Upper West Side Catholic School To Close At End Of School Year

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Upper West Side Catholic school St. Gregory the Great will close at the end of the upcoming school year, the Archdiocese of New York announced this week. For more Upper West Side news subscribe to Patch's free daily newsletter and news alerts.

The school will close due to a 2013 Archdiocese decision to merge St. Gregory the Great Church and the neighboring Church of the Ascension, according to a press release from the Archdiocese of New York. Current students at St. Gregory the Great — located on West 90th Street between Columbus and Amserdam avenues — will have the opportunity to transfer to the Ascension School. The Ascension school is located on West 108th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, about 19 blocks uptown from St. Gregory the Great.

"We understand these are challenging times for many families, and we will work with all students who are seeking to continue their Catholic education to find a seat at another excellent school in the Archdiocese," Dr. Timothy McNiff, the Archdiocese's superintendent of schools, said in a statement. "These are difficult but necessary decisions, and working together we will ensure our Catholic schools are stronger than ever."

St. Gregory the Great is one of four Catholic schools closing this year in New York City, according to the Archdiocese. The other three schools — St. Ann School, Visitation School, and St. Mary School — are located in the Bronx.

A statement released Tuesday by the Federation of Catholic Teachers panned the Archdiocese's decision to close the schools, saying that teachers were given no prior warning of the closures. The statement claimed that hundreds of student and 76 teachers will be losing their schools at the end of the year.

"In 2011, 30 schools were closed in the first round of closings, and in 2013, an additional 25 were closed. In these cases, the school communities were given a time frame to draft a financial plan and attempt to keep their school open. Yet no prior warning was given before today's notification to close six additional schools. The Archdiocese has not lived up to its word," reads the statement from the Federation of Catholic Teachers.

The Archdiocese of New York has not returned a request for comment on the statement, but has stated that all students at schools set for closure are guaranteed a spot in an Archdiocese school.

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