Communiqué
Holy Trinity
Catholic School,
Bridgeport,
Montgomery County (Cluster 71)
Rev. Msgr. Francis X.
Schmidt, Pastor, St. Augustine
Parish
Rev. Andrew D.
McCormick, Pastor, Sacred Heart Parish
Rev. Salvatore J.
Pronesti, Pastor Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Parish
The Pastors of the parishes
supporting Holy Trinity
Catholic School
in Bridgeport, Montgomery
County, announce that Cardinal Justin
Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, has accepted the recommendation to close Holy Trinity
Catholic School
at the end of the 2004-2005 school year.
The school had just 102 students registered for the 2005-2006 school
year with only six students enrolled for kindergarten and only four students
enrolled for fifth grade for the upcoming year.
The demand for Catholic Education
at the parish elementary level began changing in the Bridgeport-Swedesburg area
prior to 1998. Due to the decline in
student population, the parishes of Saint
Augustine, Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Sacred Heart
chose to form Holy Trinity Consolidated regional school in 1998. Holy
Trinity Catholic
School has been the pride
of the Catholic community these past seven years. Since 1998 however, the enrollment of Holy Trinity
Catholic School
has gone from 279 students to the current low of 102 students enrolled for the
2005-2006 school year. As the numbers
decline, the strength of the academic program as well as the socialization
inherent in all school programs is compromised.
Students will have the opportunity to attend one of the neighboring parish
elementary schools in 2005-2006.
Background
Faced with the challenge of
declining enrollment, the pastors whose parishes support Holy Trinity
Catholic School
requested permission of Cardinal Justin Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia, to
enter a School Study to explore available options in January 2004. Cardinal Rigali accepted the recommendation of
the Pastors in February 2004.
A Steering Committee, composed of
members of all three parishes as well as the Principal of the school and the
three pastors, was formed to create options for the future of Catholic
education for the parish children. The
Steering Committee's goal has been to provide long-range, quality, affordable
Catholic education.
After several meetings of the
individual Parish Study Committees and Steering Committee, there was unanimous
consensus that more time was needed to prove the overall viability of Holy Trinity
Catholic School. The Steering Committee believed that a
well-formed business plan, supported by a marketing plan, could perhaps reverse
the negative financial enrollment situation of the school. Cardinal Rigali approved the recommendation
to allow for an extension of the Steering Committee's work.
During the subsequent months, the
various committees met to work on a marketing and business plan. However, indications were that many families
were not going to enroll their children in the school for the coming year. As a result, it was decided to have an early
enrollment process to get a better idea about enrollment for the following
year. After Steering Committee members
reviewed the projected low enrollment (103 students) and the proposed budget
which would have required the parish to subsidize 64 percent of the school budget,
they proposed a meeting with the Home and School Association.
The Steering Committee held a
meeting on April 26, 2005 and presented two possible scenarios: 1) ) to continue the school with an
extraordinary 60 percent tuition increase, reduction of the school to one
building and several other major cutbacks or 2) to recommend the closure of the
school.
The Steering Committee met April
30, 2005 to review the feedback and make a final decision. Of the parents who
responded, 50 percent indicated they would be unable to pay the tuition increase.
A number of proposals were offered to the Steering Committee but they were
determined to be not feasible. Following
this, a majority of the Steering Committee agreed to recommend the closure of
the school by June 2005.
The three pastors will hold a
meeting in the near future to assist parents and guardians in selecting schools
for their children for the 2005-2006 school year. Pastors in the neighboring parishes have been
contacted and information about their schools will be shared.
