During the late 1990s, Mother of Sorrows School in South Los Angeles certainly lived up to its name. Enrollment had dropped from 250 students in 1994-95 to less than 150 in 1999. Teachers were laid off and those who remained often weren't paid on time. Classes were combined; test scores were low.
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur who started the parochial school in 1948 were gone, and there was a constant turnover in administration and faculty. The whole school community seemed to be suffering from the same inner-city malaise that pervaded its gang-plagued neighborhood.
Today, after an extensive summer renovation financed by the John and Dorothy Shea Foundation, Mother of Sorrows has gone from being a nondescript barred-up building at Main Street and 87th Place to a two-toned Carolina blue-and-white academy of urban learning.
Double-paned bullet-proof windows, frosted on the bottom to keep prying eyes from looking into classrooms, were installed, along with a dozen security cameras. Bathrooms were gutted with new plumbing installed, while the entire school was rewired. New whiteboards and bulletin boards went up in brighter freshly-painted classrooms.
On a walking tour around the two-story structure - which once housed a convent upstairs that's now vacant - principal Jennifer Beltramo can barely contain herself.
"The reaction of the kids has really been incredible," she reports, with little of her east Tennessee accent left intact. "The students have always had a very strong pride in the school. Now all the renovations have just renewed their pride. They want to tell other people and invite them in.
"Parents have started telling their friends and families to bring their kids here, too. We've had at least 10 families come in off the street to enroll their children, which has never happened before. And the older kids have lockers for the first time, which is like heaven for middle school students because it feels like high school. But all the students understand the gifts that have been given to them and really appreciate it."
Enrollment is up to 210 students, with 85 percent being Latino and the remaining 15 percent African American and Belizean. Almost all are poor, qualifying for free or reduced-priced lunches and tuition assistance from the Catholic Education Foundation and other sources. Boys wear black polo shirts and slacks, girls have a more traditional look in their plaid uniforms and white blouses.
Emphasis on academics
But there's something else besides a spruced-up renovated campus that's attracting new students to Mother of Sorrows School, according to Beltramo. And that has to do with a renewed emphasis on academics, from kindergarten through eighth grade, with plans to open a pre-school next year.
When the principal came to Mother of Sorrows seven years ago as a student-teacher in the University of Notre Dame's ACE (Alliance for Catholic Education) program, only 20 percent of graduates were going on to Catholic high schools. Last year the figure jumped to 80 percent. She says that's crucial because at the two local public secondary schools, John C. Fremont and Locke high schools, nine-out-of-ten students don't graduate, with only 10 percent going to college.
Beltramo credits the Sisters of Charity, who have sponsored Mother of Sorrows for nearly nine years, for the dramatic turnaround. The religious community has not only sponsored the school, but also supplies a development director, counselor and kindergarten aide today.
"The Sisters serve the poorest of the poor, following St. Vincent de Paul's mission," she says. "So they want to make sure that every family, regardless of their income, can find a way to have a quality education for their children. So it's not only helping with scholarships to get into the school, but helping to make sure that the school is able to provide a good education, whether it's through resources or textbooks or teachers."
In fact, this school year Mother of Sorrows has five new teachers. Besides two from ACE, there are two graduates of Loyola Marymount University's PLACE (Partners in Los Angeles Catholic Education) Corps and one from Response Ability, a ministry of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus Sisters. Beltramo stresses that she wanted to put together a strong energetic faculty dedicated to working in the inner city.
'Everything works!'
Robert Parra has taught seventh- and eighth-graders at the school since 1992. When he came to teach algebra and social studies, Mother of Sorrows was so impoverished there wasn't even a planned-out yearly budget. He recalls the principal taking money from his own wallet to buy school supplies, an example Parra and many other teachers followed over the years. The teachers, he maintains, were the ones who really kept Mother of Sorrows going.
"It's a completely different school," the veteran educator observes. "This year is the first year it's ever looked this good. When the kids wrote letters to the benefactors, they said, 'It looks like a real school now. The windows work. The heater and air conditioner work. Everything works!'"
Parra agrees with his current principal that the other big change has been the number of students being able --- with tuition assistance from individuals, the Sisters of Charity, the Catholic Education Foundation and other sources --- to go on to Catholic high schools such as Verbum Dei, St. Mary's Academy, Serra, St. Bernard and Notre Dame Academy.
"We're providing avenues to them for a good high school education," he notes. "We're helping to prep them to pass the high school exams, especially the writing part. That wasn't happening before, but it's happening now. The only thing I wish is that all this had happened 10 or 15 years ago."
Rounding a corner
A schoolyard sampling of students readily concur.
"It's gotten better because the Shea Foundation renovated it and the Sisters of Charity donated a lot of things," reports Jesslin Chacon, a seventh-grader. "Plus we have a new lunch program." The latter especially got the 12-year-old's attention because she wants to go to Bishop Conaty-Our Lady of Loretto High School with the career goal of becoming a gourmet chef.
Classmate Ruby Brione, who's hoping to attend Notre Dame Academy and eventually become a lawyer, was impressed by another change: "I think it's safer, because with the cameras around school now and bullet-proof windows we have more security."
What excites Ivan Veliz, a self-proclaimed computer nerd, is the more advanced computer lab. "And the teachers try to get you more prepared," he points out. The 13-year-old wants to go to Serra High School.
"With the new colors, our school stands out more," says Jose Herrera, 14. "And we've got lockers." The eighth-grader has applied to Verbum Dei and Loyola high schools.
Another eighth grade student, Leon Floyd, also likes the new sharp colors, both inside and outside the building. But he says there's also a new spirit at the parochial school. "Mother of Sorrows has really changed," he reports. "Like from teachers to a new paint job and lockers and new classrooms. A lot of things have happened here."
These comments bring a smile to Jennifer Beltramo's face. "I definitely believe we've rounded a corner," she says. "I still think we have a ways to go. But the entire school is moving forward."
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