FOUR PARISH SCHOOLS

TO CLOSE IN JUNE

Bishop Thomas V. Daily has accepted the recommendation of the Education Commission of the Diocese of Brooklyn that four “at-risk” parish elementary schools---three in Brooklyn and one in Queens---close June 30.

            An extensive two-year study of the schools’ viability, which looked at such factors as declining enrollment, increasing operating costs and changing demographics, led the commission to recommend the closings, said Msgr. Guy J. Puglisi, the Vicar for Education and Superintendent of Schools.

            The schools that will conduct their last graduations in June are SS. Simon and Jude, Gravesend; Our Lady of Solace, Coney Island; Regina Pacis, Borough Park, and St. Rita’s, Long Island City.

            A school is considered “at-risk” when its student population from kindergarten to eighth-grade falls below 220, Msgr. Puglisi said. That was set as a critical point by a team of educators from Catholic University commissioned by Bishop Daily to study the elementary schools in the Diocese in the early l990s.

            The affected schools have experienced a gradual enrollment decline for several years. Since l998-99, for example, enrollment has dropped at Regina Pacis School by 65 to 149 students, at Our Lady of Solace School by 44 to 108 students, at SS. Simon and Jude School by 12 to 133 students, and at St. Rita’s School by seven to 125 students.

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Regina Pacis and St. Rita’s Schools were identified by the Catholic University educators as being at-risk in l993, when they had 210 and 156 students respectively. Concern for the future of SS. Simon and Jude and Our Lady of Solace Schools intensified later.

In the intervening years, the cost of operating the schools has increased, causing a drain on the financial resources of the parishes. Since the l997-98 school year, SS. Simon and Jude parish has provided about $1.1 million in subsidies to keep the school open.

Msgr. Puglisi said that efforts will be made to transfer students at the four schools who will not be graduating to a nearby parochial school. The diocesan education office will help principals and faculty to obtain positions at other Catholic schools, he added.

Regina Pacis and SS. Simon and Jude are two of eight parishes that belong to the Bensonhurst cluster of parishes. The parishes of the Diocese are divided into 31 clusters of neighboring parishes that meet to respond to local pastoral, educational and other needs.  

Leaders of the parishes in the cluster have met for several years to discuss the changing demographics in the community and the financial constraints facing the parish schools.

In an effort to maintain a strong Catholic education presence in the area, the cluster plans to announce the formation of the Bensonhurst Coalition of Catholic Schools. It will share resources, guidance counseling and enrichment programs in order to “preserve Catholic grade school education for as many students as possible,” said Msgr. Kevin B. Noone, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe parish.

Msgr. Puglisi said the coalition “should produce innovative outlooks on how Catholic education will be supplied in Bensonhurst.”

Stating that the coalition’s effort “should enhance rather than decrease the school population and opportunities,” the education vicar added: “It may well utilize the two sites involved in the present closing in a new configuration.”

In the case of the closing of four schools, a process established by the Catholic University team a decade ago to determine the future of schools “was followed every step of the way,” said Dr. Thomas A. Chadzutko, who coordinated the procedures as Deputy Superintendent of Schools.

            A school-support team, consisting of six-to-eight members that included pastors, principals, a member of the Education Commission and others, visited each school a number of times over a period of 18 months to review enrollment patterns, academics, finances and other factors.

Faculty and parents were alerted to the study from the beginning and were kept informed along the way, Dr. Chadzutko said.

            When the studies were completed, the results were presented to the Education Commission, which recommended the closings to Bishop Daily.