Nativity BVM High School, Pottsville, has an enrollment of 182, 12 more students than it had at the end of the 2012-13 school year, Principal Lynn Sabol said Wednesday.
The reason why, she said, is the effort put forth by a recently formed board of directors - the Nativity BVM Governance Board - and a business plan with an emphasis on marketing and development which was approved by the Diocese of Allentown on Jan. 14.
"Our goal for enrollment this year was 180. We surpassed that. I'm hoping next year we have 200 students," Sabol said. The last time Nativity had an enrollment figure close to that was in 2007, when there were 204 students.
Founded in 1955, Nativity BVM High School is a four-year Catholic high school run by the diocese. Due to declining enrollment, the diocese commissioned a study in November 2012 to determine its future. In response, a group of volunteers developed a business plan in an effort to save it.
And it's working, according to Sabol and representatives of the board who gathered at the school at 1 Lawtons Hill to offer an update Wednesday.
Governance boards may be the key to the future of Catholic schools, Sabol said.
"Eventually, every school will have its own governance board," she said.
Matthew T. Kerr, director of communications for the Diocese of Allentown, said Wednesday that's the goal.
To date, three of the diocese's schools have adopted their own boards of directors: Central Catholic, Allentown; Berks Catholic, Reading; and Nativity, Kerr said.
"By the end of this school year, we'll have them at all seven of our high schools, 10 of our 36 elementary schools and at all three of our special learning centers," Kerr said.
Previously, these schools were led by principals with advisory boards.
"With governance boards, local leadership has a more active role in school development and marketing," Kerr said.
Nativity's board invited the principals of four local Catholic elementary schools - Assumption BVM School, Pottsville; St. Ambrose School, Schuylkill Haven; St. Nicholas School, Minersville; and Trinity Academy, Shenandoah - to attend its next meeting, slated for 4 p.m. Tuesday at Nativity.
"It's just going to be a regular board meeting where they will be here to see basically how it's run and what's happening with the board. It's an information session," Sabol said.
"And they can take back information to their schools," said the Rev. David Loeper, pastor of St. John the Baptist Church, Pottsville, and chaplain at Nativity.
The meetings are not open to the public, Sabol said.
According to a list provided by Sabol, the voting members of Nativity's Governance Board are William E. Kirwan Jr., Orwigsburg, president; Eric Lieberman, Pottsville, vice president; Alvin B. Marshall, Pottsville, treasurer; Mary A. Sitcoske, Pottsville, secretary; and board members, Herman J. "Sonny" Fenstermacher, Pottsville; the Rev. Robert Finlan, pastor of the three Frackville parishes; the Rev. Monsignor William F. Glosser, 54, pastor of St. Clare of Assisi Roman Catholic Church, Saint Clair; George F. Halcovage Jr., Pottsville, Schuylkill County commissioner; Thomas J. Nickels, Orwigsburg; and Joseph P. Troy, Schuylkill Haven.
The board's ex-officio members are Sabol; Loeper; Jennifer Forney Daubert, Nativity's director of development; John S. Boyer, Orwigsburg; and Karen A. Ferenchick, Pottsville.
The board's business plan involved the development of four committees to manage the school: marketing, development, finance and facilities.
Marketing may be the most important, Sabol said.
"Our primary task is to get the word out, that Nativity is viable and it's going to be here for years into the future, to stress the academic excellence of the school," said Lieberman, who chairs the marketing committee.
After getting tips from the marketing team at DeSales University, Center Valley, Nativity's board sent members to area churches to promote the school, put fliers about the school in church bulletins and bought more space on local billboards, Lieberman said.
"Last year, we did five billboards. This year, we did eight," Sabol said.
Ferenchick heads up the development committee.
"We used to have a development committee but not in the capacity it is now. In the past, maybe 15 or 20 years ago, development meant running programs for potential students coming out of our feeder schools. Now it's an effort to bring more money into the school," Daubert said.
"If we're not soliciting for tuition assistance and selling tax credit, we're looking to other nonprofits in the area to help out," Ferenchick said Wednesday.