Nearly 200 young students and parents rallied outside of St. Brendan School in Norwood to protest plans by the Archdiocese of New York to close 12 Catholic schools across the City, including six in The Bronx, as well as the merger of four additional Catholic schools in The Bronx into two, at the end of the 2022-23 academic year.

The rally was held on Friday, Feb. 24, outside the East 207th Street school, founded in 1908. As previously reported, the rally was organized in response to a decision taken by the Archdiocese of New York in mid-February to close St. Brendan School due to declining income, along with the closure of the Immaculate Conception School, located in Williamsbridge, the Holy Family School, located in Unionport, St. Margaret Mary School, located in Mt. Hope, Santa Maria School, located in Parkchester, and St. Angela Merici School, located to the east of Joyce Kilmer Park in the South Bronx.

The archdiocese clarified in their communication with parents that there are two Immaculate Conception Schools, one which is located at 151st Street in Melrose, operated by Partnership Schools, which will NOT close. Of the 12 Catholic schools set to close across the City, five are in Manhattan and one is on Staten Island.

The Archdiocese also announced in February that St. Francis Xavier School, located in Morris Park, would merge with St. Clare of Assisi, also located in Morris Park, while St. Gabriel School, located in Riverdale, would merge with St. Margaret of Cortona, located in North Riverdale.

The news follows the previous closure of six Catholic schools in The Bronx in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, also due to declining income, as reported at the time.

For about 20 minutes after school dismissal on Feb. 24, the crowd outside St. Brendan continuously chanted, “Save our schools!” Many carried homemade signs, one which read, “Merge schools… Don’t close them!” Another sign read, “Archdiocese! Don’t abandon our community!” Yet another read, “We deserve a face-to-face meeting! A school closing should not be an email!”

“Sophia,” a Norwood resident and kindergarten student at St. Brendan, was asked why she was protesting. She quickly responded, “I don’t want my school to close down.” Asked why, she replied, “Because I love my school.” Sophia, who had previously attended the school’s pre-K school, was asked if she had made a lot of friends at her school. She replied, “Yes,” adding, “And I love my teachers.”

Meanwhile, the father of a teacher at St. Brendan, who declined to be identified and who, himself, had once attended St. Margaret Mary Catholic School, located on East Tremont Avenue, now scheduled to close, had sympathy for parents now looking for a new school for their kids before September 2023, as well as for the many teachers whose livelihoods are in jeopardy. He told Norwood News, “I have feelings for these people. I know what they’re up against right now.”

Asked how his daughter was feeling about the closure, he said, “My daughter feels disappointed because everything was positive in everything she was being told by management, and she just thought that she possibly had a future there as long as…” The man did not have words to finish his thought. He eventually added, “It’s hard to say; it’s bittersweet.”

As reported, the announcement has upended the lives of students, teachers and parents who are once again scrambling to find alternative arrangements for their children ahead of the next academic year. Impacts for parents and students include much earlier morning starts and longer commutes in one of the least connected City boroughs in terms of public transportation, and one with a lower than City average income.

In the context of the closures, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York had said, “It is never a good day when we announce closures to any of our beloved schools, but the goal is always to strengthen the remaining institutions and preserve Catholic education in New York for decades to come.”

He added, “We are doing everything we can to minimize the impact this will have on families and will provide both educational guidance and pastoral support to all those affected to ensure all children will be warmly welcomed into a nearby Catholic school. We are all in this together, and with hard work and God’s blessings, we will come out on the other side.”

According to the archdiocese, extensive community research, detailed studies, and careful deliberation and analysis went into the final determination of which schools would not reopen. “Unfortunately, due to shifting demographics and lower enrollment made worse by the pandemic, the impact to the financial stability of these schools was detrimental,” a statement from the archdiocese read. “All affected families will be welcomed in neighboring Catholic schools, with applications for financial aid and scholarships available for the upcoming academic year where applicable. Additional information will be shared with school constituencies in the coming days.”

Michael J. Deegan, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of New York, said in part that he personally mourned the loss of each school. “We will assist all students who are seeking to carry on their Catholic education to find a seat at another excellent school in the Archdiocese,” he added.

His office also vowed to work closely with each affected family and added that directors of enrollment would answer any questions families had about enrollment, transportation, or tuition. As regards the impacted staff, office representatives said they were “dedicated to working in coordination with the teachers’ union to do everything it can to help faculty of the affected schools find employment within the archdiocesan school system.”

After the announcement was made, fliers were posted in the local neighborhood urging residents to support the effort to keep the school open. Additionally, “Friends of St. Brendan School,” launched an online petition on www.change.org entitled, “Save St Brendan School, Bronx.” As of March. 17, it had garnered 4,102 signatures. An accompanying letter addressed to St. Brendan families, community, alumni, and supporters, reads in part, “Our beloved school is set to close at the end of this academic year. This news is a shock to us all and blindsided teachers and staff.”

The letter went on to say that the coalition of supporters chose St. Brendan to ensure their children received a solid education in a nurturing environment. “While the pandemic has been hard on everyone, the Archdiocese could have done a better job engaging the staff and families in this process. If this is truly a financial issue, it did not happen overnight,” the letter continued.

It went on to reference an email [from the school representatives] who were chastised for coming to the decision without working “in collaboration with the people who will be impacted.” The letter lamented a lack of “transparency” and “common decency” in not involving parents and staff in the process. “If we had been made aware, we could have tapped into our networks, worked to raise additional funds, or found ways to merge our school with Immaculate Conception,” they wrote.

Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of New York serve nearly 53,000 students from Pre-K through 12th grade across 170 schools in nine counties and boroughs throughout New York State. According to the archdiocese, “Catholic schools offer a unique combination of academic and spiritual development that empowers children of all backgrounds to gain the confidence to realize their fullest potential.”

Newly elected Assembly Member John Zaccaro Jr. (A.D. 80), who represents parts of Norwood, among other sections of The Bronx, released a statement in February following the announced closures, saying, “My office is working very closely with the Archdiocese of New York to determine the impact this decision will have on the students, teachers, faculty and their families who attend and work at St. Brendan School and St. Claire of Assisi here in our District and convey their concerns.”

On the day of the protest, a sign was seen still hanging outside St. Brendan’s Church at its East 206th Street entrance by the soon-to-be-closed adjacent school, which read, “Registration is now open.”

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story. 

admin

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.