December 21, 2023
Subject line: A Historic Step for NCA
Dear NCA families,
Community is truly one of the great strengths and defining characteristics of NCA. Students, faculty, staff and family echo this sentiment regularly. Today, the leadership of NCA wants to share with you some news about how we plan to build upon this strength to secure a better future for NCA and our children.
As of the 2024-25 school year, for the first time ever, the entire Northside Catholic Academy will share one campus. As a result of strategic planning with the Office of Catholic Schools and Bishop Bartosic, we made the decision to take this historic step to move our entire school to the Edgewater campus on Glenwood. While change can be hard and a bit scary, we are certain that this consolidation is an opportunity to strengthen and grow our community and academic programs.
We believe moving to a one campus model will give us numerous advantages. From a community perspective, we are looking forward to building a stronger student community where younger students can learn from the example of older ones, and older students are helped to mature into leaders. Siblings will be on the same campus. The Student Council might be expanded to include intermediate-level students -- creating greater leadership opportunities for younger students. Students will have access to teachers from their younger years. We will have easier opportunities to have all-school assemblies, including even our youngest Wildcats, and will be able to pray and celebrate Mass together as a full community more regularly.
This is also an opportunity to build stronger academic program s. Our faculty and staff will grow professionally. They will have more possibilities to learn from each other, generate new ideas, collaborate on projects between grades, and vertically align core subjects. Administration will be present to all faculty each day, increasing the opportunities for instructional coaching and classroom visits. Ultimately, we will have more resources to dedicate toward improving academic programs for our students and professional development for our faculty.
This consolidation will help us build a stronger school community as families will feel connected to the entire school, not just one campus. At our K-8th grade Christmas Concert on Dec. 13, we were all moved by the energy and the joy that was palpable in the packed church. We are one community, and for the first time ever, we will be together every day.
This consolidation is also an essential step toward securing the long-term financial health of NCA. The current two-campus model costs the school hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in duplicated operational and building costs. We plan to use the operational cost savings to eventually upgrade facilities at the Edgewater campus, invest in educational opportunities for our students, and offer scholarships for those in need. We believe these operational changes will enable NCA to capitalize on its strengths and focus its resources for the betterment of the educational experience at NCA.
We made the decision to consolidate earlier this week and yesterday shared that decision with the faculty and staff. We wanted to immediately share the decision with our families because it is always our desire to be transparent and forthcoming. We still have a great many details to work through in this big transition and we will be communicating more details in January along with opportunities to share questions and concerns. Our intent is to be as communicative as possible as we work through the logistics and process of consolidation.
For now, please join us in celebrating the fact that next year we will all be together on one campus!
May you and your families have a blessed Christmas, a restful break, and a joyful New Year!
Bishop Mark Bartosic Edwin Garcia
President Director of Operations
Terese Black Luke Osselaer
Principal Assistant Principal