Before they founded Catalyst Circle Rock charter school 20 years ago in Austin, Ed Siderewicz and Gordon Hannon were both Christian Brothers, part of a Roman Catholic religious order that dedicates itself to education, particularly for the underprivileged. The Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools was founded in 1680 in France by Saint John Baptist de La Salle, a priest who created schools to offer free education to the poor.
“Though it has Catholic Christian roots out of 17th century France, [Lasallian schools] exist in very non-Christian countries today. That’s what drew me to it,” Siderewicz said. Though it’s not a school that teaches religion, Catalyst Circle Rock promotes the Lasallian values of respect, inclusivity, social justice and quality education in the everyday lives of over 500 students in kindergarten through eighth grade in its building at Washington and Central.
“Although we don’t have the faith-based component, we do understand that faith is very important to the work that we do here,” said Erika Whitehead, assistant principal at Catalyst Circle Rock. She is succeeding Siderewicz in the upcoming school year when he retires next month as Catalyst Network’s director of mission and external relationships.
“We have faith in our staff, faith in our scholars, faith in the work that we’re doing, not only to educate our children, but also so that they can go out and be change agents, preferably in their communities,” she said.
Siderewicz is transitioning away from his role at Catalyst Circle Rock after 50 years as an educator and nearly 20 years of managing the mission and partnerships for the elementary and middle school at 5608 W. Washington Blvd. and Catalyst Maria High School in Chicago Lawn.
“I’ll miss our students, families and these relationships we’ve developed over the years. Circle Rock’s worked really hard to be a good partner in the community. We’ve worked hard at being part of the community conversations, the quality-of-life plan, the Kehrein Center,” said Siderewicz, who, over several years, helped secure funds to renovate the Kehrein Center for the Arts auditorium, which is part of the school.
Siderewicz plans to help in the transition period while reflecting on his career and spending more time on his hobby of photography, knowing Catalyst Circle Rock staff will continue the Lasallian legacy he helped bring to Austin.
“It’s something bigger than ourselves,” Siderewicz said. “It’s not about one. It’s about something that brings us together, that power of community.”
Siderewicz said that, when De La Salle started his movement, he took teachers into his home to work with them and train them.
“He saw it wasn’t about him. It is about a gift. … We’re not the owners of it, we’re not the authors of it, we’re the stewards, and Erika was born to do this work,” Siderewicz said. “We really consider our mission our soul. That’s who we are, and it’s also anchored in nearly three-and-a-half-centuries of this way of education.”
“It’s really special here, and the Lasallian legacy is what makes us so special,” Whitehead said. Recently, she joined the Lasallian Education Council for North America, which meets to discuss how to implement Lasallian legacy on individual campuses. “How I have come to know what it means to be a Lasallian, what it means to be Catalyst, what it means to be truly mission driven, I got all of that from Ed. … It’s what drew a lot of us to Catalyst and keeps a lot of us here,” including past students who are now staff.
Whitehead joined Catalyst as director of education and, in 2015, became assistant principal of Catalyst Circle Rock. In her current role, she manages many of the school’s external partnerships and programs and, in her new role, hopes to continue building the transformational relationships that Siderewicz has fostered. She also hopes to create new partnerships, all while supporting Catalyst principals and quality education for students.
“This, to me, is a business of service, and our families are our customers,” Whitehead said. “When anyone talks about where they want to send their kids, I want Catalyst to be front of mind for everyone because I truly believe that what we have is so unbelievably and undeniably special.”
History of Catalyst Circle Rock
Inspired by Lasallian teachings, Siderewicz and Hannon — today CEO of the Catalyst Schools — established San Miguel School in the Back of the Yards neighborhood in 1995. With the school’s success, Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan approached the two and asked them to help recreate the transformational Lasallian work they were doing in the public space. That led to a private-public partnership to bring resources to Chicago’s most deserving neighborhoods, like Austin.
In Austin in the 1970s, Glen and Lonni Kehrein bought buildings on nearly the whole city block of where Catalyst Circle Rock sits today in an effort to help heal race relations in Austin. For several years, until 1998, Sisters of Mercy, a congregation of Roman Catholic women, ran a Catholic girls’ school out of one of the buildings. Afterwards, Circle Urban Ministries — an organization founded by the Kehreins that addresses systemic challenges on Chicago’s West Side through health, housing and education programs — operated a school out of the same building.
Nearly 20 years ago, Circle Urban Ministries asked Siderewicz and Hannon to take over the school, which, “by their own admission, wasn’t their core strength,” Siderewicz said. And so, Catalyst Circle Rock was founded in Austin on Lasallian teachings.
Today, Rock of Our Salvation Church has its services at the Kehrein Center, and Circle Urban Ministries’ building is just north of Catalyst Circle Rock. Also on the block are Thresholds’ mental illnesses and substance use services and the Maryville Academy home for women and children.
“I would love to give gratitude for our campus partners,” Siderewicz said, “and also our Austin community partners, organizations and leaders who have fought for this community, and gratitude for the wisdom we’ve learned from them, their partnership, their support, who they are and what they’re doing.”