The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has announced two Catholic schools in the Capital Region are slated to close.
The diocese says it weighed financial, enrollment and infrastructure challenges faced by its schools before deciding to shutter Sacred Heart School in Troy due to low enrollment and All Saints Catholic Academy in Albany due to financial challenges and needed building repairs. Kathy Barrans is the diocese's Director of Communications.
"The new cooperative effort keeps Mater Christi School as a pre-K through 8th grade, Blessed Sacrament will become a Pre-K through 5th, and All Saints will close. This was a difficult, but necessary decision. Deficits at each school along with the inability of All Saints parish to provide financial support and needed building repairs at the school, all factored into the final decision,” Barrans said.
All Saints Parent Teacher Organization President Kelly Barbour said "They took a school that is thriving with enrollment and closed it and really it's not the school's fault that it is being closed. It is actually the parish. You know, the parish is a quarter of a million dollars in debt."
Parish officials could not be reached for comment.
Rachel Rebeor has two children attending All Saints, in kindergarten and fourth grade. "I really wanted to keep my kids in the Catholic education and I wanted to see it remain in the city of Albany," said Rebeor.
Diocesan School Board member Joe Bonilla says closing All Saints" was a gut-wrenching decision."
"Our board made a recommendation, there were differing opinions on the board. You know, we ultimately made a recommendation to the Bishop, who then, the bishop and the trustees made that decision to close All Saints Catholic Academy, along with trying to strengthen to the best of its ability, Mater Christi and Blessed Sacrament," said Bonilla.
Barrans says the diocese will “provide support and information” for displaced students and staff. A Diocesan Statistical Report shows 179 students enrolled at All Saints, 158 at Blessed Sacrament and 127 at Mater Christi. WAMC has requested a head count of staff members.
Parent Adrienne Haase is devastated. She said "There has been a lack of communication from the diocese, and they have basically kept the families in the dark. So we were not given any more notification than just a few weeks ago. So we're all scrambling. Do we go the public route, which will probably make the most sense at this point, given that the diocese has just been very, you know, wishy-washy about what information they're providing."
WAMC has reached out to diocesan officials for comment on that characterization.
Barrans says the diocese is exploring the possibility of providing transportation for current middle school students who want to continue at Mater Christi, as the parishes move toward creating a single school board for the Catholic Schools in the City of Albany. The fate of the All Saints building has yet to be determined.
