August 7, 2009
Joshua Academy helps bring life to facilities at St. Joseph School
Deacon Richard Grannan stands next to newly-painted sign announcing the new home of Joshua Academy at facilities of St. Joseph Church, Evansville. School began Aug. 3. (Message photo by Paul R. Leingang) Click for a larger version.
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
There’s new life at St. Joseph School in Evansville. The building that once served as a parish school is now serving the parish in a different way — being leased to Joshua Academy.
There are 150 students at the facility, described by Pamela Decker as “an elementary public charter school.” Classes began Aug. 3, and “things are off to a great start,” Decker said. There are, of course, some things that need tweaking, like the bus schedule. Decker is the executive director/principal of Joshua Academy.
Students at the St. Joseph facility are using 11 classrooms, the gym, the cafeteria and the playground. The parish continues to use the facilities for bereavement dinners and other functions, ac-cording to Deacon Dick Grannan, pastoral life coordinator at St. Joseph. A room is set aside for the parish quilters, another for the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and other space is used for parish offices.
The two entities share the cost of utilities and maintenance according to conditions set out in a four-year lease. Joshua Academy will be responsible for any improvements needed for the school, and has already installed a new security system and upgraded the kit-chen.
Decker said her staff members are pleased with the classrooms, the larger gym and the cafeteria. “The building is just fantastic.”
Joshua Academy also has 144 students in classrooms at Nazarene Baptist Church in Evansville. That is where Joshua Academy began as a faith-based school. Now it is an umbrella organization with two distinct programs, one private and one public.
A private faith-based pre-school for three- and four-year-olds is operated at Nazarene Baptist Church, along with the public charter school facility from kindergarten through first grade. At St. Joseph, the public charter school has students in the second through fifth grade.
Joshua Academy is sponsored by the Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation, one of very few school corporations in Indiana to sponsor charter schools (Sig-nature School and Joshua Acad-emy).
As a public school, Joshua Academy has to follow many rules and regulations — such as ISTEP — but scheduling and curriculum are among the areas of greater flexibility. School days are longer than EVSC schedules, and the schedule includes 193 instruction days, more than the 180 required in Indiana.
Decker said Joshua Academy is “very interested in being good neighbors” — and held a kind of sneak preview during the last week of July for invited neighbors and community members.
As a public school, Joshua Academy can draw from the neighborhood, and Deacon Grannan be-lieves there is some interest among families in the area.
Deacon Grannan is optimistic: “This is going to liven the whole parish community up.”
Joshua Academy has a four-year lease, Deacon Grannan pointed out. “Thank heavens we have something in here that is going to last.”
The parish was on the verge of bankruptcy earlier in the year, Deacon Grannan said. With the help of Father Steve Lintzenich, Father Bernie Etienne, Tim McGuire and Bob Cox, “we put together a plan to come out of the red and into the black,” he said. Father Lintzenich is the pastoral moderator; Father Etienne is dean of the Evansville East Deanery; McGuire is chief operating officer of the diocese and Cox is diocesan treasurer.
The parish finances have been helped by individual gifts, contributions from parishioners and from St. Joseph School alumni, and a temporary salary cut was instituted.
As a result, Deacon Grannan said, nine badly deteriorating stained glass windows have been removed, repaired and re-installed with storm windows. Roof repairs are being studied. The parish is paying its bills on time and paying back a diocesan loan. “And the future looks bright.”