Cristo Rey needs archdiocesan approval if it is going to call itself a Catholic school and approach traditional Catholic funders. So far, the school has received $750,000 from Cassin and $250,000 from the Holy Sisters, and needs $2.5 million more to balance its budget within five years. Like the Chicago school, Cristo Rey New York plans on being self-sufficient within five years. "We're not asking for a penny, a building, or a single person from the Archdiocese," says Ford. Nonetheless, he's worried the school won't be approved as promptly as he would like. "There are some factions within the Archdiocese that are concerned," he says, "and some openly hostile."
City Limits Magazine
Rather than the private buses and vans used in Chicago, the Bronx Cristo Rey is going to rely on public transportation to get students to and from work each day. Minimizing the commute time to midtown and Wall Street workplaces is the main reason, but trains will also save the roughly $1,000 a day that the Chicago school's buses cost. Ford is already enlisting an army of volunteers to accompany students each day.
Academically, the new school may not be based on a dual-language Spanish-English curriculum like the one in Chicago. While Mott Haven has a substantial Spanish-speaking population, many families have been there for longer than Chicago's recent Mexican immigrants, and there are also significant numbers of African-American families. Chicago's Quirk, whose De La Salle school has a similar demographic composition, says he doubts his African-American students would be interested in a Spanish-English program.
Ford, who carefully pronounces the new school's name with a Spanish accent, says that personally he would like to have a Spanish-language program at the school. This would reflect the community culture, he says, and honor the memory of his aunt, a Roman Catholic nun and one of the four American churchwomen killed in El Salvador in 1980.
As in Chicago, undocumented students will not be accepted for now, due to employment and immigration considerations. But a dual-language program is especially important to Ford because he would like to be able to enroll undocumented immigrant students someday. "I see them as the community that is in greatest need," he says. "It's my community 100 years ago."
Alexander Russo (AlexanderRusso@aol.com) is a Chicago-based education writer.
