Kenosha's All Saints a possible model for Racine Catholic schools

In 2011, Catholic schools in Kenosha began a “regional” school model that had an effect on every parish school in the city.

“At that point, there were four parish schools still operating in Kenosha and those schools closed, and the regional school opened,” said Jackie Lichter, principal at All Saints Catholic Schools. “It was a difficult time for families in Kenosha when their parish schools closed, there was a lot of sadness … Initially when I was hired in April (2011) we didn’t have one student enrolled because no one knew what was happening. When we opened our doors in August we had 450 students enrolled.”

It took years and multiple tries, Lichter said, before the All Saints regional school model was implemented in Kenosha.

It’s possible a similar model may come to Racine as the Archdiocese of Milwaukee continues to work on a Racine Catholic Schools Collaboration system.

Amy Grau, communication director for the Archdiocese, said officials continue to have discussions with area schools and parishes and anticipate a final plan to be proposed to Archbishop Jerome Listecki in May.

“That plan will detail governance, academic and financial details for the new system as well as recommend an overarching name for the system with each school retaining its own identity,” Grau said. “In the meantime, while that plan is being finalized, a national recruitment search has begun for the position of president of the new school system for Catholic schools in Racine.”

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