It's Last Week For 26 Schools In New York Archdiocese
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - This is the last week for 26 Catholic schools in the New York Archdiocese.
As the Archdiocese looks to consolidate and streamline for long-term viability, some 4,000 students will be displaced. Forty-five percent of them will reportedly not return to Catholic schools.
In addition, many teachers will be left unemployed.
It's Last Week For 26 Schools In NY Archdiocese
The school closings have stirred up a bitter storm of emotions.
"It's surreal," Home School Association President Bethann Rooney, who headed the campaign to save the Saint Augustine School in New City, told WCBS 880 reporter Sean Adams.
A $2.1 million plan was put together for the school to be self-sustaining, and that was supposed to be enough to save it, but it's still slated to close.
"Many of us were hoping we were going to wake up today and figure out that this was all a bad dream," she said.
But that hasn't stopped the students there from embracing the lessons of their faith.
They are donating their uniforms to Haitian orphans and their books to tornado-devastated Moore, Oklahoma. Other school supplies will be to the Sacred Heart School in Newburgh.
"Throughout the school year, we are continuously having the children do other projects and activities to take care of others and there's no reason why we shouldn't do that in our darkest day," she said. "They all, you know, feel good as they were donating their uniforms or packing those books."
"I think it gives them some peace and comfort," she added.
The full list of schools closing is below.
Manhattan
Annunciation
Holy Cross
Holy Name of Jesus
St. James- St. Joseph
St. Jude
St. George Academy (PRIVATE, Ukrainian Catholic)
St. Agnes Boys High School (PRIVATE)
NW/S Bronx
Holy Spirit
Our Lady of Angels
Our Lady of Mercy
St. Jerome
E/NE Bronx
Blessed Sacrament
St. Anthony
St. Mary Star of the Sea
Staten Island
St. Joseph
Immaculate Conception
Central Westchester
Holy Name of Jesus, Valhalla
Our Lady of Fatima, Scarsdale
St. Casimir, Yonkers
Blessed Sacrament- St. Gabriel High School, New Rochelle (PARISH based)
Northern Westchester/Putnam
Our Lady of Assumption, Peekskill
St. Theresa, Briarcliff Manor
Dutchess
St. Joseph, Millbrook
Rockland
St. Augustine, New City
St. Peter, Haverstraw
Ulster, Orange, Sullivan
St. Mary of the Snow, Saugerties
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