HUDSON -- Due to a sustained decline in enrollment, Hudson Catholic High School announced March 30 it will close at the end of the current academic year.

The school currently has 120 students; down from 200 in 2004, with next year’s enrollment showing an even more significant drop to 96 students.

Father Ronald G. Calhoun, Pastor of St. Michael’s Parish, which oversees the school, called the decision “heart wrenching,” but inevitable due to the declining enrollment trends, the increasing deficit of the High School and the impact of that debt on the parish.

“When all the data was examined it was clear that we have to close our High School,” he said.

Father Calhoun noted that, despite the difficult news about Hudson Catholic, the parish was committed to maintaining Catholic education at St. Michael’s Elementary School, where enrollment has stabilized and is showing signs of growth.

Currently there are 160 students enrolled at St. Michael’s Elementary School, with enrollment expected to increase to at least 180 in the next academic year. The goal is to grow enrollment in future years to between 200-225 students, whch is about the school’s maximum capacity.

Father Calhoun also announced that St. Michael’s Elementary School will move into the high school’s building in the Fall of 2009. The high school facilities offer additional resources and space that are not available in the current elementary school.

Because of some very generous benefactors there have been upgrades made at the High School including two new science labs, a science prep room and renovations to the gymnasium, which will now enhance the academic program for our elementary school students.

Hudson Catholic High School is one of four parish high schools in the Archdiocese of Boston. In recent years most of the Archdiocese’s Catholic High Schools established independent boards to govern their schools.