Parents receive word of the closure at dismissal, in a letter from Dr. Timothy McNiff, superintendent of schools for the archdiocese
Students leave St Joseph's Elementary School in Rosebank, one of two Catholic elementary schools on the Island slated to close in June by the Archdiocese.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- They didn't have a prayer.
The New York Archdiocese has formally notified two Staten Island Catholic schools that they will close their doors for good in June.
Parents at both St. Joseph's School in Rosebank, and Immaculate Conception School in Stapleton, received word of the closure at dismissal, in a letter from Dr. Timothy McNiff, superintendent of schools for the archdiocese.
The Archdiocese had 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 rested in the numbers, and the numbers didn't add up in their favor.
The Archdiocese and the Staten Island regional Catholic schools board, which had tagged the two schools as "at risk" for closing, has said all along that it would base its final decision on cold, hard, "sustainable numbers" laid out in a five-year "business plan."
The schools had a full month to come up with a plan to boost their numbers since the initial "at risk" 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 was 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 for "a credible, verifiable plan, that covers enrollment, finances, academics and addresses local demographics, with an understanding of where current and future students live."
She said that "placement counselors" will be assigned to the two schools in the next few weeks to work with families who wish to enroll their children in another Island Catholic school, and said the archdiocese would "guarantee a seat" in another school to every child displaced from the two schools. Children who are attending on tuition scholarships would also be able to transfer their scholarship to another school.
Monday's announcement brings to seven the number of Catholic schools that have closed on Staten Island since 2010.