Diocese plan to include school closings

The Diocese of Rockville Centre plans to consolidate and close some grammar schools as part of a strategic plan to strengthen its education system amid declining student enrollment, church officials said Thursday.

They could not say how many schools will be affected, and said that announcement will be made around the time of Catholic Schools Week in late January. The reconfiguration will begin next September.

"The reality is that some schools simply may not exist, but we want to make sure we are positioned for the future to have strong Catholic schools," said Sister Joanne Callahan, superintendent of schools for the diocese.

The plan marks the first time in nearly two decades the diocese has launched a major reconfiguring of its schools. In 1992, 22 schools were closed in June, while 10 were opened in September as regional schools.

There are 49 Catholic elementary schools in the diocese, with 19,300 students -- down from about 28,000 a decade ago and 78,000 in the 1960s, when there were 92 schools. Catholic high schools, where enrollment has been growing, are unaffected by the plan.

Church officials said the grammar-school-age population on Long Island is predicted to drop by 7.5 percent by 2015, a principal reason some schools may have to close or consolidate. On top of that, the nation's economic crisis has hurt enrollment.

"We're responding to some of the same challenges public schools are responding to in terms of demographic change on Long Island," said Steven Cheeseman, the diocese's associate superintendent for schools.

The "Strategic Plan for Catholic Elementary Schools," which the diocese plans to post on its website Friday, states, "The data gives us a clear mandate: as our public schools look at ways to consolidate and reorganize, so too must we if we expect to thrive in the future . . . There may be some painful decisions regarding school reorganizations, mergers, or closings that must be made as part of the implementation of this plan."

Callahan also said it was "inevitable" some of the diocese's 1,400 teachers will lose their jobs as a result of the reconfiguration. That "is one of the hardest parts, because our teachers are so committed," she said.

The diocese's grammar schools bucked a national trend for about five years when no schools shut their doors. But four have closed over the past year or so. Bishop William Murphy said he wants to implement a plan to make any further closings more orderly and thought out, with the goal of keeping Catholic education on Long Island strong and accessible.

"If we strategize this thing and do it in a way that we can say to people, 'Look, we're going to make some decisions.' At the end of it, you're going to see the distribution of schools as best we can across the diocese. And they're going to be there, so you don't have to worry. They're going to be there five years from now, 10 years from now," Murphy said.

Church officials said the plan also includes six key elements for strengthening the schools, such as maintaining strong Catholic identity, educational excellence and responsible stewardship. Beyond that, the Tomorrow's Hope Foundation, which provides scholarship money to help pay tuition at the schools, hopes to increase the amount it hands out from $2 million a year to $5 million.

Principals were informed of the strategic plan Thursday, and parents of students will receive a letter Friday.