Ursuline Academy (Illinois)

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Ursuline Academy

Ursuline Academy in Springfield, Illinois, was a Catholic high school formerly affiliated with Springfield College in Illinois (SCI). Ursuline Academy billed itself as "a college preparatory school". One offshoot of its partnership with SCI was a program which allows high school students to simultaneously receive high school and college credit for courses.^[1]

1 History
2 Closing
3 UA Foundation
4 Senior Experience
5 Criticism of Closing
6 External links
7 References

[edit] History

Ursuline Academy was originally founded in 1857 by Mother Mary Joseph Wolfe, with its location at 5th and Mason streets. The Academy moved to its current and final location on 5th Street, north of Eastman, in 1867. The school originally opened as an all-girls school. Enrollment was so low by the last 1970s that the Academy had no choice but to become co-educational in 1981.

The Ursuline Sisters established SCI in 1929 on the property owned by the Academy. On Jan. 15, 2003, Benedictine University, based in Lisle, Illinois, entered into a partnership with SCI. Over the next 4 years, The Ursuline Sisters withdrew from the Academy, moving out of the convent completely in 2005. SCI/BU took a more active interest in Ursuline, eventually helping with money management. The Academy, however, was having a rough time of it. Dr. William Carroll made several promises to the students of the Academy and their parents, that the school would stay open. Also, a new tuition plan was put into place before the 06-07 school year. The tuition was frozen at $4500 and there were tuition breaks if the student (or students) had a sibling in a Catholic grade school, or at the Academy. Also enacted were tuition incentives for UA students hoping to go to SCI. The agreement was that any UA student could attend SCI/BU for the same $4500 tuition they had paid to go to Ursuline Academy, upon their graduation from High School.

[edit] Closing

On May 11, 2007, the SCI-BU (Benedictine University) Board of Directors made the decision to close Ursuline at the end of the 2006-2007 school year. The Ursuline Principal, John Stimler, was notified the following day, and the students were then notified on May 14. The events of May 14 were a chaotic disaster.^[2] Someone at the SCI offices contacted the press and informed them of the decision to close Ursuline Academy before the students were notified. John Stimler called an emergency assembly, pulling the students from the classrooms into the gymnasium. The faculty and staff had an emergency meeting where they were informed of the school's impending closing. Reporters convened outside, and even tried to come into the Gymnasium itself, but were removed from the premises. John Stimler and his faculty and staff announced the closing of Ursuline Academy to the 173 students of Ursuline Academy. The students were unaware of the true reasons behind the closing until much later. They were allowed to call their parents on their cell phones and told that there were reporters waiting outside. The students were given less than 2 weeks to find new schools, when enrollment and re-enrollment for all schools had been in progress since January. (UA had rolling enrollment.) The teachers were also given less than 2 weeks to find jobs. The majority of the student population went to Lutheran High School. A smaller amount went to Springfield High School and the other diocesan high school in the city, Sacred Heart-Griffin. Two students went to Calvary Academy. The remaining students were/are sprinkled throughout various public schools in the area.

[edit] UA Foundation

Immediately following the announcement, several students and parents immediately began trying to come up with ways to bring the school back for the next school year. The Ursuline Academy Foundation was formed on May 22, 2007, to try to help get the school back on its feet, and to come up with the finances to do so. The Foundation did receive over $200,000 in donations. However, SCI-BU set a deadline that the school needed $500,000 by May 29. A lease was able to be made for the 6th Street building, so the school set an effort to get 150 students back into the school by June 4, 2007. This would come at a cost, however. Tuition at the Academy was raised from $4,500 per year to $6,200, about the same as the other private secondary schools in Springfield, in addition to other surcharges, making it far out of reach for several families. Sadly, only about a third of the needed 150 were able to apply. Ursuline Academy officially announced that its doors would remain closed the evening of June 4, ending 150 years of Ursuline tradition in Illinois. Over the summer of 2007, however, the Ursuline Academy Foundation reportedly received more than $500,000 in last minute donations. The Foundation is still working on bringing Ursuline Academy back to Springfield, as well as a few scholarship programs for Catholic schools.

SCI tried to bill Ursuline Academy for the heating of their dormitories and offices that were located in the convent attached to the Academy. There was great controversy over this, as the Academy had not been able to turn on its heat until November/December due to lack of funds. Reportedly, even then, the heat was turned on for half hour intervals two or three times a day. Allegedly, SCI/BU had plans to close the Academy and raze the 5th street building (the oldest building on campus.), turning the property into a parking lot. A statement was put out that the 5th street building was "unstable" and that the roof had fallen in the music conservatory, Saint Ursula's Hall. These were unsubstantiated rumors, completely untrue. The roof is still quite intact in Saint Ursula's Hall, and the 5th street building had no signs of stress or unstability two weeks before the statement was issued, when school was still in session and the building was being used regularly.

[edit] Senior Experience

The class of 2008 was offered a "Senior Experience" program so that they could have Ursuline Academy on their diplomas. Currently, there are less than 20 seniors enrolled in this program. SCI runs this program. Many seniors went to other schools and have recently graduated at semester.

There have been reports of the SCI personnel not honoring the agreements made with the Ursuline students and staff, in regards to the 4+1 program and the accompanying tuition discounts for former UA students. The President of SCI, William Carroll, had previously said (in a letter, available here) that he would honor the agreements he had put in place. At least one case has been confirmed of a denied tuition discount for a former Ursuline student.

[edit] Criticism of Closing

Many have called the SCI/Benedictine handling of the school's closure a "PR nightmare" that will be hard for the University to overcome. Several Ursuline alumni were rumored to withdraw from SCI's ranks in protest to the college's actions. Benedictine/SCI personnel changed the locks on the Ursuline campus prior to the 150th Ursuline Class Reunion and Anniversary celebration held from June 29, 2007 to July 1, 2007.

The Ursuline Academy community has remained close-knit, however, still holding many of its' traditional events - such as Kairos, a retreat for upperclassmen, and (possibly) the UA Chicken Dinner.

The buildings were put on an historic preservation list, Landmarks Illinois, due to the efforts of alumin Sarah Jones in 2008. ^[3]

[edit] External links

School Website — Last update: Summer, 2007. Only contains Senior Experience information.
Ursuline Academy Foundation — official website of the Foundation.
Ursuline Academy Illinois — Ursuline Academy in Springfield.