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Ms. Welch is the mother of six children. Three attend schools through the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program. They are sons Juval and Darius and daughter Totiana. They attend St. Rocco’s Elementary School.
Her oldest son, Juane, has been sent to Chicago to live with an Aunt who has access to a good public high school because the Cleveland voucher program only covers elementary grades. Her son Merrick attends a Cleveland public school.
Ms. Welch shares the story of her family’s struggle for quality educational options. The family has been in the scholarship program since it began in 1996. There is no way she could afford tuition on her salary as a nursing assistant.
"If my kids weren’t in Catholic schools through the voucher program, they would be lost in the public school system."
"At the public schools, they were calling my house all the time, telling me that they couldn’t control my kids and my kids were acting out."
"I was hoping that they would get a better education at the private school. I wanted to try and see if the kids were going to get a better education. So I got on the waiting list for Catholic schools."
"At the Catholic school, they have better discipline. Now, my kids are very respectable kids. They weren’t always. They used to be aggressive and hard-headed."
"The Catholic schools want the kids to have knowledge. The teachers really care. My children are really learning now."
"The public school was just black and white kids. The Catholic Schools have kids from different religious backgrounds. There are Indians, there are Spanish people."
"I love St. Rocco’s because it’s really helping my kids understand math and English. They are very motivated and the school instills that in them."
"The Catholic schools really set goals for these kids. They really set aspirations for the kids so they can grow up and be somebody."
"The school has taught me a lot of things, too. I know I’m a better parent to my kids now. Because I had so many kids I didn’t know how to deal with being a mother."
"Since my kids have been at Catholic school, I have been more of a motherly figure. I really wasn’t at first. No one teaches you how to be a parent but you watch how they do things with the kids and I realized, this is the way to do it."
"Thanks to St. Roccos, I know how to show my kids love. They taught me how to be a mother."
"I used to have so much microwave food in this house it was crazy. By going to their pancake breakfasts and their spaghetti dinners, I realized that if they could do that for all those people, why couldn’t I cook for my kids. If the kids could hand out forks at the school, my kids could do it at home. I realized I could have my kids clean up like at the school. I thought I had to do it all so I didn’t do anything. St. Rocco’s taught me how to do it with them."
"I’m much happier because dealing with children is stressful and a headache sometimes. Now I am able to deal with my inner self. I see how the principal, Sr. Judith, deals with those kids. They don’t raise their voice at the kids. They talk to the children in a tone of voice that they can understand."
"I want my kids to grow up and have a better life. I really want to get out of this predicament I am in because it’s just like a hole. I want them to be better educated than I am."
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