'Soft landing' sought for 37 instructors
St. Mary School in Rosebank is among four Staten Island schools that the Archdiocese of New York will cease to subsidize.STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Anticipating layoffs by the end of the school year, 37 Staten Island Catholic school teachers are asking for help from the Archdiocese of New York if their "at-risk" schools cannot be saved by a deadline next month.
The teachers' union, at a meeting, asked that the archdiocese assist in providing a "soft landing" for those whose jobs hang in the balance, though officials would not specify what that would entail.
"This is a very difficult time for the teachers," said Patricia Gabriel, who heads the Federation of Catholic Teachers. "We worry about them and how they'll come out of this. That's really what the meeting was about."
Of the 37 teachers on Staten Island, 30 work full time. Throughout the archdiocese, 373 teachers may lose their jobs, including 290 full-time workers. Dozens of principals, custodians and support staff also will be behind the eight ball.
The archdiocese announced last month that it can no longer provide $12 million to support 32 schools, of which $1.3 million was spent on four borough schools: St. Margaret Mary School, Midland Beach; St. Sylvester School, Concord; St. Roch School, Port Richmond, and St. Mary School, Rosebank. It said the criteria evaluated in selecting the schools included enrollment, financial subsidies, infrastructure, test scores, demographic trends and the proximity of other parochial schools.
A former first-grade teacher at St. Sylvester, Ms. Gabriel said she's heartbroken over the school's possible closure.
"On so many levels, this hurts," she said. "For the kids, for their parents, for the teachers, for the entire community," she said, adding, "We're hopeful not all these schools will be closed, but we have to prepare for that."
When asked last weekend what he thought of potentially shuttering those schools, Archbishop Timothy Dolan told the Advance he was saddened, but said it would strengthen archdiocese schools overall.
"I'm worried, too, but what's most important is that our kids have access to a quality Catholic education," he said.
Any school that wishes to remain open is enjoined to submit a proposal in the coming days to the archdiocese explaining how the school might maintain financial sustainability. The archdiocese is expected to make its final decisions in January.
Ms. Gabriel said meetings between the union and the archdiocese will continue, with the next one scheduled for early January.