MOST STUDENTS STAYING

IN CATHOLIC SCHOOLS

Seventy-eight percent of students in seven parochial schools in Brooklyn and Queens that will not reopen in September are registered to attend neighboring Catholic schools, according to a June 23 survey taken by the diocesan Office of Catholic School Support Services.

The schools had a total enrollment of 944 students in pre-kindergarten to the seventh grade as the 2005/2006 academic year officially closed June 28. Of those, 739 were known to have enrolled in a Catholic school for next year, 45 transferred to public schools, 38 were believed to have relocated outside Brooklyn and Queens and the decisions made for 122 were still not known.

Four of the schools were in Brooklyn and three in Queens.

At St. Anthony-St. Alphonsus School in Greenpoint, of the 139 students leaving there, 44 enrolled in St. Stanislaus Kostka School, 27 in Northside Catholic Academy, 12 in St. Cecilia’s, 24 in other Catholic schools and nine in public schools. Nine relocated and the plans of 14 were unknown.

In Carroll Gardens, Sacred Hearts-St. Stephen’s School had 87 pre-K-to-seventh-grade students when the school year concluded. St. Saviour’s in Park Slope will receive 37 students and nine will go to St. Anselm’s, Bay Ridge, two to Holy Name, Park Slope, one to St. Charles Borromeo, Brooklyn Heights, and three to public schools. Nine students have relocated and the plans of 26 others are still unknown.

The new St. Mary Mother of Jesus-St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Academy in Bath Beach will open in September with 176 students from the former St. Mary Mother of Jesus School and 22 from the former St. Frances Cabrini School in Bensonhurst. The academy’s name supplants the one announced earlier: John Paul II Catholic Academy.

Three students from St. Mary Mother of Jesus have chosen to attend St. Athanasius School, ten will go to a public school, four have relocated and one will attend another Catholic school. The plans for one other student are not known.

In addition to the 22 who will attend the new academy, 81 from St. Frances Cabrini will go to St. Ephrem’s, eight to St. Bernadette’s and six to Our Lady of Guadalupe, all in Dyker Heights. Thirteen will attend St. Finbar’s in Bath Beach and one will enroll at St. Patrick’s, Fort Hamilton. Six will go to a public school, six have relocated and two will attend another Catholic school.

In its survey of Queens schools that will not reopen, the School Support Services office reported that at American Martyrs School in Bayside, 45 students will attend St. Gregory the Great School in Bellerose, 28 will go to St. Robert Bellarmine, Bayside, 23 to Sacred Heart, Bayside, 16 to Our Lady of the Snows, North Floral Park, four to Holy Family, Flushing, three to Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, Forest Hills, 11 to other Catholic schools and 16 to public schools. Nine have relocated. The plans for six were not reported.

From Queen of Peace School, Kew Gardens Hills, 51 of its 132 pre-K-to-7 students will enroll at Holy Family, Flushing, 28 at St. Nicholas of Tolentine, Jamaica, and 17 at St. Ann’s, Flushing. The plans for 46 were still not known when the survey was taken.                      

In Broad Channel, 19 of the pre-K-to-7 students at St. Virgilius School will attend St. Rose of Lima, Rockaway Beach; 14 will go to Maura Clarke Junior High School, 12 to St. Francis de Sales, Belle Harbor, and nine to St. Camillus, Rockaway Park. One will attend a public school and one has relocated. The plans for 28 were not yet known.

The Catholic School Support Services office will update the survey before the beginning of the new school year, probably in late August, said Dr. Thomas Chadzutko, the superintendent.

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6/26/06