Archdiocese puts 'at risk' tag on Immaculate Conception and St. Joseph's Rosebank
St. Joseph's School has long been a fixture in its Rosebank neighborhood.
St. Joseph's School in Rosebank and Immaculate Conception School in Stapleton were put on notice late Friday.
St. Joseph's has 167 students enrolled, Immaculate Conception 216, out of a total enrollment of 8,378 Catholic elementary students on Staten Island.
The decision was made by the Staten Island Regional Catholic Schools Board, after discussion with the Archdiocese, local pastors, principals and administrators. The regional board, which came online in September, comprises Island pastors and laity and is chaired by Monsignor Thomas Bergin, pastor of St. Charles R.C. Church, Oakwood.
The two Island schools are in addition to the 26 "at risk" schools elsewhere in the Archdiocese that were put on notice in November. At that time, the Archdiocese said a decision on Island Catholic schools would be put off until January due to the anguish associated with Hurricane Sandy.
The decision-making process used by local boards and committees is outlined in "Pathways to Excellence," the Archdiocese's strategic plan for Catholic schools released in October 2010. The plan calls for most parish elementary schools to be folded into a regional system governed by local school boards. The plan has been endorsed by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who has addressed the issue of school closures in his blog as well as in his Catholic New York newspaper columns.
"'Pathways to Excellence' aims to both stabilize and eventually grow the number of Catholic schools across the Archdiocese of New York, as well as ensure that all our schools remain financially stable and, more importantly, eliminate the need for future closures," said Dr. Timothy McNiff, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese.
"Since its inception, our plan has focused on raising standards of academic excellence while working to secure additional funding through a variety of sources, to help ensure a robust future for Catholic education."
"I want to express my deep appreciation to the laity and clergy serving on the local board," McNiff said in a statement released to the press early Friday evening. "These are difficult, but necessary, decisions and, working together, we will ensure that our Catholic elementary schools are stronger than ever."
The local board began an analysis of each Catholic school in fall. Under guidelines set by McNiff's office, the review included enrollment, financial and academic data, as well as parish and neighborhood demographics.
In the next step of the process, pastors and principals of the two at-risk schools will be invited to meet with members of the local board to discuss the combination of factors that led their schools' being tagged "at-risk" and will have until Feb. 1 to present an alternative proposal to closure.
After hearing from the pastors and principals, the board will submit a final review to the Archdiocese. The Archdiocese has said it will announce its final decision on the closure of the two schools Feb. 11. If the two schools close for good in June, it would bring to seven the number of Island Catholic schools that have closed since the Archdiocese launched its "Pathways" plan.