Angered by closure news, locals rally at St. Catherine’s
According to dozens of angry parents and other residents, the Diocese of Rockville Centre’s recent decision to close the St. Catherine of Sienna School in Franklin Square was premature and unwarranted, and in an effort to publicize those sentiments, supporters rallied at the school on Dec. 21.
St. Catherine’s is one of six diocesan schools on Long Island to be closed next June by Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre. The impetus for the decision, Murphy explained in a public letter, is dwindling enrollment and Long Island’s weak economy, as well as a recommendation by the diocese’s Advisory Committee on Catholic Education.
Hundreds of residents attended the protest, claiming that more thought and preventive measures should have occurred before the diocese made the decision.
Mike, an Elmont resident who gave only his first name and who coordinated the St. Catherine’s protest, said that his daughter is a second-grader there. He added that he believes the school’s closure would make many families flee from the community and keep others from moving to it, ultimately affecting local property values.
Mike said that his home in Elmont, which he bought in the early 1990s — just before St. Vincent and St. Boniface both closed in 1994 — is currently worth $3,000 to $4,000 less, which he attributes largely to the Catholic school closures. When they closed, he explained, several families moved to Queens in order to send their children to Catholic schools. Similarly, he said, when the Blessed Sacrament School in Valley Stream closed in June, several students transferred to St. Catherine’s and some transferred to local public schools, while others left the area.
“People want to be in a community with a big, beautiful church and a school next to it,” Mike said, “and they want to be in-parish when they send their kids to Catholic school. People will move out of the neighborhood to be in another parish.”
Carrié Solages, who was recently elected to the County Legislature, representing District 3, who attended last week's rally, said he agreed that property values and the local economy would likely be affected by St. Catherine’s closure.
