DUBUQUE METROPOLITAN SYSTEM OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION

DUBUQUE METROPOLITAN SYSTEM OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION. A unit of the ARCHDIOCESE OF DUBUQUE educational community. Member schools provide academic education certified by state, regional and archdiocesan accrediting agencies. Lay and religious staff members are fully accredited by the State of Iowa. The Metropolitan System has served fourteen Catholic parishes, six preschool programs, two-day care/latch key programs, ten elementary schools, and WAHLERT CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL.

The elementary schools of the Metropolitan System promote daily opportunities for worship, prayer, and Christ-centered guidance. The curriculum provides sequential programs in religion, art, music and physical education. Basic skills instruction has been supplemented with a computer curriculum (kindergarten through eighth), learning disabilities and remedial programs, and programs for the talented and gifted.

Extra-curricular activities include drama and vocal programs, sports, and music. Volunteer parent and grandparent programs together with student service to the community and parish are encouraged.

Financial aid was available through financial aid grants, scholarship grants, need-based grants, educational endowments, adopt-a-child programs, and work-study programs.

In 1997 all parishes within the Dubuque Metropolitan System reviewed the proposal to build an all-parish middle school and gave Archbishop Jerome G. HANUS their reaction. All but three rejected the proposal. Parents were concerned about keeping schools in neighborhoods to maintain bonds between families and the schools. Costs were also a concern with estimates between $11 million and $13.5 million for construction alone. Archbishop Hanus concluded that the middle school proposal should not be pursued. (1)

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Source:

1. Gilligan, Amy. "Middle School Proposal Dies," Telegraph Herald, February 9, 1997, p. 1. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=aEyKTaVlRPYC&dat=19970209&printsec=frontpage&hl=en