The Good Shepherd School Capital Campaign Case Statement
Shepherding Hope
For 15 years the vision has always been more than teaching. More than nurturing.More than supporting. More than encouraging. For 15 years the vision has been wrapping all of these elements within a blanket of consistency that provides stability, safety and tools for children whose lives are full of erratic, volatile, and unpredictable events over which they have no control.
Aptly named by our founder, Fr. Harry Tompson S.J., the Good Shepherd School is much like a shepherd who carefully provides the constant – day in and day out, year in and year out – vigilant guidance and direction his individual charges need to mature in an extremely perilous environment. Day in and day out. Year in and year out. The shepherd is there to abide with his sheep and keep them from harm.
As the Good Shepherd School celebrates 15 years of providing exceptional education to support many of New Orleans’ most vulnerable – moving these children ahead of the academic curve, we announce exciting plans to expand to a new, larger site to shepherd more scholars towards hope.
Our Original Shepherd
Each one of them is Jesus is disguise. – Mother Theresa of Calcutta
Our original shepherd, Fr. Harry Tompson, S.J., challenged many of us to dig deep and join his commitment to an exceptional education in the Jesuit tradition, for all of God’s children – especially the youngest and most vulnerable among us. Fr. Tompson even brought a shepherd’s crozier to the early planning meetings – to symbolize both a rod to prod any who doubted and a staff to support those who embraced the vision! He prodded and supported us – in his words – to give each other more growth, more power, more talent, and more skills to get the job done.
Fr. Harry Tompson, S.J. passed from this life on April 5, 2001 – four months before the school opened its doors to the very children that he had called us to serve. Since then the Good Shepherd School has been faithful to his vision – offering hope through education to the youngest and most vulnerable in our midst.
Consistently Living the Mission and the Values
In the tradition of the Jesuit Nativity Mission Schools, the Good Shepherd School remains constant in its mission to “help low-income, urban youth in order to realize their fullest potential as productive members of society by providing them with an extended-day, year-round, quality education that is integrated with personal, moral and spiritual development, and the continued guidance during the students’ further education.”
The Judeo-Christian values, which have inspired the Good Shepherd School, include a respect for the dignity and potential of each person, a responsibility to assist the poor and those in need, a strong sense of community within the family of God, and the obligation to promote a society characterized by justice. In this model the school’s students are enrolled without regard to race, color, religion or ethnicity.
The Children of the Good Shepherd School and Their Achievements
In my neighborhood there is drug selling and all types of crime. But I want my son to excel just as much as anybody with a lot of money. I have the same expectations and goals as anyone else. And I want to say thank you to the people of Good Shepherd for giving us this opportunity to meet those goals.
(Kynotta, mother of Jakirai, a 2011graduate and a Senior at Jesuit High School)
The Good Shepherd School provides consistent vigilance over its students whose lives can be otherwise full of socioeconomic insecurities beyond their youthful control. Beautiful, joy-filled, creative, eager and talented - the students of Good Shepherd School are all of these things and more. However, they also each face a myriad of different challenges when they go home at the end of the day.
The children of the Good Shepherd School come from low-income families – all of the Good Shepherd students are eligible for free/reduced lunch and all are recipients of the Louisiana Scholarship Program (voucher program). In addition to economic insecurities, many of the children (90%) live in single parent homes, or with grandparents or guardians. More than half of the Good Shepherd students have family members who have been victims of violence, and a full third of the student body has a family member who has been, or is currently, incarcerated. And about 20% of the students have been assessed/diagnosed with learning or developmental challenges. Added to these challenges are periodic episodes of housing instability, dealing with family members who have mental and/or physical disabilities, and more.
But the Good Shepherd experience is that this paradigm of vulnerability can change. Does change. With the nurturing, consistent support of the leadership, teachers, staff and volunteers, these young children have shown the ability to blossom into young adults who have left the flock to succeed in their continuing academic ventures.
The consistency, the care, the supportive encouragement, the shepherding that our school provides it students – put simply – works:
- While facing the manychallenges listed above, Good Shepherd’s students consistently test above the state and local averages on educational indices;
- Each of the Good Shepherd students who have graduated were accepted into, and thrive, in the highest performing local parochial and public high schools like Jesuit, Mount Carmel, St. Katherine Drexel, Edna Karr, St. Augustine, Lusher, New Orleans Science and Math Charter, Dominican, McMain, Archbishop Rummel and Ben Franklin.
- And each of the tiny children who walked through the doors as Kindergarteners and First Graders in August of 2001 and continued at the Good Shepherd School are now students within colleges and universities where they are charting their own passages of studies, including music, cellular and molecular biology and pre-med courses! Good Shepherd graduates are currently attending Loyola University in Chicago, Florida A&M University, University of Mobile, Louisiana Tech, Xavier, Delgado, Dillard, UNO, LSU, University of Southern Mississippi, Cornell College of Iowa, and Southern University.
My majors are Psychology and Black World Studies. And my current minor is Psychology in Crime and Justice. I am interested in studying abroad in Rio for the summer of my junior year and studying one semester in Spain. My career goals are to work in either the FBI or the CIA as a profiler.
(Alexia, GSS Class of 2008, Loyola Chicago)
The Stability Provided by the Good Shepherd School
Education cannot be neutral. It is either positive or negative; either it enriches or it impoverishes; either it enables a person to grow or it lessens, even corrupts him. The mission of schools is to develop a sense of truth, of what is good and beautiful. And this occurs through a rich path made up of many ingredients. – Pope Francis
All of this is possible because the Good Shepherd School provides a proven model of exceptional education that fosters both the academic and personal growth of its young scholars – thereby empowering the children with the tools necessary to break the cycle of challenges into which they were born. The established Good Shepherd model features:
- Extended school day and year where students receive not only more instructional and enrichment time, but two nutritious meals each day.
- Low student-teacher ratio / small school environment.
- Guided assessment and remediation services for students with literacy and/or numeracy challenges.
- Professional psychoeducational evaluation, assessment, and implementation programming for students who experience educational and/or emotional challenges.
- Parental/Family programming to reinforce commitment, involvement and development.
- Enrichment programming that supports and enhances the faith-based, character-oriented curriculum.
- Vital reinforcement and support for graduates through the Good Shepherd Graduate Support Program.
It is important to note that prior to Hurricane Katrina and the rise of the charter schools, prior to the Louisiana Scholarship Program, Good Shepherd wasamong New Orleans’ first models of an exceptional parochial elementary school for children from low-income families provided by benefactors.
Introducing the Future of the Good Shepherd School
As a GSS parent 8 years, I truly believe that this school is not just a school but a family. Good Shepherd has not only taught my son, but me as well. They encouraged me to be better as a parent and to help my child prosper in life magnificently. The Good Shepherd School will always be the starting line of his journey of making me proud. I am hopeful for his future! (Rachnique McCann, single Mother of 7th Grader, Jaylan Scott)
Once again in the words of Fr. Tompson, we are poised to give each other more growth, more power, more talent, and more skills to get the job done. There may not be a physical crozier at the table, but the children in our midst, who need the Good Shepherd, prod us to do more. In order to meet the continuing need, the Good Shepherd School has selected a new location which will allow the school to substantially increase its current enrollment, dramatically increasing the benefit from the consistent care and support which follows this exceptional model and spirit of education.
Currently our school location in the CBD lacks sufficient classroom space to meet the growing demand for the Jesuit Nativity Mission Model. Also lacking are a space for indoor sports, theatre or large gatherings, age-appropriate outdoor playground (currently all students share the same small play space from age 5-12 making it a safety challenge), a designated dining area, designated space for prayer services, Mass and other spiritual activities and faculty work room. Probably, the largest challenge we face is lack of sufficient parking making the school difficult for parents to access and a challenge to host events and learning opportunities with parent participation; lack of parking is an obstacle to community building within our school family.
Anticipated Budget
Income / Resources:
GSS Reserves: 2,565,000
Sell Present Building: 2,700,000
NMTCs: 2,200,000
Sub-Total 7,465,000
Capital Campaign 4,000,000
Total: 11,465,000
Expenses/Costs:
Land Purchase:1,250,000
Building Cost:8,735,000
Building Contingency:430,000
Arch Fees/Permits: 700,000
Demolition:100,000
Capital Camp. Costs 150,000
Moving Costs:100,000
Total Cost: 11,465,000
Location / Architectural Plans
New location for Good Shepherd School :
Address: 1839 Agriculture St/2901 A.P. Tureaud
New Orleans, LA 70119
Every time I passed Jesuit High School I said to myself, “Oh, my son is going to go to that school!” Yet I knew, with the money that I make, that I cannot afford a private education for my kids. So it happened, that Joseph was able to go to Good Shepherd School, and when it came time for him to graduate they gave us several schools to choose from. And Jesuit was on that list. Yes, somehow, someway God made a way for my son to go to Good Shepherd School and to Jesuit and to receive a good education. Good Shepherd was definitely my break.
(Terri, Mother of Andrew, GSS 2009 graduate, now attending Cornell College)