What are the signs that a parochial school may close?
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Anonymous
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I think our school might be on the block. The parish priest wants to have the PTO pay for building issues. This has come up in the past and the PTO and Principal fought it. It was resolved. But this year, the PTO is paying (I think they were bullied and finally just rolled) because the parish has no money. The parish blames it on lower enrollment (but enrollment is higher than five years ago, lower than last year). This to me is a clear sign the school will die. The parish is not investing in the school and supporting it. Last year the school held a fundraiser and the Parish took all the proceeds. It is crazy. The parents that worked so hard on it, were furious. |
Anonymous
| sounds like the diocese should do a better & transparent job of looking to consolidate |
Anonymous
| I wonder if St. Bart’s or Lordes in Bethesda will close? |
Anonymous
Willing to share the diocese? Or general location? I ask because it sounds a lot like some bad rumors floating around my school in Northern Virginia, but none of them are true. |
Anonymous
| An incompetent principal will run a school down fast. |
Anonymous
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Look for words like restructuring.
I.e. We are restructuring and following the studies so we will not be breaking math, reading, and science into levels/groups. I.e. our resource team in restructuring to allow for small group work in the classroom rather than dyads and pull outs. |
Anonymous
| I thought when Parish schools closed, they tried to place the children in other diocese schools. If your school is dying, I'd apply to other schools, and hope they place your kid |
Anonymous
St. Barts almost closed before but the parents saved it. Likely, it will be on the chopping block again. |
Anonymous
| Family friends in CO had their school close. No notice until after the new year, which was not enough time to have a lot of choice for picking a new school. I was not surprised given the last few graduating classes were around a dozen kids and tuition was <10k per kid. Hard to pay a teacher, admin, and school overhead on that without significant parish support. |
Anonymous
I've heard this too. Off to a very tough start. Lost a bunch of kids. Mostly girls. |
Anonymous
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Debt.
And sometimes the Diocese and/or parish can't or won't pay it off. Add to it a low SES area/kids on scholarship (so basically no much gained from tuition) and you've got a hot mess. |
Anonymous
I agree. Add tobthat schools that blow the reserve on fancy additions like turf fields and then end up in the red with no savings. |
Anonymous
| What schools are not in danger of closing. We are looking around in Bethesda and North Bethesda |
Anonymous
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Not cutting staff to match enrollment.
Not keeping up with important (non-cosmetic) maintenance issues such as the roof. Dropping academic performance contributing to enrollment loss-- reinforcing spiral. Caginess about finances. Leaning on parents to pay for things they haven't in the past. Not posting minutes of meetings, finance reports, or whatever other transparency docs they usually post. |
Anonymous
| What about Annunciation? We looked at it during COVID and felt like it would be on the chopping block eventually so went elsewhere. |