Two County Elementary Schools on Catholic Closing List

Daily Local News
January 6, 2012

http://dailylocal.com/articles/2012/01/06/news/doc4f074bd02ec1c305882619.txt

Two Chester County Catholic elementary schools are on a list of schools in the region the Archdiocese of Philadelphia is proposing to close, according to a source familiar with the situation.St. Monica's in Berwyn and St. Patrick's in Kennett Square are the county schools slated to close, the source said.Students who attend St. Monica's would be eligible to go to St. Patrick's in Malvern under a reorganization plan set to be announced at 4 p.m. Friday.

Watch the announcement on the Philadelphia Archdiocese website.Students who attend St. Patrick's in Kennett Square will go to St. Cornelius in Chadds Ford under the plan, according to the source's information.The recommended closings come from an archdiocesan blue ribbon commission that has been studying ways to deal with declining enrollments for a year.The archdiocese has 178 schools serving about 68,000 students, which represents a 35 percent drop in enrollment since 2001. Thirty schools have closed in the past five years.The schools have suffered for years from rising costs and dwindling enrollment. Higher tuition, shifting demographics and the rise of charter schools have siphoned off many students.Earlier on Friday, the Delaware County Times reported Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast high schools are on the blue-ribbon panel's list to be closed, according to archdiocesan sources.The two Drexel Hill schools, with their tradition of single-sex education, are joined by West Catholic, Conwell Egan and St. Hubert's in Philadelphia.

The panel recommended four high schools and 44 elementary schools be closed. They consider Bonner and Prendie as one entity.Here are the names of the elementary schools, according to a source with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia:-- Annunciation BVM in Havertown will close, and students will attend St. Denis in Havertown

.-- St. Cyril of Alexandria in East Lansdowne will close, and students will attend St. Andrew in Drexel Hill

.-- Our Lady of Fatima in Secane will close, and students will attend Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Morton

.-- St. Gabriel in Norwood will close, and students will attend St. Madeline-St. Rose in Ridley Park

.-- Holy Savior-St. John Fisher in Linwood will close, and students will attend St. Joseph in Aston

.-- St. Francis de Sales in Aston will close, and students will attend St. Thomas the Apostle in Glen Mills

.-- St. John Chrysostom will close, and students will attend Nativity BVM in Media.It confirms the worst fears for the greater Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast high school families.

The recommendations will go to Archbishop Charles Chaput, who will make the final decision.Archbishop Carroll in Radnor, which had been rumored to be on the list, will be spared.Chester County's only Catholic high school, Bishop Shanahan, also is not on the list.The Delaware County Daily Times contributed to this report,