Pictured here are Patti Germanovich and Michael Curry, Esq., both members of the Class of ’75 and both were members of B&P’s governing Board. Patti and Mike both announced their retirement from Board seats at the close this school year. In light of our 70th Anniversary and the seminal events surrounding the saving of the school in 2012, we talked to Mike about the B&P Board, which he Co-chaired from 2012 until 2024.
B&P: What led you to get involved and how did the B&P Board come about?
Mike: I had really enjoyed my school years (long ago…), but I had been only generally involved prior to the 2012 school closure announcement by the Archdiocese. I had been helping with my class reunion and that kind of thing. Fr. Olson (then school President) called an open meeting in the (not-yet-refurbished, now beautiful, Frederico) auditorium to decide if the closure announcement should be appealed. The strong sentiment was to do so. I had been on a number of boards, as well as counsel to boards, in my legal work. It was apparent that B&P needed a strong board to help save and stabilize the school. So, at the end of that meeting, I told Fr. Olson that I would like to help. He then connected me with Tony Mullen [who was not an alum but whose children attended B&P], and he and I started what I first called our Advisory Board. I thought a Co-Chair model with the 2 of us was best, as there was a lot to do.
B&P: Who else joined the Board at that time?
Mike: I recruited a number of my Class of 75 classmates and Tony added some folks he knew from his strong involvement with the school. We “roped in” Patti Germanovich, Dr. Linda Bullock and George Wilson, all fellow ‘75ers, as well as Jack Glacken, ’71, Jim Delaney, ’69 and Maureen Ingelsby, ’67, so I recall that we had 8 members who started and continued on the board these past 12 years, as well as Fr. Olson.
B&P: What was the initial Board focus?
Mike: Bonner and Prendie, now, of course, “Bonner & Prendie,” was always great at delivering a quality education in a super community environment, but (like with all non-public schools now), it had to learn to operate also as a business. Unlike some other area non-public schools, it just had to learn that quickly, as the alternative was closure. So, of course one major focus was fundraising, which has increased over ten-fold since 2012. Another focus was growing enrollment. We now regularly exceed our enrollment goals and have had waiting lists to get in to B&P.
B&P: Are the any stories that you particularly recall from those tough times around 2012 and so?
Mike: There are many stories from the time when B&P was saved and put on a strong footing. Hundreds of community members, and distant supporters, got involved: alums, parents, local politicians (many of whom had gone to our school), staff, faculty, and administration, even people who had no real connection at all to the school. According to members of the Middle States Evaluation Team when they last visited us (2016), the odds of saving a school announced to be closed was only about ten percent (10%). So, the outpouring of support for B&P was just incredible. And while we breathed real life into the concept of regular annual giving, with some big gifts of course along the way, my favorite story is of the owner of a local dry-cleaning store.
No one in her family had attended our school; however, she was so impressed with the good manners and such of our kids as they walked past her store daily that, when the school-saving efforts were announced, she showed up one day at school to donate the day’s receipts, in crumpled cash and coins.
B&P: Cool story! And, what about the former Prendie, pending Delaware County Community College (DCCC), building?
Mike: That was another big focus. We formed a Board committee that worked very closely with the brokerage firm, Cushman & Wakefield, and the Archdiocese (which owned the former “Prendie” building). We screened and interviewed a number of prospective new owners over a good length of time and helped design the needed partial land subdivision (where we retained the majority of the land). We set three main goals: to preserve the original, iconic brick building, to save the chapel and to get a compatible neighbor. We succeeded as to the iconic “Drexel Hill” structure. We could not land a neighbor who would keep the chapel, so we carefully preserved a number of chapel items within our current B&P building, including replicas of the stained-glass windows in our beautiful new chapel, thanks to the amazing dedication and skill of fellow Board members Jack Glacken and George Wilson. And having DCCC literally next door, where our students will be able to get actual, and incredibly convenient, college credits while in high school, well, that could hardly be more compatible. There is simply not a high school in the region that can compete with that.
B&P: What is the work of the Board going forward?
Mike: Very sadly, Tony Mullen passed away unexpectedly in 2018. But beforehand he had recruited Pat Welde, ’81, to join me in the Co-Chair role. Pat and I worked very closely in the years since, including we managed to grow the Board to 21 talented members. In the intervening years, as the Archdiocese itself got better at running its schools, it mandated a bit-more-formal Board of Directors for each high school. Because we had gotten organized, of necessity, well before that time, our Board was honored with being selected as one of the first “officially recognized” high school Boards of Directors. The Board’s current role is multi-faceted, bearing on ever-important matters of fundraising, enrollment, facilities, of course Catholic identity, and more. Currently, Board members, plus the school’s lead Administrators, as well as Sr. Patricia Fadden (former Prendie Principal and Immaculata University President) and other folks with significant expertise are doing a deep-dive, with all major constituent groups, into long-term planning. The ultimate and overall “job” is to help keep B&P great: a great school in the great Catholic Education Business.
#