NORTH CAROLINA, USA — Some private schools in our state say they've got a record number of students.
The Diocese of Charlotte said its Catholic schools have record enrollment — so does a Catholic school in Burlington. With the Diocese of Charlotte seeing a 17.7% overall increase in enrollment and the Blessed Sacrament Catholic School in Burlington says the number of enrolled students for the 2023-2024 school year is higher than it has been in the last twelve years.
WFMY News 2's Nixon Norman learned why so many families are switching to private schools.
During the pandemic, when public schools were teaching remotely — local catholic schools saw a jump in enrollment because many continued to teach in-person.
They said this was something of high interest to parents because they wanted their kids to be in school.
Leaders said catholic schools are also beneficial for most parents because the cost is much less than other private schools.
Blessed Sacrament Catholic School in Burlington, part of the Diocese of Raleigh, first saw enrollment jump 3 years ago during the pandemic.
"We just figured that they were going to leave after the year but they did not. They stayed," Principal of Blessed Sacrament, Maria Gomez said.
Enrollment hasn't gone down since public schools have been back. It actually went up, from 200 students to 285.
With more parents concerned over the curriculum taught in public schools, Superintendent of the Diocese of Charlotte, Greg Monroe, says they try not to take sides politically.
"We realize that everyone's in a different place and their faith journey. Everyone comes from a different background, but what you see is what you get when you come to one of our schools and you know we are non-partisan, but we're Catholic," Monroe said.
Another reason has to do with safety, with gun violence in schools taking place far too often. Gomez says they have put more safety protocols in place at Blessed Sacrament but can't go into detail for security purposes.
"We do have a plan, I can't tell you everything about the plan, but there is a plan in affect and they feel safe when they allow, when their children are dropped off at the front door," said Gomez.
Assistant Principal and mother of two at the school, Joy Bolen, says she feels secure sending her children to Blessed Sacrament.
"When I'm not here I can drop them off. I know they're safe, I know they're loved, I know they're taken care of and everything will be handled if something were to go wrong," Bolen said.