PROVIDENCE—When school bells rang at four diocesan elementary schools late last month, students in several classrooms were greeted by enthusiastic new educators, all members of the Providence Alliance for Catholic Teachers (PACT).
The new teachers are Frank Galligan, who teaches Grade 6 at St. Teresa School, Pawtucket; Sarah Woolf, Grades 6-8 Language Arts and Social Studies, St. Francis of Assisi School, Warwick; Megan Keenan, Kindergarten, Mercymount Country Day School, Cumberland; and Megan Kindlon, Grade 1; Amy Kavanaugh, Grade 3, and Sean Brennan, Grade 4, all at St. Mary School, Pawtucket.
The 7 year-old PACT program has four components - service, community, study and spirituality. Participants serve in the dioceses of Providence, Fall River, Worcester and Springfield, as well in the Archdiocese of Boston, and contribute two years of service to youths as teachers in Catholic schools and live in small, faith based communities where they offer each other mutual support and camaraderie.
“The goal of the program is to prepare graduates to remain in Catholic education,” said Christian Brother Patrick Carey, program director, who studied extensively in this country and who ministered as a teacher, principal and university professor in Australia before coming to Providence
College five years ago.
There are currently 38 graduate students participating in the innovative two-year program. Three of the educators are Providence College alumni; the others have been recruited from Catholic and secular colleges and universities across the country.
“We look for students who can talk comfortably about their faith,” said Karen Brennan, assistant program director and former vice principal of Bishop Feehan High School.
Brother Carey emphasized that almost 100 percent of previous graduates seeking employment have found jobs either in Catholic or public schools, or in Campus ministry programs. A few have opted to pursue doctoral or additional graduate studies before settling into a career.
“More than 60 percent of the graduates stay in Catholic education, at least for the first year,” he added, noting that while the program is challenging, the program also enjoys a 100 percent retention rate.
PACT is one of 13 programs established nationwide in a collaborative effort within higher education to strengthen and sustain Catholic education in Grades K- 12. Only one other similar program exists in New England — the Urban Catholic Teacher Corps, based at Boston College, whose teachers serve in the Archdiocese of Boston.
Students entering the PACT program who possess teaching credentials may pursue a master’s degree in education with a concentration in special education, literacy or school administration, or a master of arts degree in history. Unlicensed teachers who hold liberal arts degrees complete requirements for teacher certification and a master’s degree in secondary education.
PACT teachers receive a $14,500 annual stipend, pay low rent to live in communities housed in rectories or former convents, and receive health and dental insurance. Providence College waives the cost of graduate school tuition for program participants.
The new teachers attend intensive summer sessions and all must complete a course entitled “Understanding the Catholic Faith,” which is taught online by Gerry Schnell. Elementary school teachers, who are placed within an easy commuting distance of Providence College, must complete one or two courses each semester during the academic year, while secondary level program participants, who are scattered, must compete a portfolio of their work during the school year and attend summer sessions during the two-year program of study.
The first- and second-year teachers receive regular visits from Brother Carey and Brennan, who discuss lesson plans, observe classroom presentations, help to solve any problems, and offer support and encouragement.
According to Brother Carey, one of the challenges that PACT faces is finding enough vacant positions in Catholic schools to accommodate the number of students who want to enter the program.
Matching potential candidates with openings must be done in late winter or early spring so that summer graduate school sessions can be planned and other arrangements can be made. Often times, however, vacancies occur during the summer when some Catholic teachers resign to take other employment, become ill or suddenly decide to retire and it’s too late to accommodate PACT students.
“The PACT teachers are just phenomenal,” said Mary Carney, principal of St. Teresa School.
“They love what they do and the students really respond to them.”
Kathleen Bowler, a second year third-grade teacher at St. Teresa’s, said that she joined the program because she always wanted a career in a Catholic school.
“I grew up going to Catholic schools,” she recalled. “It is a very good way to give something back for the years that I spent in Catholic education.”
Bowler said that her classroom experience has been very enjoyable.
“They’re really at a good age,” she noted, adding that while the third graders are still very young and innocent, they are also fostering a sense of independence.
The busy educator, who lives with three other young teachers in a PACT-sponsored
residence in Pawtucket, described the fraternal experience as “rewarding and supportive.”
“It’s really nice to come home and to be with people going through the same experience,” she said. The teachers, despite their often hectic and different schedules, frequently eat and pray together, offer advice about lesson plans and classroom strategies and support when the going gets rough.
“It’s overwhelming at times, but we get each other through it,” Bowler said. “I can see myself teaching in a Catholic school for a long time.”
For more information about the PACT program, call 865-2657 or email pcarey@providence.edu.
