Diocese of Scranton schools see enrollment increase as schools celebrate Catholic Schools Week
SCRANTON — The gym at St. Clare/St. Paul School's main campus was filled with students competing in obstacle courses and games Thursday afternoon marking Catholic Schools Week.
Officials in the Diocese of Scranton have more reasons to celebrate the week dedicated to Catholic education as enrollment continues to increase.
The 2024-25 school year started with more than 4,500 students enrolled in the diocese's 19 schools for the first time in more than seven years, according to the diocese, with the schools adding 150 more students this year compared to last year.
Enrollment in diocesan schools in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties jumped 25% from the 2018-19 school year to the current school year, with the six schools in Lackawanna County experiencing an 18% increase in enrollment, from around 1,400 students to nearly 1,700 students. The diocese's seven schools in Luzerne County grew 7%, from around 1,900 students to 2,000 students.
The diocese said K-8 enrollment has grown 9% since the 2019-20 school year, and 18% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there was a 17% decline in junior/senior high school enrollment since the 2019-20 school year.
That growth in recent years is in contrast to the decades of declining enrollment prior to 2020. During that time, the diocese closed more than 20 schools and restructured its education system.
Some of the growth was due to diocesan schools offering in-person instruction during the pandemic — something that interested parents, diocesan Secretary of Catholic Education and Superintendent Kristen Donohue said.
She said the schools' academic reputation and commitment to the Catholic faith are also attracting families.
'Many find that we're able to educate the entire child in the best and most conducive school environment that is safe and caring,' Donohue said. 'We want to make sure that our students are growing academically, socially, emotionally and spiritually.'
She said students and families face options when it comes to high school, and officials at the diocese's four high schools emphasize how they prepare students for life beyond their postsecondary education.
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For Catholic Schools Week, students at Saint Clare Saint Paul School's main campus participate in class olympics, Amng the activities was crab soccer. (CHAD SEBIRNG/STAFF PHOTO)
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For Catholic Schools Week, students at Saint Clare Saint Paul School's main campus participate in class olympics, Amng the activities was crab soccer. (CHAD SEBIRNG/STAFF PHOTO)
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For Catholic Schools Week, students at Saint Clare Saint Paul School's main campus participate in class olympics, Amng the activities was crab soccer. (CHAD SEBIRNG/STAFF PHOTO)
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For Catholic Schools Week, students at Saint Clare Saint Paul School's main campus participate in class olympics, Amng the activities was crab soccer. (CHAD SEBIRNG/STAFF PHOTO)
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Enrollment at St. Clare/St. Paul School's two campuses in Scranton's Green Ridge neighborhood went up 19% from the 2018-19 school year to the start of the 2024-25 school year. Principal Kara Kennedy Ware said the school's demographics have changed, with some students enrolled from Luzerne County, but its role as a neighborhood school hasn't.
'It's all about the programs and it's all about the school culture that we try very hard to build,' she said. 'Nothing delights me more than to see this school thrive in this day and age.'
The diocese has highlighted a STREAM — science, technology, religion, engineering, arts and mathematics — curriculum, which Donohue said is a cross-curricular approach to projects and lessons. Schools also emphasize teamwork and thinking creatively.
The diocese highlighted the STREAM curriculum for this year's Catholic Schools Week, inviting students in grades 6 to 8 to create videos showing how they can use the subject areas to fill a community, national or international need.
At Thursday's class Olympics at St. Clare/St. Paul School, students were able to work in teams kicking and hitting a large pink ball, discussing answers to trivia questions, passing hula hoops in circles and running wheelbarrow races.
The diocese unveiled a strategic growth plan for its schools earlier this month, with goals designed to strengthen and enrich schools spiritually and academically, grow enrollment and allow schools to be financially stable.
Donohue is hopeful for the schools' futures.
'I'm extremely optimistic about our future in our Catholic schools and the Diocese of Scranton,' she said. 'I'm excited to see what happens and filled with hope for what lies ahead.'
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