City of Lansing Catholic Schools to Unify

Bishop Earl Boyea has today in a letter to families of Catholic School students in Lansing that beginning with the 2010-2011 school year the Catholic Schools in the city of Lansing (Immaculate Heart of Mary / St. Casimir, St. Therese, and Resurrection), in cooperation with Lansing Catholic High School, will form a single unified school system. The system will be comprised of two K-5 elementary schools and a common middle school. The K-5 schools will be located at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish (South Cedar Street) and St. Therese Parish (North Turner Street). The middle school will be located at Resurrection Parish (East Michigan Avenue).

The Diocesan Pastoral Plan, promulgated by the diocese in 2001, called for “Catholic school education that is accessible, available and affordable”. The plan for the unified school system is the result of two separate school studies conducted by the Diocese of Lansing since 2003, and an outgrowth of the Planning Tomorrow’s Churches blueprint released by the diocese in September, 2008. Bishop Boyea, in consultation with the pastors of each of the four affected parishes, determined that the configuration of a system of a north and a south elementary school, with a centrally located middle school, offers the best opportunity to provide an enhanced curriculum and continuum of Catholic school education to families in the Greater Lansing Area.

Details of the plan for the consolidated system will be presented to school families in December, 2009.

Bishop Boyea's letter to Catholic school families in Lansing is available here.