Education
How one of Manhattan’s oldest high schools is
educating & enriching students during pandemic
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
Nothing can replicate the
interaction between
a teacher and their
students in a classroom, but the
LaSalle Academy in Manhattan’s
NoHo neighborhood is coming
close to it through its use of remote
technology.
The school for young men,
which predates the Civil War,
has worked hard during the COVID
19 pandemic not only to continue
lessons, but also to meet the
needs of its students beyond the
classroom, according to LaSalle
Principal Brother Thomas Casey.
Like many other institutions
around New York, the COVID-19
crisis for LaSalle began in March.
Casey last dismissed students
from the campus back on March
12. Earlier that morning, students
were told during an assembly they
would be working remotely until
further notice — and to bring
their Microsoft Surface Pro tablets
with them to stay connected.
Casey said the faculty and
administration worked to create
an adapted schedule mimicking
a normal school day on Mondays,
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
But they decided to leave the
middle of the fi ve-day week open
as “Wellness Wednesdays,” giving
students and teachers opportunities
away from their screens to
address various needs.
“It’s an opportunity for our
guidance personnel to reach
out to our students and for the
teachers to have offi ce hours for
students to check in with them,”
Casey said of the “Wellness
Wednesdays” program. “It’s also
an opportunity for teachers and
students to come up for air and
work on various projects assigned
during the week.”
Formed in 1848, the LaSalle
Academy is a private Catholic institution
serving to prepare young
men for college. About 40% of
the student body comes from
low-income communities, with
students qualifying for free or
reduced lunch prices as mandated
by the federal government.
The pandemic poses challenges
unlike any others that LaSalle has
witnessed in its illustrious history.
Yet Casey pointed to several silver
linings within the cloud hanging
overhead. One such lining is that
pandemic has the student body
adapting to a college schedule
early.
“We market ourselves as a
college preparatory school, and
now our students have to act as
if they’re in college,” Casey said
of the school’s digital schedule.
“They’ve got to set their phones
for their alarms to start the day
at 8:15 a.m. Some of the teachers
are using Zoom or Google Classrooms
and other portals” to carry
out their lessons, from interactive
math lessons to science labs conducted
from a teacher’s kitchen.
The situation, while prompting
LaSalle to adapt on the fl y, may
also usher in a new era in education
for the school, the principal
observed.
“This pandemic, in a sense, has
been a catalyst in encouraging us
to imagine how schools might
evolve in order to best serve young
people and to benefi t society, and
the generations to come,” Casey
Senior Danny Betancourt participates in his first day of remote
learning.
said. “One of the things that we
teachers rely on and lament is,
‘We’ve always done it that way.’
Well, that’s not going to work
anymore. The challenge becomes
how to do what we need to do
La Salle Academy’s student government representatives made a photo collage to give thanks
during Teacher Appreciation Week, which took place May 4-8.
PHOTO COURTESY OF LASALLE ACADEMY
with the resources that are there.”
LaSalle has also adapted to
holding digital ceremonies recognizing
student achievement,
including an athletic awards ceremony.
Students also organized a
remote teacher appreciation program
to honor their hard-working
educators.
Beyond education, Casey said,
the school’s counseling staff is
working to meet the needs of
students in. need. He noted that a
number of students’ parents have
been economically impacted by
the pandemic through job loss.
Recently, the school held an
online fundraiser to help families
make their fi nal tuition payment
of the academic year.
Students have also received assistance
through the Archdiocese
of New York’s Inner City Scholarship
Fund. Counselors have
also worked to connect students
in need to additional resources,
Casey added.
While the school adapts and
works to help their students,
Casey acknowledged the academy
itself took a hit through the
PHOTO COURTESY OF LASALLE ACADEMY
pandemic. A fundraising gala was
postponed until November, and
there are concerns about whether
New York will have recovered
enough from the pandemic to
permit such a gathering.
“Parents not being able to meet
their obligations to pay tuition
will have a negative impact on
our cash flow,” the principal
added. He noted that LaSalle did
receive a loan through the Payroll
Protection Program, as well as
donations from a few benefactors
who helped “us to make sure the
year ends as solidly as we wanted
to, and to start next year from a
position of strength.”
“But if we don’t have a huge
endowment, next year is going to
be a challenge for us fi nancially,
especially if we can’t do the gala
in November and reap the benefi
ts of our benefactors in that
situation,” Casey added.
Schneps Media May 21, 2020 19