By Gail Bulfin - Florida Catholic
Photographer: COURTESY PHOTO
Suzanne Kaszynski, principal of Mt. Carmel-Holy Rosary School in New York City, is pictured here with some of the students of the Harlem school.
FORT LAUDERDALE | The luncheon marking the 10th anniversary of the Accelerated Reading program in archdiocesan schools brought together a number of local Catholic elementary and high school principals, as well as many of the Accelerated Reading teachers throughout the archdiocese.
Archbishop Thomas Wenski even flew in especially for the occasion, during which local Catholics Joseph and Winifred Amaturo were honored for their foundation’s 10-year commitment to making the Accelerated Reader and Accelerated Math programs available to archdiocesan schools.
One of the highlights of the afternoon, however, was the keynote speech given by Suzanne Kaszynski, principal of Mt. Carmel-Holy Rosary School in New York City. While her background was in the arts, Kaszynski knew her soul belonged in Catholic education.
“I remember the first day at school like it was yesterday. As we were saying prayers in the gym, I thought to myself, I have realized my dreams.”
Catholic Schools Week 2015: Jan. 25-31
Those dreams were short lived as she quickly discovered her school was facing closure after years of dropping enrollment, plummeting exam scores and increasing violence in a Harlem neighborhood fraught with challenges.
“Clearly, this was a school that no one wanted,” she said.At wits end, Kaszynski wrote a letter to the community which was picked up by the New York Times.
“The Holy Spirit must have been present,” she recalled, because with only days left, a quiet benefactor called. Without giving his name, he asked what she needed.
“I was very bold and said $125,000 in two days and $140,000 for the next three years.”
He simply said she would have it and asked that she write something up. “I sat at my computer, hands shaking, and wrote a two-sentence agreement.”
Two days later, after returning from Good Friday Mass, the check arrived.
Photographer: GAIL BULFIN | FC
Suzanne Kaszynski, principal of Mt. Carmel-Holy Rosary School in New York City, center, is pictured here with Joseph and Winifred Amaturo, whose foundation has given 1.3 million dollars over the past decade to implementing the Accelerated Reader and Math programs in archdiocesan schools.
That humble donor was Bill Ruane, a brilliant financier, manager of the Sequoia Fund, and advisor to Warren Buffett. Ruane also happened to be a close friend of the Amaturos, who say his generosity and attention to Catholic education inspired them.
With financial deadlines met, Kaszynski realized that she needed a plan to reverse the decline of the school. And she wanted to strengthen its Catholic identity.
She needed to correct academic and behavioral performance so the school would become a place to which parents wanted to send their children. Student reading, which was far below the norm at every grade level, was one of the key elements in need of measurable improvement.
So Ruane agreed to fund the Accelerated Reader program for the school.
"After we introduced AR, we became a school that others wanted to attend. It transformed the school,” Kaszynski said.
A previously empty library became a beehive of activity. When children finished tests, they would pull out a book to read. Enrollment went from 175 to 275. Test scores, previously at 0-20 percent passing, rose to 90-100 percent passing.
Parental involvement blossomed. The school introduced music and dance.
“Students who didn’t get much beyond the projects now suddenly had a new outlook,” Kaszynski said.
Like all Catholic schools, Mt. Carmel-Holy Rosary continues to face myriad challenges. But Kaszynski said she has faith.
“Catholic education will be there because of true angels on earth � like the archbishop. Like the Amaturos.”
