prep people are 100% pissed

Dear Mr. Mergiotti, and members of the Board of Trustees,

Decree 13 of the 34th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus concludes by stating, “cooperation with the laity is both a constitutive element of our way of proceeding and a grace calling for individual, communal, and institutional renewal.”  On behalf of the Prep community – alumni, students, and current as well as past parents, faculty, and staff – we’re writing to express our sincere disappointment with the current Jesuits at the helm of our beloved institution.  Their lack of concern for various lay members of our community has become a stain on the mission and tradition of the school that you hold in trust.  Out of sincere love and care for the Prep, we urge you to take action.

When an institution strays from its guiding mission, serious questions should be asked and serious action should be pursued.  It has come to our attention that Fr. John Swope, SJ and Fr. Chuck Frederico, SJ are not adequately performing their duty to ensure that the Prep remains a mission-centered school.  Ours is a powerful mission, and it is the responsibility of the leadership to stay true to it.

In particular, the following questions should be considered, addressed, and answered for the entire Prep community:

(1)	The depletion of the entire Mission & Ministry staff over the course of the past 8 months.  In particular, the departure of Mr. Jonathan Jerome and the recent dismissals of Mrs. Diane Hankee (parent and part-time Coordinator of Liturgical Music), and Mr. Sam Deitch (longtime Director of Ignatian Service), has taken our community by surprise and is cause for great concern.  Why has this department undergone such dramatic and detrimental personnel changes in such a short time?  Why was Mr. Deitch let go, and why was it handled in the middle of the year, with little care for him or the students?
(2)	The significant reduction of service trips offered to students under the guise of promoting “Cura Urbani.”  With a blind eye turned towards the annual Gesu Trick-or-Treating, Thanksgiving Food Drive, Operation Warm, Operation Santa Claus, Homelessness Sleepout, Hurtado Food Pantry, Prep Book Bank, and daily service within the local community (among other initiatives), the question becomes what the vision for “Cura Urbani” actually entails, and why it has to come at the cost of the widely successful and hotly sought after Prep service trips?
(3)	The cancellation of the “Camp Magis” program for students throughout the Delaware Valley.  The departure of Mr. Jose Gonzalez last year should have offered a clear indication that there is a severe disconnect between the priorities of the administration and the actual needs of our community.  Has anyone on the Board taken time to ask why he left, or what the impact of cancelling “Camp Magis” has had on students of color at the school?
(4)	The expenses associated with the unnecessary renovations in the Quinn Library, and the Mission & Ministry Office.  Between scholarships, service trips, health benefits for all members of the Facilities department, or reasonable pay raises for staff members – among other options – how and why were these spaces deemed worthy of financial consideration over and above other areas of more pressing concern?
(5)	The hiring of two full-time coaches, while the Counseling, English, Fine Arts, Mission & Ministry departments – among others – remain under-staffed.  What is the strategic, intentional plan that has been created to meet the staffing needs that exist throughout the school?
(6)	The dismissal of Dr. Aaron Pollock from the Counseling Department, instead of Br. Bob Carson, SJ.  Why was Dr. Pollock – an active, engaged member of our school community – dismissed from employment at the Prep when Br. Carson is less qualified to serve our students as a counselor?

As a current member of the Class of 2018 said on the day of Mr. Deitch’s termination, while fighting back tears, all of these poor decisions by the current Jesuit administrators have hurt the students.  When an administration is hurting their students, the very young men that parents entrust to the school, and that faculty and staff work so hard to educate on a daily basis, something is wrong.  Who will hold these administrators accountable?  Or will we continue to assume that every Jesuit, by virtue of their collar automatically knows better than their lay “collaborators?”

Mr. Mergiotti, we ask that you and your colleagues on the Board of Trustees take action.  Hard decisions have to be made at the Prep all the time.  We know that.  At what point will we stop and ask why poor decisions have been made, and why they have been made in opposition to who and what we are as an institution?  Fr. Swope and Fr. Frederico must be made aware that the path they are pursuing is the wrong one.  Their constituents, students, and lay collaborators – some of whom have signed this letter – must be heard without fear of being terminated, ostracized, or belittled.  “…to develop the minds, hearts, souls, and characters of young men…” is not an easy task, but it is our mission.  We stand firmly behind it, not the current Jesuits at the Prep.

If our Jesuit administrators continue to hurt our brothers, stray from our mission, and overlook authentic collaboration, we ask those of you who hold our beloved institution in trust, to hire women and men who understand the Prep’s mission and who will take the necessary steps and expend the necessary resources to bring it to fruition.

Thank you very much, and go Prep!