The troubled boy who reluctantly entered the San Miguel School in Providence four years ago best depicts the reason Brother Lawrence Goyette, FSC, founded the school.
Prior to attending San Miguel, the boy from a low income, dysfunctional home stayed back in the fourth grade twice. While at his new school teachers would have to go to his home and take him to school when he decided he didn’t want to go out that day.
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“Today that boy is in a private high school and he comes back to us once a week to tutor our children,” Goyette said. “To see that kind of growth is our reward.”
The school principal was recognized for his work recently with the presentation of the Good Citizens Medal from the Citizens Bank/Providence College Veritas Forum.
The forum is one outcome of a five-year partnership between Citizens Financial Group, Inc. and the college that recognizes humanitarianism and celebrates commitment to public and community service. The award, the first given by the forum, was presented during a luncheon at the Providence Biltmore on Nov. 13.
Gov. Lincoln Almond, other politicians, representatives from PC and Citizens Bank attended the event, where former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell was the keynote speaker. Mitchell was a 1998 Nobel Peace Prize nominee for his leadership as chairman of the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland.
Citizens Financial Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Lawrence K. Fish said the event will be held annually in hopes of promoting public service.
“At Citizens, we strongly believe in the value of public and community service. Community building is an important facet of anyone’s business plan, be it a bank, a college or a manufacturing company,” Fish said. “We all have an obligation to make our community a better place.”
Goyette’s work answered that call in 1992 when he opened the school on Elmwood Avenue in Providence. San Miguel is a private, non-sectarian, alternative middle school for boys administered by the DeLaSalle Christian Brothers. The school has grown in just five years from 13 fifth and sixth graders to a full middle school with 62 boys, most of whom were selected because they are at risk of failing in school. San Miguel is funded mainly through donations, including corporate scholarships.
The average family pays between $300-400 a year for tuition, which represents merely 8 percent of the school’s total budget. Goyette said money has too often prevented kids who needed an alternative setting from getting it.
“In the early 1990s, I became much more aware of the fact that a lot of private schools were not possibilities for low income families. I set out to provide that,” Goyette said.
The brother overcame a myriad of obstacles to make the school a reality, including meeting state Department of Education standards and filing for tax exempt status. His mission proved to be blessed in finding a place to teach these children.
“Fortunately, I found out about St. Paul Lutheran School on Elmwood Ave. It was closing and they basically opened their arms to us,” said Goyette. “They didn’t charge us rent at first or have us pay for the utilities. It was a wonderful gift.” His next step was recruiting faculty and the kids that needed the school the most.
“We wanted to work with kids who are at the most risk of not making it at school,” he explained. “Typically the kids with the highest risk are boys between 10-15 years old, who are coming from single parent families. They are also in homes where English is not the first language and from low social and economic backgrounds.”
Some of the students also come from homes with problems with drugs or might have parents in prison. Working with social service groups and other schools, San Miguel found 13 children for its first year and today has 62, which is the maximum the school can take.
Goyette said the school has a great diversity. A third of the students are African-American, a third are Hispanic and the remaining are Asian and Caucasian.
Creating a caring environment with close relationships being formed by faculty and the small student body, Goyette hoped to give students a feeling of support.
“There is no question that a lot of the time it is challenging to work with the kids here. But we understand that many of these kids are dealing with many horrible problems in their lives,” he said.
Teachers and the staff at the school try to get to know the families and situation the children are coming from, something that a large school would most likely not have the chance to do.Goyette said by understanding the child’s background it is easier to work with the student.
“Once the kids understand that you are there to help, they can begin to trust you. For some of the kids we are the most stable thing in their life. That is our reward,” he said. “In their own way they show their appreciation for the support we provide.”
Goyette’s work has not only been recognized by the Veritas Forum. In 1992, Goyette received the National Catholic Education Association’s Distinguished Teacher Award for the New England Region. In 1997, he was one of only six educators to receive the Distinguished Lasallian Education Award.
During the Veritas Forum award luncheon, Providence College President the Rev. Philip A. Smith, O.P., spoke of the outlet the school provided for the students.
“Their environment put them at risk because they were trapped in neighborhoods that were economically deprived and blighted with crime,” he said.
Smith called Goyette’s life one “devoted to faith, marked by care and concern for others, and dedicated to improving his community.”
