TWO SCHOOLS SET TO AFFILIATE

WITH NEARBY SCHOOLS IN FALL

            Two Catholic elementary schools---one in Greenpoint, the other in Bayside---will close in June and affiliate with two other neighborhood schools, it was announced by the respective parishes at the Sunday Masses March 5.

The pastor of St. Anthony-St. Alphonsus, Greenpoint, and the administrator of American Martyrs, Bayside, said a decrease in enrollment and the attendant mounting financial support required from parish funds to keep the schools operating were the principal reasons leading to their decisions.

            Father Robert W. Czok of the Greenpoint parish said the enrollment and cost issues affecting the school had “inexorably taken their toll.”

            The enrollment at St. Anthony-St. Alphonsus in the current school year is 169, a decline of 116 pupils from six years ago when 285 students attended, according to the pastor.

Father Czok, working with the parish accountant, also projected a school budget deficit for the current year of $134,000, requiring the parish to subsidize the school for that amount. Last year, the subsidy was  $158,000. If the school remained open another year, the parish would have had to underwrite an additional minimum budget deficit of $170,000, he said.

            At that rate, the parish would deplete its reserves “in very short order,” Father Czok said.

            In Bayside, American Martyrs parish faced a similar dilemma, said Msgr. George F. Zatarga, the administrator. In four years, enrollment declined by 47 students, from 223 to 176. The projected enrollment in 2007 is 132 students, according to data generated last June by a model created by the Middle States Commission on Elementary Schools.

            Contributing to the enrollment loss is a decline in the number of Catholic families living in the parish, Msgr. Zatarga said, adding that a drop in infant baptisms is also affecting the potential for enrolling students in the early grades in the coming years.

            As for parish support of the school, American Martyrs gave $20,000 in subsidies to the school over the years 2001-2003. Last year, $75,000 in school reserves was used up and the parish had to contribute an additional $11,000 to cover expenses. The deficit projected by the parish accountant for the current academic year is $118,450, which the parish has to take from its reserves.

That will leave the parish with very little in financial resources for other programs and ministries, Msgr. Zatarga said.

At St. Anthony-St. Alphonsus, established in 1875, parents are being  “strongly urged” to register their children in Northside Catholic Academy at one of its two sites: Our Lady of Mount Carmel for sixth- to eighth-grades and St. Vincent DePaul for pre-K to fifth-grade.

            The parents of students enrolled at American Martyrs School, founded in l951, have been advised that a seat will be available for their children at St. Robert Bellarmine in Bayside, a neighboring school.

            Both Father Czok and Msgr. Zatarga said representatives of the Office of the Superintendent for Catholic School Support Services and Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio were consulted during an evaluation process to determine whether to reopen their respective schools in the fall.

            Last month, Father James L. Tighe, the pastor of Queen of Peace parish in Kew Gardens Hills, identified reasons similar to those expressed by Father Czok and Msgr. Zatarga when he announced that the parish school would not reopen in September. 

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3/7/06