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Diocese of Brooklyn announces school closures

July 9, 2020 Jaime DeJesus
Diocese of Brooklyn announces school closures
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The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn announced on Thursday that two schools in the borough will close.

Queen of the Rosary, 11 Catherine St. in Williamsburg, and St. Gregory the Great, 2520 Church Ave. in Flatbush, will not reopen in the fall.

According to the Diocese, in addition to an overall decline in enrollment in recent years, registration for the upcoming school year is down significantly due to COVID-19. Also, the two schools account for more than $630,000 in unpaid tuition bills for the past school year.

The Diocese also announced four school closures in Queens: Our Lady’s Catholic Academy in South Ozone Park, Our Lady of Grace in Howard Beach, Holy Trinity Catholic Academy in Whitestone and St. Mel’s Catholic Academy in Flushing.

“This is an incredibly sad day for our Catholic community to have to close these schools, but the devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic is insurmountable,” said Thomas Chadzutko, Ed.D., superintendent of schools. “The difficult decisions come after the intense analysis of the financial picture of each academy.”

Through the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Trust, the Diocese announced it will provide a one-time $500 financial grant for each child from a closed school who enrolls in another Catholic elementary academy or school in Brooklyn or Queens this fall, as long as they have met all of their financial obligations.

For those who meet the financial eligibility, tuition assistance is available through Futures in Education at www.futuresineducation.org.

Online Information meetings will begin next week for parents at the academies scheduled to close.

“Our smaller and caring community of schools has many advantages, as witnessed by how quickly we adapted to remote learning this spring,” said Chadzutko. “In grades K-8, we were nearly one to one, students to devices with data plans, an incredible feat which allowed for distance learning success in our schools.

“The learning went on in our schools for six hours a day, so our children knew that even though they were separated, they were not alone. Our devoted teachers and staff supported every child with the tools they needed to continue their education. We will continue to improve on this so we can be ready to handle any challenge this coming fall,”

Last fall, it was announced that St. Anselm Catholic Academy and Holy Angels Catholic Academy would merge to form Bay Ridge Catholic Academy, which is slated to open in St. Anselm’s current building this fall.

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