Changing landscape of a Catholic School

Student athletes at Leo Catholic High School stretch in the hallway as they train for the track and field team. The team is the current Class A State Champion despite not having an outdoor track to practice on.

The outlook for Catholic schools is varied in different parts of the country. Although they are closing in northeastern and Great Lakes cities, they are expanding in other places like Indiana, Texas, North Carolina and Florida, which have growing Catholic populations, governments willing to support private school, or both.

Where Catholic schools are growing, it's often because of innovative ideas, voucher systems, and outreach programs for growing numbers of Hispanic immigrant children.

Catholic schools took root in the United States when 19th century church officials, responding to anti-Catholic sentiment in public schools, urged every parish to build its own school. Staffed by religious orders like the Jesuits, they gained reputations for discipline and academic rigour.

Leo Catholic High School president Dan McGrath, pictured walking through the school’s corridors, is a former Chicago Tribune editor. "In my time as an editor, I could always pick out which reporters went to Catholic school, because they could spell," he said.

Reasons for current declining enrolment include climbing costs and demographic changes - smaller families and the departure of parents with children from northeastern and Great Lakes cities for the suburbs or for jobs in the south and west, according to Catholic school experts.

The clergy sex-abuse scandal hasn't helped either. Nor has the expansion of charter schools, which offer an alternative to traditional public schools and charge no tuition.

A damaged sign for Leo Catholic High School is stuck on the wall of a parking lot across from the school building. Below it is the slogan "Expect to Succeed"

Academic success is a major selling point for the school: over the last five years, every Leo senior has graduated and gotten into college.