FALLBROOK — It’s a challenge that faces every Catholic school: maintaining and increasing enrollment.
Like other Catholic schools in the region, St. Peter the Apostle Catholic School in Fallbrook has seen the size of its student population expand and contract over the years. And it has discovered successful strategies for keeping its enrollment numbers stable.
Shawna Taitano, now in her seventh year as principal, knows that any school that grows complacent about enrollment does so at its own peril.
Her own vigilance has taken physical shape as a whiteboard in her office that shows final numbers of students, broken down by grade level, for each year that she has led the school.
“It is constant,” she said of the effort to keep enrollment on track.
St. Peter the Apostle School opened in 1986 with kindergarten and first grade, adding another grade each year until welcoming its first eighth-grade class in 1993.
In 2017, with only 125 students in preschool through eighth grade, the school was on the verge of closing, the principal said. It was thought that it would need to be subsidized by the parish annually at a level that was unsustainable.
But with concerted effort, the school was able to boost its enrollment and has remained fairly stable at around 180 students in kindergarten through eighth grade over the past four years. By the 2021-2022 academic year, the school no longer needed to be subsidized by the parish.
Leticia Oseguera, diocesan superintendent, described St. Peter the Apostle as “a small, but mighty school.”
“It’s just a school that exudes joy,” she said.
It’s heartbreaking when a school closes, Oseguera said, but stories like St. Peter the Apostle School’s are “inspiring.”
“To see schools that might have been on that path (toward closing) be able to turn a corner and to be … now thriving,” she said, “I think brings a lot of hope to our diocese.”
Taitano, who was a teacher when closing St. Peter’s School was first contemplated, worked to cut costs. She and a fellow teacher took on combined classes, so that sixth- and seventh-graders would learn together for some courses.
A small group of parents was formed to help raise the struggling school’s profile in the local community. The school joined the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce and participated in the annual Christmas Parade and Avocado Festival, among other activities.
At the time Taitano took over as principal, the budget was so streamlined that the school didn’t even have a full-time custodian. Someone came in once a week to clean, she said, but in the interim, teachers tidied their own classrooms and helped to keep the restrooms sanitary.
“We took on a lot of jobs” to enable the school to remain open, she said.
Taitano, who still doubles as a math teacher, said that she taught “almost full-time” during her first two years as principal.
“To make the budget work,” she said, she taught until around 1 p.m. and then shifted into her administrative role.
Taitano said that, when the COVID-19 pandemic began in March of 2020, she felt that the pandemic “may actually do us in.” But the opposite happened.
“We were open when other schools weren’t,” she said, “and then people got here, and they stayed.”
For the 2021-2022 academic year, the school increased its enrollment to 185, up from 145 the previous year.
Taitano discovered that, by keeping enrollment around 180 in kindergarten through eighth grade, staying open was “very doable” — and combining classes was no longer necessary.
Enrollment peaked at 196 in the 2022-2023 school year. The next two years, it was at 187 and 184, respectively. The school currently has 178 students.
“Our enrollment did dip a little bit this year,” said Taitano, “and so, we’re trying to work towards building that back up.”
Michelle Roccoforte, who has served on the School Advisory Council for three years, was a parishioner in 2017, when the school seemed likely to close.
“I did hear about the dilemma with the school,” she recalled. “It was something we prayed about and continue to do so.”
Regarding current enrollment figures, she said, “I would love to see it a bit higher.” Tuition payments from an additional 10 students could make “a huge difference” to the budget.
Jim Dubenetzky, who has been on the council for two years, has children in preschool, second grade and fifth grade. He said that his family arrived in the fall of 2022, after the school had already had its “COVID enrollment bounce.”
Though enrollment has remained steady since then, he said, “there’s absolutely more life in our community in the past two years versus our first two years.” This can be seen, he said, in more families attending Mass and other events.
Dubenetzky feels good about the school’s current enrollment, but said it’s necessary to “continue to stay up on it” and to work to fill any openings that arise, especially in lower grades.
Enrollment is “the most important factor to the school’s financial viability,” he said, “and it’s really important that we stay in front of what could be a vicious cycle of declining enrollment that leads to increased tuition that leads to a further enrollment decline as families are priced out.”
Dubenetzky said that what the school seeks to provide to students is “so much more important … than money, yet money is going to be the biggest obstacle.”
Taitano shared successful strategies the school has adopted to attract families.
“Social media has become our friend,” said Taitano, who also mentioned flyers, postcards and efforts to get local newspaper coverage.
Then, there’s the main driver of the school’s turnaround.
“We really had to change how people saw us in the community,” she said, “and so, we made a real big community presence doing service.”
Students assist at the parish food pantry and at three local thrift stores.
“Our students were seen out in the community,” said Taitano, and that helped the school “to turn around how people viewed us.”
The school community also has increased its visibility with parishioners. Taitano said that the first Sunday of most months is “School Awareness Sunday,” where students in their school uniforms “take over the Mass” as lectors, altar servers and choir members.
Taitano believes that parishioners “give their support (to the school) just a little easier,” when they see that the students are “really contributing,” that they are “part of the life of our parish.”
This year, the school hired a full-time staff member to focus on branding and advertising, something that Taitano herself had been handling as best as she could.
For “Catholic Schools Week,” which will be observed nationwide from Jan. 25 to 31, Taitano said the school will be doing “quite a bit.” Kicking off with an all-school Sunday Mass, the week will include an open house and a day for service projects, such as making lunches for migrant workers, among other activities.
Taitano shared some ongoing challenges to maintaining full enrollment.
“The hardest thing for me is still our tuition,” she said, explaining that, at $6,450 per year, the school currently has the second-lowest tuition rate in the diocese.
She increased it a little this year, but isn’t planning to raise it again next year, because of the possibly deleterious effect on enrollment.
Also, Taitano said, many parents in Fallbrook have opted to homeschool their children, so that they can travel for months at a time during the academic year. She said that parents have asked her “numerous times” if their children can attend St. Peter’s for six weeks, be pulled out to travel somewhere with the family, and then return to school.
“I just tell them, ‘I’d love to do that; we aren’t set up to function like that,’” she said.
Taitano said that the school community also has “a pretty good percentage of military families,” whose need to relocate also impacts enrollment.
For Taitano, faith is a constant source of solace.
“The minute I start to worry about enrollment” or some other issue, she said, “I always remind myself, ‘Okay, God will take care of us. He will provide.’ And, as soon as I can let that go and stop trying to control, it always happens.”
Catholic Schools Week
Sunday, Jan. 25, to Saturday, Jan. 31
Schools host events for students, families and community members during this week, to showcase what makes them exceptional. Many schools host an open house. This is a great time to explore a school, meet the staff and talk to school families. Please check the websites of Catholic schools of interest. Information about Catholic schools in San Diego-Imperial Valley Region is available at sdcatholic.org/schools.
