Local5/28/2004

Parish schools to be affected by closures

byDonis Tracy

BRIGHTON — Immediately following the press conference in which Archbishop Seán P. O’Malley announced the results of the reconfigura-tion process, Sister Kathleen Carr, CSJ, Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of Boston, addressed the issue of parish schools that will be affected by the closures.

According to Sister Kathleen, two schools — Our Lady of the Presentation School in Brighton and St. Peter Elementary School in South Boston — will be shuttered as a result of the parish closures.

In Dorchester, the closing of St. William Church and St. Margaret Church in order to create one parish that will service both parish communities will also result in one school building closing its doors. Both parishes presently have schools. Sister Kathleen explained that both St. William School and St. Margaret School will officially close, “then one school will open that will service the new parish.”

Sister Kathleen said she expects the new school will occupy the building of the present St. Margaret School.

Sister Kathleen announced a meeting with all the pastors and principals of the affected schools “to begin the transition process” and provide them with information on spaces available for displaced students in nearby Catholic schools.

Prior to the reconfiguration process, five other schools have announced they will close in June, the latest coming last week as Immaculate Conception School in Everett announced that it will be closing.

Sister Kathleen hopes that the number of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Boston will now remain steady.

"It is my hope that we will be able to stabilize things and not have the pattern continue for a fourth year, because this is the third year that we close a handful of schools each year," she said.

Two other schools whose parishes will be closed due to the reconfiguration — St. Mary Star of the Sea School in East Boston and St. Joseph School in Salem — will both remain open and be assumed by the welcoming parishes.