The Consortium of Catholic Academies – a coalition of four center-city Catholic elementary schools in the District of Columbia – has done “an incredible job” of continuing to educate students despite the hardships brought on by pandemic and quarantine, according to the president of the consortium.

“I am so proud of the distance-learning platform put together by our principals and educators,” said Vincent Spadoni, the consortium’s president. “We have not missed a day of learning since this pandemic began. I stand proud of the outstanding education our children continue to receive virtually during this pandemic.”

The Consortium of Catholic Academies includes St. Anthony Catholic School, Sacred Heart School, St. Francis Xavier Catholic Academy, and St. Thomas More Catholic Academy.

“It’s been hard, supplying families with the technology and meeting the WIFI needs required for distance learning, and we thank our donors for their support,” Spadoni said. “I have been totally impressed with what is happening in our schools during this pandemic – it is not just busy work, but actual learning is going on.”

A second grader at Sacred Heart School in Washington participates in a Jan. 19 Zoom meeting with a special guest, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who spoke to the students who are preparing for their First Holy Communion. (Screen capture/Andrew Biraj)

More than 800 students are currently enrolled in the four consortium schools. Each year, approximately 93 percent of consortium graduates who apply to Catholic high schools are accepted. Over the years, students have been accepted to every Catholic high school in the archdiocese.

“I learn every day what is happening in our schools, and I continue to be amazed,” Spadoni said. “It is not an overreach to say we take care of the whole child. We educate these children. We pray with these children. We feed these children.”

Founded by Cardinal James Hickey in 1995 and incorporated in 2001, consortium schools banded together to have one central office overseeing the financial and administrative needs of the individual schools, thereby freeing the principals to take a more active role in supporting the staff and students at those schools.

“Cardinal Hickey’s vision for the consortium was to care for children who were not necessarily Catholic because there has always been a strong determination by the Archdiocese of Washington to make sure children in the District have the opportunity for a good education,” Spadoni said.

By bolstering city schools that were facing financial and other struggles, the consortium “shows there has always been a commitment to the children of the District by the archdiocese,” Spadoni said.

“At a time when others were abandoning the city, the Church could have abandoned it as well, but the Archdiocese of Washington felt otherwise,” he said. The consortium “not only provides an outstanding education for the children, but also provides the children an opportunity to remain close to the Church and to form and develop a relationship with Christ.”

Some consortium students attend their Catholic school thanks to the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP). OSP provides federally funded vouchers for low-income District students to attend a school of their choice. Founded in 2004, the voucher program provides scholarships to kindergarten through 12th grade students from low-income families, giving them the opportunity to attend the school of their choice.

In a photo from January 2020 before the pandemic, Nakisha Thompson (second from right) stands with her daughter Keishai Hatton and her sons, from left, Michael, Sherman and Deshean outside St. Thomas More Catholic Academy in Washington, which her children have attended with help from the D.C. Opportunity Scholarships. She said those scholarships have supported her biggest investment -- education for her “four heartbeats.” (CS photo/Andrew Biraj)

With its more than two-decade history, the consortium “is now seeing the children of parents who attended our schools,” Spadoni noted, “and that attests to the great education those parents received and the great work that continues in our buildings today.”

“Many of our students are not Catholic, but they are in an environment where the Gospel is preached and lived out, and our goal is for children to see the faith in a way that makes them want to live it out,” he added. 

Spadoni said the consortium is successful because “we are blessed to have a strong and committed board of directors who labor daily to provide the best for our children.” He also praised “the fine men and women who are so deeply committed to the education of our children.”

“I have so much respect and admiration for the four school principals who have devoted so many years to their ministry,” he said. “And, our teachers’ devotion to the children they serve is evident in the outstanding work they do in our classrooms.”

On April 5, 2019, on the day after Pope Francis named him as the new archbishop of Washington, then-Archbishop Wilton Gregory visited St. Anthony Catholic School in Washington, which is part of the Consortium of Catholic Academies. (Archdiocese of Washington photo/Jaclyn Lippelmann)

Spadoni invited parents to learn more about the Consortium of Catholic Academies. “It is like a box and you do not know what is inside. Then you unwrap it and see all these wonderful gifts,” he said. “When you look at our schools, you will see that wonderful, magical, things are happening in our classrooms each and every day.”

(For more information on the Archdiocese of Washington’s Consortium of Catholic Academies, visit https://catholicacademies.org/)