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Two belleville catholic schools to merge at end of this school year

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

Eighth-graders at the Academy at St. Mary’s in Belleville listened to their teacher discuss a point in their social studies class one morning last week when their pastor, Msgr. William McGhee stopped for a visit.

Everyone is aware by now that the school and the preschool will close at the end of this school year, and these students realize they are the last graduating class from the school that has a 114-year history.

The eighth-graders, mindful of their role as the last class see this as an honor and a responsibility.

Seventh-graders expressed disappointment at the school closing and some concern about going to a different school — St. Mary’s is being merged with St. Augustine of Canterbury, also in Belleville.

Principal, Joan Dohley, said the “students have a lot of life right now, and the main focus is strength in Catholic education.”

In the little time Msgr. McGhee has been at the parish — assigned less than a year — he also sees the life and energy of the students and families.

“They will bring a lot to the merger,” he said. Msgr. McGhee is also pastor at St. Augustine’s with Father Stanley Konieczny as parochial vicar, so students will continue to see him.

This may be a good time to merge, principal and pastor said. The school is not in debt, but enrollment has been steadily declining.

With 83 students, Dohley said she and Msgr. McGhee could not guarantee Bishop Edward Braxton that the school would be viable in three years.

Belleville’s principals and pastors have been meeting with Bishop Braxton. That three-year window was one of the criteria the bishop requested in meetings with principals and pastors of the Belleville Catholic schools.

In 2005, a Catholic Education Initiative was begun to study the viability of Belleville’s Catholic schools, which included Blessed Sacrament, Our Lady Queen of Peace, St. Augustine’s, the Academy at St. Mary’s, St. Peter Cathedral and St. Teresa’s. The parishes of St. Henry’s and St. Luke’s no longer have schools but were involved in the discussions.

Eventually recommendations were submitted to Bishop Braxton and discussed by principals, pastors and the bishop.
“I stressed that if we are going to make drastic changes in the Catholic schools that serve a large percentage of all of our Catholic children, it was imperative that we have sufficient reason to do so with confidence,” the bishop said in a letter announcing the closing.

The bishop also stated, “we must keep in mind the parents will ultimately do what is best for their children.”
Ms. Dohley, who has 24 years of involvement at St. Mary’s, first as a volunteer, then a teacher and finally a principal, said families will “take the memories wherever they go.”

While the plans of the merger between the two schools are just beginning to take shape, some of the sports programs were combined in previous years.

Boys’ basketball and track were combined three to four years ago, and this year girls’ volleyball and basketball have been combined, as well as younger boys’ soccer last fall, Joseph Voss, one of the school’s athletic directors, said.
Students who have participated in sports programs already know some of the St. Augustine students which should make the transition easier, one of the teachers said.

One of the requirements of the merger is that principals, faculty and staff must apply for positions at the newly merged school.

Although these two schools will merge, the other Belleville Catholic schools will remain free standing according to a letter Bishop Braxton sent to all of the schools.

However, he asked that Cathedral and St. Teresa’s “enter into greater collaboration in the areas of staffing, curriculum study, educational resources and other appropriate areas.”

Blessed Sacrament and Queen of Peace were given the same directive to cooperate in the aforementioned areas.
All of the schools “are required to move toward common curriculum standards, a common tuition, a common plan for parish financial support, providing appropriate financial tuition assistance and a common salary scale” with “every effort made to accomplish this in two years,” the bishop said in his letter.

These directives came from the bishop after a number of meetings with principals and pastors. Previous to that, an extensive committee held meetings looking at the viability of all of Belleville’s Catholic schools.
The bishop also directed the “remaining five schools to explore the possibility of developing a school system … providing outstanding Catholic education and Christian formation within the city, as directed by the Office of Education.”

To read the entire letter, go to The Messenger’s web site www.bellevillemessenger.org or the diocesan web site at www.diobelle.org.

In terms of St. Mary’s, use of the school buildings is still being discussed. Suggestions have been made that it could be used as a catechetical center for the cluster parishes of St. Peter Cathedral, St. Augustine’s and St. Mary’s, but no decisions have been made at this time.
“Everybody’s nervous, but we have to have faith,” Ms. Dohley said. “When God closes a door, he opens a window of opportunity.”