Autumn, 1997, Vol. 4, No. 1

Alumni Profile with Francis Moroney: Social Worker Turned Educator

By Gabriela Moroney, SSA second-year clinical student

On a Thursday afternoon in late October, Francis Moroney, AM '69, is walking down a quiet residential street. A group of teenagers is trailing an age-appropriate distance behind him. Moroney glances over his shoulder regularly, making sure they stay off private property and behave properly, but also giving them space for talking about the things teenagers talk about when adults aren't listening.

If Moroney's afternoon stroll doesn't fit the picture for a social worker's typical responsibilities, it's because he isn't presently a social worker. Fran Moroney is the head teacher of the Student Teaching, Evaluation and Placement Program, located on Chicago's West Side. Known simply as STEP, it is one of three satellite programs of the Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative school, a public school serving the juvenile offenders who reside at the detention center on the near west side.

Some of Moroney's students are referred by the court and others by local high schools upon expulsion for truancy. All the students share a common desire to continue their education. STEP's mission is to provide those adolescents the opportunity to develop and advance their academic skills and prepare to re-enroll in mainstream high schools. As head teacher, Moroney's goal is to offer the structure, instruction and encouragement needed for such transitions to occur successfully.

The career path Moroney has taken to his current position at STEP is unique. After completing his studies at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, Maryland in 1965, he was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest, spent time ministering to Mexican migrant workers, studied canon law for two years in Rome, Italy, and worked closely with community organizers at St. Elizabeth's, a Rockford, MD community center.

Moroney then decided to leave the priesthood and returned home to Chicago in 1967 to attend SSA and prepare for a new way of life. After graduating from SSA in 1969, he served as a consultant for Head Start programs, a group counselor, an agency budget liaison for the United Way, and manager of his own small business.

To satisfy his intellectual curiousity, Moroney enrolled in and completed the four-year Basic Studies reading program at the University of Chicago. In 1990, he took a part-time position teaching religion at Notre Dame High School for Girls on the Northwest side. Energized by that experience, he moved on to Montefiore, an alternative public school for behavior-disordered boys in the city. While teaching at Montefiore, he earned not only his teaching certificate, but an M.A. degree in Urban Teaching from Concordia University. He joined the faculty of the Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School in 1994, teaching on-site at the detention center for one year before accepting his current position at the STEP satellite.

The students referred to STEP usually come to the program with significant conflicts in daily living, including harassment by gang members, history of truancy, and court involvement. While those problems concern Moroney, his emphasis in the classroom is to improve basic academic skills, particularly reading and math, and to promote habits of concentration and consistent attendance. "My first concern is not to ease their conflicts, but to facilitate academic growth so they can move their lives forward."

To offer assistance to students with personal issues that impact on their performance, without compromising the academic integrity of the program, STEP offers a social work component. Debby Frenkel, a school social worker at Steinmetz High School and an SSA field instructor, visits once a week to provide individual and group counseling. Moroney considers Frenkel's contribution vital: "Social work and education go hand in hand. Education depends on social work for help in getting its job done."

STEP students are quick to voice their satisfaction with Moroney's efforts. For many, the personal attention they get from him is a new experience. "At my old school, there were too many kids, and nobody cared about me." Another student observes, with some exasperation, "Mr. Moroney always knows what I'm doing." For Moroney, that's the most important part of his job--to pay attention. "I want them to know I care and that I'm here all day long, for them."

Such dedication, it turns out, is a labor of love. When asked about his favorite part of the job, he doesn't hesitate. "It's the students. I really love those students."

Gabriela Moroney is a second-year clinical student at SSA. Her field placement is at Stone Institute of Psychiatry Northwestem Memorial Hospital.

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