LOWELL PLAN

An experiment involving an educational compromise between secular authority and Catholic schools from 1831 to 1852 in Lowell, Mass. The first Catholic school in Lowell, which had been opened between 1823 and 1824, for lack of facilities was run haphazardly. At the annual town meeting of May 3, 1830, the citizens voted to expend "for this year only" $50 "for the instruction of the children of the Irish families in this town." The town meeting of April 4, 1831, voted to establish a public school for the purpose and to make a school district of the "acre" on which the Irish Catholics had become accustomed to living. By 1835 the first school, in the basement of St. Patrick's Church, and another, which had been built at Chapel Hill, were adopted into the public school system. The terms set by the public officials were that a town committee approve teacher qualifications, appoint teachers, and pass on curriculum and texts and that these schools be on the same footing as the other schools of the town concerning examinations, inspection, and general supervision. The Catholic terms, presented by Rev. Peter Conelly, were that the teachers must be Catholic and that the textbooks should contain no statements unacceptable to Catholics (Catholics later approving the books that were already in use).

Though town regulations then required Bible reading and prayer in the schools, this arrangement said nothing about religious instruction. Because Bp. Benedict Fenwick of Boston, under whose jurisdiction the plan was devised, wrote in a letter on this matter (March 26, 1831) that he "would not give a straw for that species of education, which is not accompanied with and based upon religion," it is assumed that the Catholic schools gave religious instruction, presumably after school hours, however, since both state and municipal regulations forbade otherwise.

In 1837 the school committee reported that the plan was "eminently successful," and the mayor lauded "these public nurseries of intelligence, freedom, good order, and religion." By 1839 the plan comprised three grammar and two primary schools with a total enrollment of 752 pupils; and in 1840, because of amalgamation and rearrangement, one grammar school and five primaries. The plan brought more Irish children into school than before, lessened the crime rate, avoided prejudice and exclusiveness, and helped alleviate financial burdens of Catholics.

The picture was not completely bright, however, for by degrees Catholic schools lost their distinctive character, becoming "separate but equal" schools for Irish Catholics. The town, moreover, violated its agreement by employing some non-Catholic teachers. In 1844 dissatisfaction with some teachers caused Catholic parents to petition their removal, and brought about a drop in attendance. In 1849 public authorities named the grammar school after Horace Mann—an insult to the Irish— and at the same time the chairman of the school committee lauded the plan that had been used to bring the Irish under public school instruction. By 1851 there were almost as many Irish in public as in the special schools. The passions of the Know-Nothing movement further complicated matters (see know-nothingism). In 1852 the Catholics under Rev. John O'Brien established St. Patrick's school for girls, staffed by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, and applied for an extension of the town's plan to provide for it. The civic authorities could not legally employ Catholic religious, with the result that the arrangement was abrogated by the town, the Catholics established private schools, and totally nonsectarian public education received another impetus. Had the experiment remained successful, it might have spread and thus might have helped solve the church-public school problem.

Bibliography: s. m. smith, The Relation of the State to Religious Education in Massachusetts (Syracuse, N.Y. 1926) 191–199. l. s. walsh, The Early Irish Catholic Schools of Lowell Massachusetts, 1835–1852 (Boston 1901).

[h. a. buetow]