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K-8 sites include Dallas, Pittston
Diocese of Scranton Bishop Joseph Bambera explains the rationale in closing four Catholic elementary schools. Looking on is Rev. John Lambert, V.E., Episcopal Vicar for School Planning.
BILL TARUTIS/for the times leader
LAFLIN – Four more Catholic elementary schools in the Diocese of Scranton – two in Luzerne County and two in Lackawanna – will close at the end of this school year, Bishop Joseph Bambera announced Monday night.
Gate of Heaven School in Dallas, St. Mary Assumption School in Pittston, Sacred Heart School in Carbondale and Marian Catholic School in Scranton will not reopen for the 2011-12 school year, Bambera said at a press conference after a closed-door meeting at St. Maria Goretti Parish Center with invited pastors and principals, and teacher and parent representatives from the affected schools.
About 750 students will be directly affected by the school closures.
“We have the available desks, seats, to accommodate all of those children in the existing schools,” Bambera said.
The bishop said he hopes to maintain as much of the staff as possible. Whether teacher retention will be based on seniority is yet to be determined, he said.
Kathleen Hanlon, diocesan secretary for Catholic schools and superintendent of schools, will begin meeting with teachers and administrators today, Bambera said.
The bishop said the decision about which schools to close was based on “factual data,” including actual enrollment, building capacity; finances and proximity to other schools.
He said reaction of those individuals associated with the closing schools was surprise, sadness and dismay, but those from the schools not affected was “very different.”
Those from the other schools “have begun to realize that our goal here right now is less to save a particular school building and more to save the system,” Bambera said. “And I can save the system if we put in place some of the things we have just spoken about. If I keep every school open, I will lose the system.”
Bambera said one of the main reasons for the restructuring decision was because schools in the Holy Cross system based in Lackawanna and Bradford counties and the Holy Redeemer system based in Luzerne County have a total of about 2,000 empty student seats.
He said there are 6,000 students in the Holy Cross and Holy Redeemer systems.
And although the schools in the two systems achieved a 90 percent enrollment retention based on figures from an initial registration that ended March 4, a large discrepancy still exists between capacity and enrollment, Bambera said.
“We are facing right now 2,000-plus empty seats, so a quarter of our seats are empty. You pay for those and they become a part of your expense. We’re also up against the reality of a $19 million debt in the Diocese of Scranton that was incurred by our school systems,” Bambera said.
Gate of Heaven School was at a projected capacity of 39 percent for next school year, and Marian was looking at similar numbers. St. Mary Assumption in Pittston had a projected enrollment of 142 students in grades kindergarten through eight, when the optimum enrollment for a K-8 school is about 225 students, Bambera said.
Another problem is that parishes have been paying 25 percent of their income to support the Catholic schools.
“It’s unsustainable,” he said, adding that a more realistic contribution would be 9 or 10 percent, the national average.
“We put forth a plan that will stabilize our systems. We increased the per-student tuition of parents, putting it much more in line with dioceses around the United States that are running sustainable Catholic school systems. For that to happen, our families are generally expected to pay at least 60 to 65 percent of the per-student cost.”
To achieve those numbers, Bambera said, the diocese provided parents with tuition projections for the next three years. Those numbers include tuition increases of $300 each year.
“What we also need to put into that mix that was clearly not put in nearly as aggressively the last time around was a focus on marketing and development,” Bambera said.
He hopes that successful marketing will result in higher enrollment in the future and less severe tuition hikes.
Find a link to video of the Bishop Joseph Bambera’s announcement about the Catholic schools at www.timesleader.com.