It’s gonna to be hard to believe this, but the news got it wrong. A small Block Club paper ran an article with some half cocked third hand info yesterday and the media grabbed a hold of it and spun it. Again shocking I know. A full email was sent to MC community today stating MC will remain an all male school.
www.chicagotribune.com
“Permanent decision, will not be reconsidered”
Mount Carmel High School ends coed consideration early, remains all-boys
A Woodlawn neighborhood Catholic high school announced Tuesday that it will remain all-boys, ending a consideration to go coed for the first time in its 122-year history. Mount Carmel High School i…
The current enrollment has been about the same, give or take a few, for the last 5 or 6 years, so they’re steady, but they can’t handle another major drop, same as Rice and Rita. It’s not that kids are losing interest in these schools, it’s just the well of students to choose from is drastically shrinking from 10-15-20 years ago. Letting girls in at this point would have been an extremely high risk with an extremely low chance of reward. Let’s hope for the best.
It certainly is football related to all HS football fans in Illinois. No 4a football titles for MC, they will have to settle for more of the 7a variety.
Just curious as to why it would have been such a “high risk” with low chance of reward? Seemed like the following year (‘23) was a bit rushed for sure. Maybe a 4 year hype and marketing plan would have been better?
Seeing as the Chicago Archdiocese has seen enrollment in their schools halved in the last 20 years how can it not continue to drop?
USD:
blockclubchicago.org
Just curious….. Was there a single gender (all boys) option for your 3 sons? Not many left here on the south side.
FBFANMOM:Mount Carmel Going Coed Is 'Off The Table' For 2023 — But It Could Happen In The Future
WOODLAWN — Mount Carmel High School will delay going coed until at least after the 2023-24 academic year, officials said this weekend. In June, leaders at
corey:
I firmly believe that we would have lost more male students then gained female students as a result of this, not to mention numerous donor support. I went to a meeting and I spoke to many many people involved and some good ideas were brought up and I have a better idea as to why they wanted to explore this but a move of this magnitude can't be made without major marketing and research among grade school females to gauge interest. I think the initial surveys to the area's that MC draws from were heavily pointing that there would be much, if any, interest from the current girls to go to Woodlawn to attend MC. I think we would have gained 30 girls and lost 80 boys as a result, now were down 50....just my two cents on it.
Absolutely correct @ramblinman. And guess what happened when Ignatius went coed? The fathers of daughters from Beverly and every other area under the sun sent their daughters down to Ignatius for a world class education. Through the same neighborhoods girls would travel through down to MC. Most of these co-Ed Catholic High Schools were single gender educators. Most rich in tradition……. I guess my point is polling 8th grade girls on wether they’d consider attending one of these rich in tradition all male schools wouldn’t get you very far to begin with. Schools like Loyola who had the luxury of merging with an all girls school most likely had a much easier go of it from the start.Do you remember the neighborhood around Ignatius in the mid/late 70s and early 80s? There was an enormous CHA project (ABLA Homes) directly across the street from the school. The area was controlled by a gang and was basically lawless when Ignatius went coed. It didn't stop girls from coming from all over the city to that crazy effed up neighborhood.
Below you can see one of the ABLA high rises being demolished. A small bit of the original SICP building can be seen to the right of Holy Family church.
Im not going to point out the internal stuff on a social open forum but pointing out the obvious, Catholic Schools on the South Side are in major trouble as far as enrollment. Catholic grade schools that once churned out 60 to 100 students per class are now graduating 25-60 students on average, with only half being boys. We have MC, BR, SR, Marist, Laurence, Ignatius, and DLS vying for their enrollment. The numbers these schools saw years ago will not be seen again any of the above mentioned schools especially the all male schools. So I understand looking into it but I’m just confident it wouldn’t have been successful in this day and age in our neighborhood. I understand from your above post that it worked for Iggy in the 70’s but it was a different time and it was also during the time of 100 student graduating classes at grade schools. They tapped into a necessary need for a Coed option, just like Marist did 20 years ago. I just can’t see girls from the areas that MC draws most from passing by one of the current Coed options to come to a school that, calling it what it is, is the last school anyone would think would house girls. Plus the draw we get from NW Indiana, which is large, would just go to Andrean that is Coed already.
I’ve been CPD for over 20 years. I’ve patrolled Woodlawn for many years and still occasionally do when I’m working a case and it has improved, absolutely, but the crime element strongly remains in that neighborhood. Many of the new buildings have been bought, but are now being rented out. I hope for continued improvement but the Obama Library, at the earliest, won’t open until 2025, and you know that means 2026. If you want to buy low in this area and bank that you triple your investment in 5-10 years, it’s a safe bet, but selling Dads to send their girls to school in an area that’s “getting better” will not suffice, it has to have “got better” and remain that way. That will not be the case in for he next 2-4 years. The neighborhood respects MC and their had never been any issues, but currently is what it is around there and it’s a tough sell to many Dads with their girls. And a boys mentality vs a girls mentality going there daily is a different mindset.
Wouldn't it be easier or more convenient for the sisters to go where their brothers are going? If the brothers are going to MC and not Andrean, but their sisters are going to Andrean, why wouldn't the sisters go to MC? If the family headed by an MC alum sends boys to MC and girls to Marian Catholic, wouldn't it make sense for them all to stay in the MC family?
If they have sisters....another glaring point is large families are pretty much done. 4-6 kids in a family was the average now people are having 1-3 kids. There are exceptions of course but very few and far between
Smaller families is definitely part of the problem. What I haven’t seen mentioned is the economics of sending kids to catholic schools being the other part of the equation here. What is the plan at MC moving forward to keep enrollment at acceptable levels to sustain the schools future moving forward? I guess I’m asking what’s plan B?
Very well stated. Interesting thing regarding Ignatius are the rumors that they’re exploring “tuition optional” enrollment due to their success in their endowment fund. Has anyone heard similar rumblings?
Fair enough. Good points but I think back to when I was in HS and it’s hard to imagine not having girls attend. To me it was part of growing up.
We had a short lived IT guy who I learned went to Iggy. I referred to it as such. And he corrected me. I did not give him the satisfaction of repeating his correcting but forevermore, I will Never call that school by its proper name.
In all sincerity, I hope this move works out for them. I have seen both sides of this (at LA). Although I think the move changed Loyola, I tend to think it was for the better. MC is a Chicago institution and I would hate to see them close their doors due to lack of kids. Here's hoping this move pans out for the best!
