Catholic Schools Office will promote schools on TV show

    “Our Schools, Our Future” – a monthly, 30-minute television show hosted by Catholic schools superintendent Dr. Jan Lancaster on WLAE-TV –  is the newest component of a strategy to raise awareness of the significant impact of Catholic education.
    The show will premiere on WLAE-TV Channel 32 on Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. and then repeat on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Lancaster will conduct interviews with Catholic school teachers, students and alumni who will talk about the effect a Catholic school education has had on their lives.
    “We want to focus on the special nature and sacredness of Catholic schools and how that education impacts people for life,” Lancaster said.
    The seed for the program was planted when Lancaster went to WLAE to be interviewed on “Issues and Faith” about her appointment as superintendent of archdiocesan Catholic schools. That segment grew into an idea for a show solely dedicated to Catholic schools, Lancaster said.
    In the first installment, Lancaster will interview Kim Roberts, president of the Council of Catholic School Cooperative Clubs, about her own Catholic school upbringing and how she has passed on that gift to her family.
    She also will interview Dr. Dereck Rovaris, an administrator at LSU Health Sciences Center who is involved in a number of archdiocesan initiatives, including the Office of Racial Harmony, and is a parishioner of St. Peter Claver Church.    
    Dominican Father Charles Latour, the principal of Archbishop Hannan High School, will be interviewed about his school’s push to incorporate technology into the classroom.
    Mixed into the program will be videos from Catholic school students describing why they love their Catholic education. That segment will be particularly appropriate because the first show will air during Catholic Schools Week (Jan. 29-Feb. 5).
    “We’re trying to bring in as many schools as possible,” Lancaster said. “We want people to realize that Catholic education is alive and well.”
Strategic plan to be reviewed
    On other shows, Lancaster plans to offer updates on the strategic plan for Catholic schools being conducted by education professors of The Catholic University of America.
    “This is an exciting time in Catholic education,” Lancaster said. “Not only do we have strong academics, but everything is embedded in faith. Our recent activities during Martin Luther King Day showed that. We had so many students and teachers involved in giving service to the community.”
    Lancaster said not many people realize that 99 percent of Catholic high school graduates qualify to attend college. The number of leaders in business, finance and politics who have been educated in Catholic schools – and whose children now attend Catholic schools – is staggering, she said.
    “We need to let people know the wonderful attributes of a Catholic school education,” Lancaster said. “A Catholic education makes a difference.”
    Peter Finney Jr. can be reached at [email protected].