Catholic schools welcome students

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

Local principals said they are welcoming students from Catholic schools in the diocese that are closing.
St. Stephen Elementary, which served pre-kindergarten-grade 8, and St. Mary’s Schools, for pre-kindergarten-grade 12, are not reopening this fall because of financial struggles and uncertainty due to the coronavirus, according to recent announcements. These days it is often a struggle for parish schools like them, and other Catholic schools, to get sufficient enrollment and funding to stay open, Bishop McManus has said.
When Catholic schools close “it is an awful loss for all of us,” said Meg Kursonis, principal of St. Peter Central Catholic Elementary School at 865 Main St. in Worcester.
St. Peter’s received more than 40 calls from families in the closing schools and is able to accommodate all of those students, but now some grades are filling up, she said. She said St. Peter’s will honor applications from those schools before other new applications, because those families have already shown a commitment to Catholic education.
She said she’s been telling them, “I’m sorry for your loss,” and talking with them by telephone as long as needed. St. Peter’s is not giving tours because of the quarantine, but families can look at its website, stpetercentralcatholic.com.
She said she told interested families to send in their application as soon as possible in order to reserve a space, and most did so within an hour. Now the families have received the acceptance packages in the mail and are starting to do online registration, she said.
Our Lady of the Angels Elementary School, 1220 Main St., Worcester, is happy to make a home for the students who lost theirs, said Doreen Albert, principal.
“It definitely helps us, but I hate to see any school close,” she said. She said Our Lady of the Angels, also a parish school, has given several tours, accepted a number of the students whose schools are closing, and offered them, for the first year, the tuition rate they would have paid at their former school.
The website ourladyoftheangels.us says tuition there for the 2020-2021 academic year is $5,400 for kindergarten-grade 8, with reduced rates for the second and subsequent children from a family. Pre-school tuition ranges from $2,200-$5,700 depending on the number of hours spent there.
Press releases about the closings said tuition was between $5,000 and $5,400 per year at St. Stephen’s, and, at St. Mary’s, $4,900 for elementary school and $7,295 for high school.
Staff members of Venerini Academy, a private Catholic school at 27 Edward St. in Worcester, are willing to talk with families from the closing schools about their financial need and try to help them find the funding “to be able to afford us,” as they do for their present students, said Raymond Dewar, principal. He said they have met with several of the displaced students and accepted some already.
The website veneriniacademy.com says tuition for 2020-2021 is $7,800 for kindergarten-grade 5, and $8,000 for grades 6-8, and $8,200 for pre-school and pre-kindergarten.
Venerini cannot reduce tuition for St. Stephen’s and St. Mary’s students without doing so for all students, Mr. Dewar said.
“I think all the Catholic school principals are really sad that this has occurred,” and want to do all they can to help students and teachers from the closing schools “because we feel their pain,” he said. “We all worry about making sure that we have what we need for going forward.”
If Venerini had any openings for teachers, St. Stephen’s and St. Mary’s teachers would be considered first, he said. He said he thought other Catholic schools were looking at hiring some of them.
Venerini has the capacity for 200 students and is anticipating 190, he said. There are two classes in most grades, and a second class can be opened in the other grades if needed, he said. Considering coronavirus pandemic guidelines, they aim to limit classrooms to 15 students.
“We’re working on several different protocols on how to open the school” this fall, because of coronavirus restrictions, said Julie Olson, principal of Our Lady of the Assumption Elementary School, at 17 Grove St. in Millbury.
Asked if this parish school can take students from the closing schools, she said, “Yes, we are able to at this time.”
Some St. Stephen’s and St. Mary’s students have expressed interest, and some have signed up, she said. They can come to the school for a tour or have a Zoom meeting in which she shows them the school. This past year the school added a new STEM lab (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), she said.
The website assumptionschoolmillbury.org says tuition is $5,300 for the first child in a family from kindergarten-grade 8, with reduced rates for siblings. Pre-kindergarten rates range from $2,300-$5,700 depending on the child’s age and number of hours spent there.
Tuition for kindergarten-grade 8 at St. Mary Elementary School, 16 Summer St., Shrewsbury, is $6,600 for students from the parish and $7,000 for out-of-parish students, according to the website school.stmarysparish.org. Pre-school and pre-kindergarten tuition ranges from $3,425 to $9,950.
Jeanmarie MacDonough, the principal, said that for the first year, St. Mary’s will honor the tuition rate families from St. Stephen’s and St. Mary’s in Worcester would have paid at those schools.
Four families from those schools have enrolled, and others who have come for tours have not filed paperwork yet, she said Tuesday.
Some grades, and especially pre-school, have less space left than others, she said.
“We always wish we had more students,” she said, but “we have good class sizes for next year.”