Mount CarmelHigh School

Chicago, Ill – (August 2, 2022) –Mount Carmel High School’s Board of Directors and school leaders have been hosting several listening sessions, conducting surveys and soliciting emails this summer to gather input from all of its key stakeholders, including students, parents, employees, alumni and donors, to determine whether it makes strategic sense for the school to become co-educational in the fall of 2023. The review was prompted by downward elementary and high school enrollment trends, a responsibility to keep Mount Carmel thriving into the future, and a desire to be proactive in its decision-making from a position of strength. The Board shared these with Mount Carmel’s stakeholders and reached out for their feedback.   Stakeholders’ response was robust and compelling and the Board, school leaders and Carmelites expressed thanks for the high level of engagement and participation.

 

The results of the feedback have made it overwhelmingly clear that Mount Carmel High School’s stakeholders want Mount Carmel to remain all-male, and that changing  the school’s all-male tradition is not in the best interest of the school. Therefore, Mount Carmel will continue its all-male tradition and  remain true to its mission, “Zeal for God, zeal for life, zeal for learning.”

 

Stakeholders’ input indicated that future generations will be best served by continuing to offer young men an opportunity to learn, mature and form mutual bonds of friendship in Mount Carmel’s all-male environment. In addition, attracting female students to Mount Carmel would be a daunting challenge.

 

Originally, the Board was to decide on August 9.  However, after completing all stakeholder information and listening sessions and assessing the feedback, the Board felt ready to decide. The Board felt compelled to inform current Mount Carmel families of the decision to remain all-male now rather than making them wait.  And, because the  decision is to remain all-male, the Carmelites will not have to consider it.

 

 

“It is time to look ahead to a bright future,” asserted Mount Carmel High School Board Chair, Don Barry. “As we move forward, it is our goal to continue to ensure the brightest possible future for our young men.”

The Board and school leaders acknowledged that the demographics for enrollment are challenging, particularly for all-boys schools, but Mount Carmel has the advantage of addressing its needs before becoming victim to those demographics.

“We are confident that together we will succeed,” said Mount Carmel High School Principal Scott Tabernacki. “We firmly believe, and our stakeholders have made it clear that they, too, believe, that Mount Carmel will continue to evolve to successfully meet the challenges ahead.”  

According to school leaders, the educational landscape in Chicago still needs what Mount Carmel has offered young men since 1900 -- scholarly and athletic pursuits, social growth, and religious faith, in a place where a boy learns to become a man.

“We often talk with faculty about becoming the premier all-male school in Chicago, in the Midwest, and in the United States,” said Mount Carmel High School President Brendan Conroy. “We aspire to that, and we will relentlessly pursue enrollment growth, increased alumni engagement, and our ability to raise funds necessary for a thriving future. Our Mount Carmel community has spoken. We will need everyone to help us achieve those goals.”

Mount Carmel High School, founded in 1900 by the Carmelite Order of priests and brothers, is a Catholic high school serving boys in grades 9-12 based in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood. Mount Carmel’s Catholic, Carmelite identity and mission, rigorous college preparatory curriculum, athletic and cocurricular participation, and a professional and dedicated faculty, staff and administration prepare young men from diverse backgrounds for leadership and success. For its racially, religiously, economically and academically diverse students, the Mount Carmel experience is characterized by the formation of lifelong bonds of brotherhood through their  shared experiences. For more information, visit https://www.mchs.org.