The Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis announced today that two Catholic grade schools, one in Minneapolis and one in Saint Paul, will close at the end of the current academic year.
The Minneapolis school is Saint Elizabeth Seton School in North Minneapolis. The St. Paul school is Trinity Catholic School on the East Side.
The decisions were made by the boards of trustees of the two schools and accepted by the Archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, Most Rev. John C. Nienstedt.
Dwindling enrollment and heavy financial losses prompted the closings, according to Catholic Schools Superintendent Marty Frauenheim. Shifting population and household income trends in the schools' communities were contributing factors.
"St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic School, with an enrollment of 100 students has served the families of the outer North Side of Minneapolis. Trinity Catholic School, with an enrollment of 103 students has served families on the East Side of Saint Paul since 1882." Frauenheim explained. "The closing of these two schools is sad for all of us. We are most grateful for all the young lives they have touched over the years."
The closings mean about 23 teachers, four administrators and principals and six ancillary school workers will be laid off at the end of the school year. Frauenheim said all of these employees will be given opportunities to apply for new openings in the Twin Cities wide Catholic school system.
After the closings, the Archdiocese will have a total of 101 schools including their elementary schools, middle schools and 14 high schools. Frauenheim pointed out that many of these schools are operating with enrollment levels at or near capacity. StarTribune
A Catholic school that has served families on St. Paul's East Side for more than 125 years will close at the end of the school year, the archdiocese announced Monday.
Enrollment declines and financial losses at Trinity Catholic School "overwhelmed any possible viability or sustainability for the future of the school," said Deacon Mick Humbert, canonical administrator at Trinity.
Also closing will be St. Elizabeth Seton School in North Minneapolis, which serves about 100 students in grades K-8, church officials said.
Trinity, at 835 E. Fifth St., is down to about 100 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, Humbert said — several dozen fewer than it had five years ago.
And the school this year is running its first sizable deficit, he said: about $80,000, or 8 percent of its budget.
Seventy-two students already had registered for next year, Humbert said, and that number likely would have grown. But the school's governing board was afraid that, even if it could keep the school open, it wouldn't be able to keep it going long term, Humbert said.
The board made the decision Friday, Humbert said, and Archbishop John Nien-stedt approved it over the weekend. Letters were mailed to families on Saturday, he said, and the staff was notified Monday morning.
Urban Catholic schools have been hit in recent years by a decline in the school-age population and the movement of wealthy Catholics to the suburbs, prompting the need for increased aid for lower income families in the city.
About two-thirds of Trinity students were receiving assistance to pay the $2,354 annual tuition, Humbert said.
In 2005, another East Side elementary, Blessed Sacrament, closed after 88 years, having watched its enrollment drop to less than a quarter of what it was in the 1970s. St. Columba's elementary school in the Midway area closed the year before that.
Two years ago, St. Agnes High School in the Frogtown neighborhood was on the brink of closure, but the school community rallied to raise money and sign up students, and the school was saved.
That's not likely to happen for Trinity in this troubled economy, said Dennis McGrath, spokesman for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
"The benefactors just aren't there that were there before," he said.
Humbert said the two situations are "comparing apples and oranges," starting with the fact that St. Agnes could draw on alumni attachment to a high school, whereas Trinity is an elementary and middle school.
The closings leave the archdiocese with 101 schools, most of which are in good shape, McGrath said. He said he couldn't say there aren't others in enrollment and financial trouble, but "these were the two most pressing ones."
Trinity Principal Sandy Krekeler declined to talk about the closing Monday and declined to make staff available, saying people were still processing the news.
Trinity was formed in 1992 when St. Casimir's and St. Patrick's schools joined Sacred Heart, a school that dates to 1882. Pioneer Press
4 comments:
I don't know about the Saint Paul School but it comes as no surprise to me that St. Elizabeth Seton is closing. I live in North Minneapolis and the density of Catholics is quite low, and those that are there don't have young families. I saw the writing on the wall when St. Margaret Mary just across the line in Golden Valley no longer made ES their parish school (their own school being closed and rented out) and made arrangements with Catholic schools in near suburbs. (The contribution of kids was always low--SMM had very few young families and if you lived in Golden Valley, would you send your young children to North Minneapolis?) The kiss of death was probably when an administrator was caught skimming the meager resources of the place maybe a year ago.
There are options for non-Catholics who live in North and don't want to send their kid to the public schools. There are quite a few charter schools that serve that population. There are are also a few Catholic Schools in North and Northeast which are successful--John Paul II school in Northeast and Ascension in North are the ones that come to mind.
Here we go again! You have over 200 children living in neighborhoods where they would benefit more from a Catholic education than most children living in the suburbs. Just like Republican Party the easy decision for the Catholic Church is to take away from the poor and give to the rich.
The reason St. Elizabeth Seton is closing is the principal embezzled $350k from them. http://www.startribune.com/local/36045179.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUnciatkEP7DhUsr
Apostate Paul, you obviously know nothing about either North Minneapolis or Elizabeth Seton. There are Catholic schools that are well supported in Minneapolis. ES was always an orphan, drawing from several small parishes with dwindling numbers of kids rather than being associated with one parish community. The embezzlement scandal put it in financial jeopardy. I imagine it wasn't a good situation for those 200 kids.
If you think the suburbs are filled with "rich kids" I would suggest that you visit the near suburbs like Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park and Robbinsdale. We aren't talking about Minneapolis losing out to Minnetonka. There is plenty of need in the suburbs. Even parts of Edina have concentrations of low income people now. You should check your facts before you spew your rhetoric.
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