St. Frances of Rome School in Cicero received welcome news March 6 when the Archdiocese of Chicago announced that the school, which was slated to close in June, would remain open.

The news came after the archdiocese; Big Shoulders Fund; St. Mary Frances of the Five Wounds Parish, where the school is located; and the parish’s sharing parish, St. Anne in Barrington, united to support the school for five years.

“St. Frances of Rome School is safe,” Principal Phillip Jackson told the students in both Spanish and English during an assembly that morning.

Students, staff and parents cheered loudly upon hearing the news.

Jackson credited the St. Frances of Rome community for the good news, especially parents, who signed petitions and stood outside the school and church on Sundays with signs asking that the school remain open.

“As parents you kept it in front because it could have very easily just been forgotten,” he said. “If no one cares and makes a fuss, then why should anyone try to work out a solution? You showed that it mattered.”

He also thanked the Office of Catholic Schools for working with the school community to figure out a solution.

St. Mary Frances of the Five Wounds and St. Anne Parishes made commitments to help the school, he explained, adding that the bulk of the support will come from Big Shoulders Fund.

Thanks to support from anonymous donors to Big Shoulders Fund, the school will now be part of Big Shoulders Fund Plus. Launched in 2020 with 30 schools, the initiative is a commitment of the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Big Shoulders Fund to provide more than $90 million to mostly South and West Side Catholic schools.

With five years remaining on the agreement, the initiative now includes 38 schools and is intended to make sure that the schools will remain in their communities.

“Today, we come together and are overjoyed to celebrate that St. Frances of Rome will be here for many more years to come,” said Superintendent of Catholic Schools Greg Richmond.

“First Corinthians tells us three things will last forever: faith, hope and love. And the greatest of these is love,” Richmond said. “At St. Frances of Rome School this winter and here today we have seen faith, hope and love in action. Hope, that we could find the way to keep this school open. Faith, that if we worked hard and did not give up, God would show us the way. And love, love for our neighbor, whether you live in Cicero or miles away, love for our parish, school and church and love for our children.”

Driving to the campus that morning, Joshua Hale, president and CEO of Big Shoulders Fund, said he reflected on the school’s 100th anniversary this year. 

“A hundred years ago, a group of concerned parishioners, parents and others looked around and saw talented, beautiful children, just like the ones sitting here today,” he said. “They said, ‘We gotta start a school here.’”

There were probably people back then who doubted it would happen and wondered how they would raise the money to pay for a school, he said, but there were also those who believed in it, just like today.

“As you celebrate this 100-year anniversary, maybe this special occasion is a way to remind us how critical this community-based organization, this school is,” Hale said. “And so, St. Frances of Rome, we celebrate the past, but even more we look forward to the next hundred years that we’re charging forward to together.”

Hale welcomed the schools to Big Shoulder Fund Plus, saying that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, all 30 of the schools they started with in 2020 are thriving.

Through his experience in Catholic education, Hale said, he has learned that “we are stronger together.”

“It isn’t just St. Frances of Rome, it’s the collection of Catholic schools, of all of us coming together and rising to the occasion when one is suffering or celebrating when one is succeeding and rising,” Hale said.

Betty Paz was one of the school parents who led the charge to save the school.

“Cicero is a wonderful community, but you know what makes Cicero a wonderful community? It is our SFR [St. Frances of Rome] family — parents, students, alumni and other community members,” Paz said during the assembly.

“We came together because we are a family. We know that we wanted to make sure that our students continued on with a Catholic education,” she said. “We are not just a school in the community. We are the definition of what family and community is.”

Kimberley Keefner can attest to that sense of family. She is a longtime member of that SFR community. Her great-grandfather was a founding member of St. Frances of Rome Parish and all of her family attended the school.

While starting out teaching elsewhere, Keefner returned to St. Frances of Rome School to teach third grade because it is such a part of her life and the community in Cicero.

“This school is phenomenal,” she said. “It means so much to the community.”