SCHOOLS TO REALIGN

FOR FALL SEMESTER

            A realignment of schools in Bensonhurst, Carroll Gardens and Ozone Park for the 2006-2007 academic year was announced today (May 9) by Msgr. Michael J. Hardiman, Vicar for Education of the Diocese of Brooklyn. The restructuring will follow a different model in each community.

            In Bensonhurst, St. Frances Cabrini School and St. Mary Mother of Jesus School will close in June, but they will reopen in September as a co-sponsored school, named John Paul II Catholic Academy, on the site of the current St. Mary Mother of Jesus School.

            In Carroll Gardens, Sacred Hearts-St. Stephen’s School will affiliate with St. Saviour’s School, Park Slope. Sacred Hearts-St. Stephen’s will explore the possibility of conducting an early childhood program in its building for nursery, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children.

            In Ozone Park, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary School and St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr School will enter into a cooperative educational venture in the fall. Nativity will enroll children from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade and St. Stanislaus will register students for sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

            The decision to establish a co-sponsored school in Bensonhurst followed months of discussions about enrollment and financial issues that included the consideration of alternative solutions, consultations with diocesan officials and meetings with parishioners, parents and faculty.

Eventually, forming one school from the two parishes was seen as a way to maintain a Catholic school in the community.

            When the two parishes recommended the formation of a single school to Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, he accepted their proposal, recognizing the need for a new governance structure to carry the school forward, said Msgr. Hardiman.

            The pastors, Father Casper Furnari at St. Mary Mother of Jesus and Father Robert Armato at St. Frances Cabrini, and lay persons representing each parish will form a governing board for the John Paul II Catholic Academy.

            When Sacred Hearts-St. Stephen’s School was slated to close last June, a committee of parishioners sought and received permission to propose a business plan that would allow the school to continue to operate.

            The parishioners’ bid was successful, but as the school year progressed there were indications that the school would not be viable beyond June, for reasons of dropping enrollment and dwindling financial resources.

            When the parishioners saw that the school would have to be restructed, they proposed an affiliation with St. Saviour’s School, which Father Anthony Sansone, the pastor, said he would announced to the parish community.

            In the new arrangement for two Ozone Park schools, the pastors, principals and representatives from both parishes will form a governing board. The schools will share faculties, facilities, materials and finances and may have a new name within the next year.

            The decision to form the cooperative venture followed months of collaboration involving the pastors, Msgr. Robert Thelen of Nativity and Father James Meszaros of St. Stanislaus, the principals, Sister Marguerite Torre, O.S.U., of Nativity and Sister Francis Marie Wystepek, C.S.F.N., of St. Stanislaus, and the Office of Catholic School Support Services.

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5/9/06