SCHOOLS DISMISSED: Six Elementary Schools to Close
By Mark Guydish, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader
Jan. 18–SCRANTON — In the end, the Diocese of Scranton not only adopted the preliminary proposal announced in November to merge four Catholic high schools and close six elementary schools, it hastened the process by announcing the elementary schools will close at the end of the school year. The preliminary plan had suggested some elementary schools should merge over time.
In a press conference held at the Diocesan Guild building in Scranton and televised live on the diocese-run Catholic Television, Bishop Joseph Martino pointed out that he had warned in November that the “changes would be seismic and transformative. Now you see I have kept my word.”
The preliminary plan called for the merging of Bishop Hafey High School in Hazleton, Bishop O’Reilly in Kingston, Seton Catholic in Pittston and Bishop Hoban in Wilkes-Barre, with all students attending a new school in the current Hoban building. Supporters from the three schools set to be shuttered rallied and submitted plans to keep the schools open, then waited to see if the proposals would reverse the diocese plan.
Their hopes were shattered Wednesday.
Regarding elementary schools, the preliminary plan had called for the closing of St. Boniface in Wilkes-Barre, Pope John Paul II in Nanticoke, and Sacred Heart in Dupont while suggesting closing Sacred Heart in Wilkes-Barre “when students can be accommodated elsewhere” and eventually merging Regis Elementary in Forty Fort and Sacred Heart in Luzerne, as well as the eventual merging of the two remaining elementary schools in Hazleton.
The final decision is to close St. Boniface, Sacred Heart in Wilkes-Barre, Regis Elementary and Sacred Heart in Luzerne and house the students at the current O’Reilly building in a new pre-kindergarten through grade 8 school.
Pope John Paul II would close with students either merging into St. Aloysius in Wilkes-Barre or joining the new school in the O’Reilly building, and Sacred Heart in Dupont would close as students are shifted to Wyoming Area Catholic. Hazleton’s two elementary schools will be merged into a new pre-kindergarten through grade 8 facility in the current Hafey building.
If all goes well, the changes are to take place by the start of the next school year.
Diocese Spokesman Bill Genello and School Superintendent Joe Casciano took questions after Martino’s announcement, but their most frequent response was that details have not been worked out. Tuition has not been set, combined curriculum at the new merged high school is still being designed, and the diocese has not determined how it will decide which teachers retain their jobs and which are laid off.
In fact, Genello pointed out, many of those decisions can’t be made until the diocese sees how many students enroll for next year under the new structure. Registration will begin Feb. 5, Genello said, with the reorganization becoming official July 1.
Casciano said transitional teams are being formed at each affected school to work out details. He also conceded that, at least initially, the restructuring could actually cost money rather than save it, as the diocese refurbishes O’Reilly and works on the transition.
One of the core reasons for the closings has been the cost of maintaining “too many buildings with too few students,” as Martino put it.
Asked if the diocese feared a backlash from parents and students feeling disenfranchised at the closing of their schools, with a potential drop in enrollment, parish donations and contributions to the Diocesan Annual Appeal, Genello urged parishioners to avoid such protest. “They are really hurting people who benefit from the programs” funded by those donations, he said.
Genello and Casciano also said that the Wisconsin-based company hired by the diocese to review schools and propose the restructuring — Meitler Consultants Inc. — had praised the plans submitted by support groups to save the high schools. But the “consultants have many years experience and have seen this before,” Genello said, and they ultimately decided the proposals were “unrealistic.”
Meitler had issued a report noting rapidly dropping enrollment, shifting demographics and deepening debt as churches struggled to maintain school budgets.
Martino repeated something he’s been saying throughout the 17-month review done by Meitler: “We’re in the 21st century, and things just are not what they were.”
He cited statistics showing far fewer Catholics send their children to Catholic schools, and said many parishes have become “debt retirement groups,” spending much of their money to pay off debts created by trying to keep schools open. “We need to learn to live within our means.”
“Putting new wine into old wine skins is something Jesus warned us about 2,000 years ago,” Martino said. “And woe to us if we don’t heed him.”
TO LEARN MORE
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www.dioceseofscranton.org [http://www.dioceseofscranton.org] has postings of the Meitler data and preliminary report from Nov. 14, as well as Wednesday’s announcement by Martino.
Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, can be reached at 829-7161.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.
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