St. Joseph's School in Rosebank, as well as Immaculate Conception School, Stapleton, should hear by late Monday afternoon from the New York Archdiocese and the Staten Island regional Catholic schools board
Children leave St Joseph's School in Rosebank after dismissal time. St. Joseph's is one of the "at risk" schools.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Monday is the day two Staten Island Catholic schools will find out their future.
St. Joseph's School in Rosebank, as well as Immaculate Conception School, Stapleton, should hear by late Monday afternoon from the New York Archdiocese and the Staten Island regional Catholic schools board, whether they will close their doors for good at the end of the year, or reopen in September with some changes in place.
The Archdiocese has already announced that two dozen of its schools in the Bronx, Manhattan and Westchester will close in June, despite the best efforts of parents, alumni and community residents.
The bottom line: The fate of the two Staten Island schools hangs in the numbers.
The Archdiocese and the board that has tagged the two schools as "at risk" for closing, is expected to base its decision on cold, hard, "sustainable numbers" laid out in a five-year "business plan."
The schools have had a full month to come up with a plan to boost their numbers since the announcement was made Jan. 4. Representatives of each school, including the principal, have been meeting with school board members to lay out their plan.
The task at both schools has been to reverse the falling numbers. St. Joseph's has an enrollment of 167 students; Immaculate Conception has 216, out of a total enrollment of more than 8,000 Catholic elementary students in the borough. Tuition and other revenue generated has failed to cover rising operating costs, with both schools in the red.
The mood at both schools has been somber the last few weeks as parents, alumni and community members have scrambled to organize protests, fundraisers and other efforts to save their school.
But Fran Davies, associate superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese, said that while parent input would be taken into consideration, the business plan would ultimately be the deciding factor.
She said that board members were looking to see "a credible, verifiable plan, that covers enrollment, finances, academics and addresses local demographics, with an understanding of where current and future students live."