Trinity Academy opens

The Enterprise of Brockton www.enterprisenews.com Trinity Academy opens By Elaine Allegrini ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER BROCKTON — Seventh grad er Kyle LaMont was among the first students to enter Trinity Academy Monday, heralding a new day in Catholic education in the city. "He was very excited," his mother, Kathy LaMont said as stood outside the upper campus — formerly St. Colman's School, one of two buildings renovated to ac commodate 500 or more students in kindergarten through grade 8. LaMont said her son trans ferred from the city's public school system to the newly-realigned Catholic school. "We want to give him a good start," she said. He was among 490 students who began the new school year at Trinity Academy — pre-kinder garten through grade 3 at the low er campus at the former St. Ed ward's School at St. Edith Stein Parish and grades 4 through 8 at the upper campus at Christ the King Parish. "We see this as the beginning of a new emphasis on Catholic edu cation," Cardinal Sean O'Malley said during a tour of the upper campus. As he visited classrooms, O'Malley stopped to talk to stu dents, at one point pulling up a seat and discussing math prob lems with fifth grader Devin Pokraka. The two buildings were com pletely gutted in an $11 million project that included all new tech nical systems, windows, interior walls and more. Outside the upper campus Monday morning, city leaders mingled with parents, priests and school administrators. Inside, teachers greeted the students at tired in uniforms — burgundy plaid skirts and white shirts for the girls; tan pants, white shirts and burgundy ties for the boys. The opening of the new schools comes after years of Catholic school closings — five to six a year — throughout the archdiocese, a trend church leaders attritube to a shift of demographics from cities to the suburbs. The reorganization meant the closing of two of the city's Catholic schools — Sacred Heart and Saint Casimir — and the shift of leader ship from individual parishes to a board of directors led by Manthala "Matt" George Jr., retired superin tendent of Brockton schools. "Pastors and ocal Catholic cler gy will continue to play a critical role in ensuring that the Catholic identity and mission are main tained and that spiritual forma tion remains a central priority in our Catholic schools," the archdio cese said in a prepared statement. The new school organization does away with the "subtle inter nal competition" of the parish schools of the past, said the Rev. David O'Donnell, parish of Christ the King Church. It also offers a new and stronger curriculum, ac cording to Cynthia McNally, a re tired administrator of Brockton schools, and consultant for the new Catholic schools. And, O'Donnell said the reno vated buildings provide space for civic and recreational programs in the city. But, on Monday, the focus was education and Bryan Sharland of Bridgewater was part of it. The first-year art teacher stood before his first class of the day and welcomed his first guest, Cardinal O'Malley. Admitting he was a bit "awestruck," Sharland greeted the cardinal, then watched as the car dinal chatted with students. Sharland said art is important to a child's overall education. "It teaches them a form of ex pression they don't get in other classes," he said. "It also compli ments academics." Elaine Allegrini can be reached at eallegrini@enterprisenews.com.

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