our plan and our terms regarding the pledge collections, we are planning to hold a third Save Wildwood Catholic forum on Friday, February 19th, to further bring everyone up to date, get your feedback, and answer any questions from the floor. Your input has been very valuable to date and will be of tremendous benefit when the real work begins at Wildwood Catholic. The success of this effort truly depends on the involvement of the entire community.
As always, Father Field and any members of the Wildwood Catholic Advisory Board are invited to attend the February 19th meeting so that they can present their point of view as well as answer any questions that you might have for them regarding the plans to keep Wildwood Catholic High open. Please check Facebook in a few days for a posting of the time and place of this meeting.
For the entire board, thank you for being so committed to the cause.
Respectfully yours,
Claudia Von Savage, Esq.
President
February 11, 2010
Hand-Delivered & Via Email
Dear Father Field:
For the past five weeks, the founding members of Save Wildwood Catholic, Inc. have had the unique opportunity to immerse ourselves into the history and culture of the Wildwood Catholic Family. We have “mined” the incredible resources of this great institution by interacting daily, and in some cases almost hourly, with parents, students, teachers, administrators, advisory board members, alumni and concerned citizens. As a result of our hard work, we have generated a genuine dialogue regarding the importance, viability and future of Wildwood Catholic High School.
Even more significantly, our efforts have awoken “a sleeping giant” of tremendous support and good will in the community for this educational institution which has well-served the people of Cape May County for over sixty-two years. We should all be heartened by the fact that the school’s current enrollment numbers do not reflect the deep and abiding commitment that this community holds for Wildwood Catholic High School.
As you know, we stepped out in faith to save the school, with absolutely no promise that our efforts would be successful. We resolved to make it the initial focus of our organization to secure $500,000.00 in financial pledges to address the budget deficits published in the media. Despite the fact that these are tough economic times for everyone, we found that people were quite willing to donate the money we asked; however, it quickly became apparent to us that not one person was willing to sacrifice his or her money only to serve as a temporary band aid to simply “eke out” another a year or two for the school.
In truth, these sentiments which were repeatedly voiced in the community were in fact a resounding confirmation of our own thoughts which developed as we independently began accessing the situation. And so the mission to save the school soon became a journey of discovery and finally a quest to develop a top-notch high school academy to ensure that Wildwood Catholic remained strong for another sixty-two years or more.
Not only did our mission expand along the way, but our organization grew as well. What originally began as a determined group of parents and alumni heartbroken at the news of their beloved Wildwood Catholic’s sudden demise, rapidly developed into a broad-based coalition of individuals who brought a variety of professional experiences, business and political relationships, talent and knowledge to the table — all bound by the common desire to see that the children of Cape May County be afforded every opportunity to attend a high school of exceptional academic standards and quality programs dedicated to promoting Christian values and leadership.
During the course of the past month or so, these founding members have invested countless hours meeting with a variety of educational professionals and consultants, researching educational models, visiting schools, speaking with parents, students, and alumni, soliciting advice from administrators and teachers, and instituting on-going dialogues with elected and appointed officials from Trenton and throughout Cape May County. We tapped into some of the best people in the field and incorporated a number of ideas which have already proven to work around the country. As a result of our due diligence, we believe that we have developed a credible business plan and a dynamic educational model to take Wildwood Catholic well into the future.
To be successful, we are firmly convinced that both the plan and the model must be considered and implemented as one.
First, our business plan effectively deals with the financial challenges which currently face Wildwood Catholic and Notre Dame de la Mer Parish. We believe that our original “two schools, one roof, one mission” concept is an essential foundation to an economically sound plan. It allows for significant savings in the fixed costs and duplicative services of operating one building instead of two and at the same time “frees up” the parish complex consisting of St. Ann’s school, the rectory and convent sites, giving the parish a variety of options for itself, including the possibility of retiring some or all of its debt.
In addition to the possible sale of the aforementioned properties, we believe that serious consideration should be given to the sale of the developmental building rights of the 8th street field to Green Acres and/or any other governmental entity. By taking such an approach, the parish retains the ownership and recreational use of the property while realizing much needed capital for debt retirement and discretionary use for its ministry.
Working with actual budgets and utilizing conservative estimates, we have submitted a balanced budget for the school which was prepared by Glenn Ortman, a professional esteemed for his work with many other educational institutions and which was further reviewed by Matt Tomlin, the financial officer for the parish. We have done our best to responsibly cut costs while being mindful of our goal to retain as many of the jobs for the teachers, administrators and staff as fiscally possible.
To complete the business plan, we will convert our half a million dollars worth of pledges into a $500,000.00 “cash in the bank” escrow account within thirty days of your approval of the terms presented in this letter. With that accomplished, we will immediately begin a pledge drive for a second installment of $500,000.00, making Save Wildwood Catholic’s pledge commitment a million dollars in total. In addition, we have already secured the pro bono services of many professionals and firmly expect to receive thousands of dollars worth of in-kind services in the near future to help make our vision of Wildwood Catholic a reality.
Just as the business plan responsibly addresses the financial problems currently afflicting Wildwood Catholic High School and will go far to stabilize the student enrollment as well as give us an opportunity to actively recruit new students, it is our conviction that if Wildwood Catholic is to have any hope of long term success, our educational model must be fully adopted as well.
To put it bluntly, it would be a complete waste of everyone’s money and time to focus on the cash and disregard the vision. Should that be the case, we would just be postponing the inevitable demise of Wildwood Catholic. The officers of Save Wildwood Catholic, Inc. are in unanimous agreement that we have absolutely no interest in pursuing the funding if we cannot pursue the vision simultaneously.
Our educational model envisions a strong college prep/college step program built upon working relationships with the area’s top catholic and secular universities for on-line college credit programs, such as the Mount St. Mary’s affiliation arranged by Wildwood Catholic graduate Zachary Mullock. It also includes an innovative internship program (a “don’t just study it – experience it!” type program) with area professionals to expand our students’ future career choices and opportunities. Underlying this program, and in fact the entire new thinking which we want to permeate the school’s philosophy, are the guiding principles of volunteerism, community involvement and “ownership” of the school’s success.
The truth is that the viability and vibrancy of the school are utterly dependent on the new relationships and new ideas collectively developed over the past few weeks. We must continue our efforts to encourage all members of the Wildwood Catholic family and the concerned members of the broader community to contribute on an on-going basis to the school. Wildwood Catholic will undeniably and inevitably fail if we allow ourselves to return to a false sense of security that the school is solely the Church’s responsibility.
Additionally, we remind you that we have also developed and explored the possibility of a variety of other programs which we believe will bolster student recruitment and enhance the total experience at Wildwood Catholic High School for our students. These programs include but are not limited to: pre-med/pre-law academic programs, athletic team sponsorships, fifty $1000.00 scholarships for new students, improved food service operations, retired teacher and professional volunteer program, internet café/student lounge, international and inner city mission trips, student-led food bank at parish community center, upgraded school façade, outdoor facilities and landscaping, expanded classroom capacities, invigorated alumni association development, and enhanced website and facebook outreach.
Father Field, we believe that you share our vision of making Wildwood Catholic a destination school which can provide an outstanding academic experience complete with college credit opportunities and innovative career mentoring/internship programs to each student we welcome. We are convinced that if Wildwood Catholic is given the chance to undergo this re-birth, it will become a model throughout the Diocese for the restructuring of high schools. What began under tragic circumstances will be seen as a blessing in disguise by the community and will provide tremendous healing for the members of the Notre Dame de la Mer Parish.
Throughout this entire process you have been very clear about two things: one, you do not want to saddle your parish with any additional subsidy beyond your $50,000.00 commitment or be forced to constantly “chase dollars” and two, you do not want to go through the anguish of informing the students and parents of Wildwood Catholic for a second time that their school must close.
We are in total agreement here. That is why our group has been so adamant about our commitment to raise one million dollars in the next two years to give ourselves the financial cushion for unanticipated costs, larger than expected student attrition, and any other unforeseen expenses at Wildwood Catholic High School. It is also the reason we are so convinced that we need to explore as many programs which creatively address how schools can cut costs so that they are not over-reliant on parish subsidies.
If we are allowed to implement our programs as presented in our model, we can guarantee that we will not be asking Notre Dame de la Mer for any money other than the $50,000.00 subsidy already agreed to or the $200,000.00 subsidy we are anticipating from the other parishes in Cape May County. You have our written commitment on this and every other matter expressed in this letter. In return, we need you and the trustees to agree to the following points:
• A new Board of Directors shall be established to assist Father Field and the Notre Dame de la Mer Parish Trustees in the oversight of Wildwood Catholic High School. This Board shall be an operating board rather than an advisory board and shall consist of seven board members named from Save Wildwood Catholic Foundation, Inc. and six board members named from the current Wildwood Catholic Advisory Board. The Board of Directors shall report to Father Field and the Notre Dame de la Mer Parish Trustees on a quarterly basis.
• The newly created Wildwood Catholic High School Board of Directors shall be responsible for the governance of Wildwood Catholic High School operations, strategic planning, policy development, financial policy and budget, capital improvements, and the hiring of the chief administrator (principal) and appoint the President of the Wildwood Catholic Academy.
• The newly created Wildwood Catholic High School Board of Directors shall appoint the President of the Academy who shall serve at the pleasure of the Board, report directly to the Board on a monthly basis and have the primary responsibility of ensuring the successful implementation of the Save Wildwood Catholic Inc. business plan/educational model.
• The President of the Academy shall also be responsible for establishing, directing, and overseeing committees for the college credit program, the professional internship/mentoring program, student recruitment program, volunteer program, enhanced curriculum program and any other exploratory programs which would impact the implementation of the Save Wildwood Catholic Foundation business plan/ educational model and ensure its long term success.
• The President of the Wildwood Catholic Academy would also act in conjunction with the administration and teachers of Wildwood Catholic High School to ensure the implementation and long term success of the Save Wildwood Catholic, Inc. business plan and educational model.
• The President of the Academy shall also act in conjunction with the administration of the Cape Trinity Catholic School and/or establish a committee to ensure that good relations and a harmonious climate exists at all times between the two schools.
• Save Wildwood Catholic, Inc. guarantees the funding of the position of the President of the Academy for academic school years 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
• The current Wildwood Catholic Advisory Board shall be expanded to include new members of the community who can benefit the school through financial contributions and/or professional contacts. This board will be selected by Father Field and the newly created Board of Directors, but shall include a representative from Cape Trinity Catholic School and a representative from each parish which subsidizes Wildwood Catholic High School.
In conclusion, in order to ensure that Wildwood Catholic remains a viable institution well into the future, we hold firm in our position that all of the above recommendations be endorsed as soon as possible. Unless we agree on these critical points, Save Wildwood Catholic, Inc. is prepared to turn our efforts elsewhere and wish you well in whatever plan that you choose to develop in order to re-open the school.
On the other hand, thinking positively and moving forward with Wildwood Catholic’s future, as soon as your approval is formally verified, Save Wildwood Catholic Inc. will immediately begin collecting our pledges into an escrow account. We can then make final adjustments for the Save Wildwood Catholic Foundation business plan and educational model so that we may present our master plan to the Bishop by the end of the month. Once “blessed” by the Bishop, our team is ready to begin preparations for the “re-birth” of Wildwood Catholic High School at the home of the Wildwood Catholic Academy.
We eagerly await your decision.
Prayerfully and Respectfully Yours,
Claudia Von Savage, Esq.
President
cc: Joe Bogle, Ad Hoc Chair, Bea Pessagno, Steve Delmonte