Catholic high school admissions process at a glance

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

With the arrival of fall, seventh graders in the Archdiocese of New Orleans are in the midst of deciding where they will attend high school next year.

Hurricane Ida might have caused some upheaval at both elementary and high schools, yet the Catholic high school admissions process remains virtually unchanged this year, said Mark Williams, associate superintendent of secondary schools for the archdiocese.

Since the storm, the 23 Catholic high school admissions directors have been discussing if damage to the schools and the loss of 10 admissions calendar days would affect the recruiting process or application deadlines for the 2022-23 year.


“We wanted to make sure if we had to alter or revise the admissions calendar, we were able to do so; to make sure that everybody had a chance to display their mission and parents had time to explore high school campuses,” Williams said.

Williams surveyed ad­missions directors on Sept. 15 – asking if they wanted to keep the calendar in place or revise it due to either the schools or parents of eighth-grade applicants being affected in a myriad of ways by the storm.

The majority voted to keep it as is and to leave their open house dates as scheduled, with the exception of Holy Cross, which moved its open house from Oct. 5 to Oct. 19.

Reached out for input
Williams thought the storm’s impact in the archdiocese made it extremely important to make a team effort to gauge concerns of all Catholic school leaders. He discovered that the elementary principals wanted assurance that recruitment events would meet COVID-19 safety protocols – such as mask wearing indoors, social distancing, hand washing – that were proposed by the Centers for Disease Control, Louisiana Department of Health and local areas.

Additionally, he held a high school admissions director chat online and also talked to several elementary principals about the original deadlines. Williams stressed that the admissions process is designed to showcase the strengths and missions of individual Catholic high schools.

“I wanted to take everybody’s opinions into account so we could have an admissions season that was robust, noteworthy and impactful,” he said.

Williams also held a meeting Sept. 27 at Archbishop Chapelle High School for all admissions directors, though it was mostly geared to new admissions directors. At the meeting, there was a review of the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ admissions handbook and etiquette, a discussion of the three seasons of recruitment and open house protocols.

“Whether you come to our open house or an information night or whether you come to a volleyball or football game, we want you to be able to see the missions of our schools – to see if this is a place for you,” he said.

The robust nature of local Catholics schools is evident in the increase of 1,200 students this school year, Williams said, and the fact that the majority of Catholic elementary students go on to admission in a Catholic high school.

“That signals more delivery in terms of education,” Williams said, mentioning the dozens of National Merit Finalists recently named from a variety of Catholic high schools across the archdiocese.

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CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL ADMISSIONS DATES
►  Nov. 9: Final day for recruiting activities
►  Nov. 10: Applications are emailed to elementary schools and given to students as well as posted on the archdiocesan website.
►  Nov. 12: Students turn in their high school of choice to their elementary school.
►  Nov. 16: Applications and records are sent by the elementary principals to high schools or the Department of Catholic Education and Faith Formation (DCEFF).
►  Jan. 8, 2022: High school testing day at a student’s high school of choice, starting at either 8 or 8:30 a.m.
►  Feb. 9-10: DCEFF reviews admissions folders from the high schools.
►  Feb. 14: Invitations to apply are sent.