Mimi McCann ’13
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia recently announced its decision to close or merge almost 50 elementary and high schools due to their declining enrollments and lack of funding.
Currently, there are 17 high schools, 156 elementary schools, and four special education parochial schools affiliated with Philadelphia’s Archdiocese. Four high schools, Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast, West Catholic, St. Hubert’s and Conwell Egan, will close at the end of the school year in June.
Tom Stewart, Assistant Principal for Student Services at Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast, two of the schools expected to close in June, states that “The Office of Catholic Education stated two primary reasons for our closure: declining enrollment and rising deficits.” These issues have been addressed in years past at Bonner and Prendergast by raising tuitions and combining the schools in certain buildings. Regardless, Catholic school enrollment has declined over 30 percent in the past decade, leading to a rise in tuition. “I think that the decision to close the campus came as a shock to the students and the community. We anticipated that we would not be able to remain single sex schools, but we thought that we would move into one building and become a co-ed school,” said Stewart. “I don’t think the students nor their parents saw this coming.”
In response to news of the closings died down, the Bonner-Prendergast community rallied to support the students and the faculty and raised nearly one million dollars. Bonner and Prendergast recently appealed the decision to the Archbishop. The outcome is yet to be announced; however, if the appeal is lost, the school will close in June and students will have to apply to new schools for September. “It will be especially difficult for the junior class,” said Stewart.
In addition to the closings of the four high schools, 45 elementary schools will either merge with other schools or be closed outright. Roughly 65,000 students will be affected by the school mergings and closings, whether their own school is targeted or their school prepares to accommodate for transfer students. The closings will also uproot 1,700 teachers, many of whom will struggle to find new jobs within the system.
Tara O’Prey, ’13 attended St. Madeline-St. Rose School for elementary and middle school, a Catholic school which is now merging with St. Gabriel School. “To me, it’s a positive thing that this is happening because it isn’t just closing completely. But it’s also negative to see that the name of the school is going to change. It’s now going to be called something like St. James Archdiocesan Elementary,” said O’Prey. “[People of the community are] happy that the kids don’t have to find new schools to go to next year, but it’s still a shame that it had to come to this.”