LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (02/16/03)

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

St. John's School can have bright future

Dear Editor:

To paraphrase Mark Twain: "Rumors of the demise of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School have been greatly exaggerated." Rather, the St. John's Parish clarion call for raising $250,000 is seen as a chance to revitalize, restructure and develop the school to meet the changing educational needs of both American-born and immigrant Ukrainian children in Newark and its surrounding suburbs.

As stated in your February 3 editorial, St. John's must now be reviewed as a magnet school serving surrounding parishes without schools, some of whose parishioners send their children to St. John's. As a magnet school, St. John's School must reach out beyond the immediate St. John's Parish community to fulfill its long-range plans.

The Committee for the Development of St. John's School has been created to fulfill the desire of the greater Ukrainian American community to have St. John's educate its children in the tradition of academic excellence established over 63 years. Even before kicking off its official fund drive, the committee has already received generous donations from families with children who do not attend the school but who understand the benefits that a core Ukrainian Catholic school brings to the community. Their children and grandchildren can attend concerts, dance instruction, religious education and other school events and receive tangential benefits from St. John's School, even if not enrolled.

Without a central core of organized youth and the lively activities that result therefrom, our community will be empty and short-lived. Where else can one find two children's choirs, dressed in embroidered shirts and blouses, playing 50 sopilkas and singing Ukrainian carols for parishes in Whippany, Jersey City and Elizabeth, as well as their own in Newark?

Considering that tuition alone never covers the cost of operating a Catholic grammar school, the financial condition of the school is not as dire as depicted. In the past, income from the sale of varenyky and from Bingo more than made up for any tuition deficit and no attempts were even made to break out the school's budget from that of the church. However, these two sources of income are no longer available and have not been replaced. The challenge for the future is to obtain new sources of funding from corporate sponsorships, foundation grants, scholarship bequests, institutionalized support from the surrounding communities and creative fund-raisers in order to lessen the parish's contribution.

Positive discussions are taking place with Pastor Bohdan Lukie to create a board to oversee the operations of the school. An updated mission statement, a business plan and strategic plan for long-range goals have been presented. In anticipation of a new beginning, the committee has started a recruitment drive, a budget oversight group, an alumni relations program and a fund-raising committee.

Already an additional 14 new students may enroll next year. St. John's Pre-School, with 25 youngsters enrolled, will supply a steady stream of kindergartners. An Open House program timed to coincide with the annual Valentine's Day Dance, Catholic Schools Week and the Shevchenko Concert should interest new parents to consider St. John's. Young couples, some without children and some not yet married, are joining the committee to help support the school into the future.

It is time now for alumni and parents of alumni who reaped the benefits of a St. John's education to give back to St. John's and place St. John's in a position to succeed based on a new format. Request for donations are going out this week, followed by a phone-a-thon. St. John's must be in a financial posture to withstand a temporary dip in enrollment. With the parish's and Pastor Lukie's blessings, the committee foresees turning over $250,000 on April 15 for a newly created board to run the school, still linked with the parish, but also drawing on a broader base of community support and involvement.

A hearty thank you to The Ukrainian Weekly for supporting these efforts.

Myron Martynetz
South Orange, N.J.

The letter writer, an attorney, is chairman of the Committee for the Development of St. John's School.

Our Catholic schools deserve another look

Dear Editor:

Thank you for the stories on St. John's School in Newark, N.J. St. John's certainly has a special place in many hearts. As a graduate of St. John's, I am very grateful for the education and lifelong friends it has given me. Now I live in Clifton, N.J., and send my children to St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic School in Passaic.

Sadly, it appears that all Ukrainian Catholic schools are financially challenged. There are many struggles - managing costs, retaining quality educators, fund-raising and enrollment. I wonder if our community recognizes these treasures in our midst.

In some cases, distance makes enrollment impossible. But over the years I have heard two typical reasons for not enrolling children into our schools. The first one is that "I already pay local taxes, which pay for a good public school." Absolutely true. But there is another side to the equation. Daily classes of Ukrainian give your children an opportunity to not only maintain contact with their Ukrainian core but also get a head start in life being bilingual. You typically have smaller classes giving your children more attention. In a society that is so fond of pop culture and consumption, sprinkling a little morality on your child is a good thing. In a day when apparel companies proudly flaunt marketing provocative clothing to pre-teens, a Catholic School uniform looks great. Finally in a day and age when there are more and more reports of drugs entering the public school system in Grades 7 and 8, seeing parents you know in the parking lot is reassuring.

The second comment often heard questions the quality of the schools. It is easy to question, but I would suggest that parents take a closer look. For example, at St. Nick's we have Internet access, computers, TVs and VCRs in every classroom. We also have a science lab. All that is made possible through donations from members of our community. At St. Nick's we have a music program, a school choir and an after school program. But if you did not stop in and look, you would not know this.

Our children, like St. John's children, get into the best high schools in New Jersey. If we roll up our sleeves, financially and physically, we can help make these schools even better. Get involved. Our parents and grandparents built these schools. Maintaining them is a much easier task. There is a beautiful thing that happens when you come together as a community to build or save something. You feel better about yourself and you take pride in being Ukrainian.

As registration approaches for the 2003-2004 school year, please take another look and see if you can be part of the solution. A Ukrainian Catholic education will make a difference in your child's life.

Orest Temnycky
Clifton, N.J.

Why Russian tickets for Ukrainian show?

Dear Editor:

My family and I were very much looking forward to the Oksana Bilozir concert on Saturday, February 8, at the NYC Millennium Theatre in Brooklyn, N.Y. It is truly exciting to have such a great Ukrainian pop sensation touring the United States and Canada.

For as many years as her music has been available in the United States, we have been avid fans not just of the repertoire, but more importantly, of what her repertoire represents; that is, the heart of Ukraine and its people. This plus the fact that Ms. Bilozir is an official representative of the Our Ukraine bloc brings me to the following questions. Why is it that Meest, the major sponsor of the Bilozir tour, allowed the New York concert tickets to be printed in Russian? Was this really necessary? Was Meest afraid that its target audiences would ask for a refund once they saw that the tickets were printed in, dare I say, Ukrainian?

I find it appalling that this has happened. It is enough that officials in Ukraine still squabble over the official language! It is enough that the Ukrainian language is still looked upon as a "peasant language" rather than the one, true, original, glorious language of the oldest Slavic culture on earth.

Russification should have been put to rest 12 years ago when Ukraine was freed from bondage. Here was an opportunity for Ukrainian to be in the spotlight. Shame on Meest for being so insensitive to all Ukrainians and for helping to perpetuate one of the biggest problems we Ukrainians have - lack of respect for our heritage put upon us by foreigners, and now by our own.

The Russian-language tickets were all the more out of place as the entire concert program - the songs and the introductions to them - was in the Ukrainian language.

Lillianna Chudolij
Clifton, N.J.

Artist's first exhibit: at Ukrainian Museum

Dear Editor:

I was delighted by Helen Smindak's mention of my daughter Inka Essenhigh's Ukrainian background in the "Dateline New York" column of January 12, ("Highbrow Cartooning"). To this, I would like to add a further tidbit that has a pride of place connotation: Inka's first exhibit in New York was held at The Ukrainian Museum while she was still attending the New York School of Visual Arts (SVA).

That exhibit featured a group of Ukrainian art students from the United States and Canada. This included Tamara Zahaikevitch, also a graduate of SVA, and she will be presenting her new work at the Bellwether gallery in Brooklyn this coming March. I think that may be of interest to your readers in the New York city area.

Anna Kobrynska
Columbus, Ohio

The Ukrainian Weekly welcomes letters to the editor and commentaries on a variety of topics of concern to the Ukrainian American and Ukrainian Canadian communities. Opinions expressed by columnists, commentators and letter-writers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of either The Weekly editorial staff or its publisher, the Ukrainian National Association.

Letters should be typed (double-spaced) and signed; they must be originals, not photocopies. The daytime phone number and address of the letter-writer must be given for verification purposes.

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