No prayer for survival

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Some say they’ve been hearing rumors for years about the closing of St. Charles Borromeo School, and they tried to prepare for the inevitable.

But the news still stung last week when the Archdiocese of Philadelphia officially announced that the parish school at 2019 Montrose St. would be closing for good in June.

"We have a lot to offer our children," like an after-school roller-skating program, dominant CYO athletics and summer camps, lamented first-grade teacher Mel Madison, "but we just don’t have the children."

It is a problem that has befallen many of the Archdiocese’s urban schools in the last 20 years. St. Charles is the 11th school to close or be consolidated in that time.

The school has an enrollment of 147 in grades kindergarten though eighth this year. Most of the students are not members of St. Charles Parish but do live in the surrounding neighborhood.

St. Charles likely will be the third school serving Point Breeze not to reopen in September. The School District of Philadelphia also has proposed closing E.M. Stanton Elementary, 17th and Christian streets, and Durham Elementary, 500 S. 16th St.

In addition to St. Charles, the Archdiocese also will close three other schools in North Philly and combine them into one.

"It is difficult to see these parish elementary schools close, but we must acknowledge the reality of declining enrollment and limited parish resources," said Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua in a press statement last week. "It has become apparent, however, through all of the factual information studied, that these parishes can best strengthen the Catholic education offered to their children with different educational situations."

Monsignor John T. Conway, vicar for Philadelphia South, said the recommendation came from the Cluster 23 Schools Review Committee, which had been studying enrollment trends at St. Charles since 1998.

Mainly, he said, low enrollment and rising operational costs led to the decision.

"They are in a much larger deficit than the other schools," said Msgr. Conway.

St. Charles principal Suzanne Allen, who has been at the school for one year, said enrollment has declined consistently for the last six years.

The number of students paying tuition correlates to the financial health of the Catholic schools, said Allen, and this year’s first-grade class at St. Charles contains just 10 students.

"You don’t want children to be in a school where finances possibly dictate the quality of the education provided," she said.

The two closest Catholic schools for exiled St. Charles students are St. Thomas Aquinas, 18th and Morris streets, and Our Lady of Angels, 2925 Dickinson St.

Prior to making the official announcement, Conway said, school officials met with parents and asked if they would keep their children enrolled in Catholic school if St. Charles did close. The majority said they would, he reported, but not everyone identified St. Thomas or Our Lady of Angels as their first choices.

"There are a lot of different factors that enter into people’s lives today" regarding school choices, Conway said, adding some parents seek to enroll their children at a school convenient to their jobs, making pickups and drop-offs easier. Others opt for a school closer to a grandparent or other relative who can supervise the student after dismissal.

Meanwhile, the end of St. Charles Borromeo School doesn’t necessarily mean the end of St. Charles Borromeo Church, according to Conway.

"Many of our parishes have not had a school for many years and have continued to do well," he noted. "It is not a statement at all on the future of St. Charles Parish."

Some parents and grandparents meeting St. Charles students after school Tuesday had not made a decision where their children would attend class in September.

Jose Davis, of the 2300 block of Ellsworth Street, was waiting for his daughter Amena, a first-grader. He said he was upset St. Charles is closing and that it will be difficult to choose a replacement.

"She likes it here more than anything," Davis said, "but since they’re closing we have to find another school, which will be kind of hard."

Carol Winder, of the 2200 block of Kimball Street, has a granddaughter, Shawntai, in first grade and a grandson, Xavier, in fifth grade at St. Charles. The news of the closing surprised her.

"The teachers are good and the kids are learning," Winder said. "And now we have to find somewhere else in the neighborhood for them to go to."

The children’s mother is considering the local Catholic and Christian schools, Winder said, as well as the charters.

"No public, though, no public schools," she said, shaking her head. She explained she worries about violence at the public schools and the quality of education.

Gone but not forgotten

Here’s the list of South Philly Archdiocesan schools that have closed during the past two decades:

*King of Peace, St. Aloysius and St. Gabriel consolidated into Our Lady of Angels in 1999.