Our Lady Of Mercy School In Hicksville To Close

HICKSVILLE, NY — Our Lady of Mercy School in Hicksville is permanently shutting down following the end of the 2019-20 school year. The school, which serves students from nursery through eighth grade, has been in operation for more than 55 years.

"Unfortunately, the drop in enrollment and the decline in tuition income makes the goal of providing a quality education to nurture and develop students academically, emotionally and spiritually, unsustainable," Sean Dolan, a spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, said in a news release.

From the 2012-13 school year to the 2019-20 school year, the school saw enrollment fall 72 percent from 368 students to 104 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, Dolan said. Over the same period, Our Lady of Mercy also saw enrollment fall 61 percent from 469 students to 181 students in nursery through eighth grade.

As enrollment fell, income from tuition and fundraising dropped too, and the amount of parish and diocesan contributions ballooned, the diocese said. From the 2012-13 school year through the 2018-19 school year, the parish provided a total of $2.36 million in operating support and the Diocese of Rockville Centre provided almost $500,000 in additional core contribution.

The parish subsidy for the 2018-19 school year was 52 percent of total parish collections. In the current 2019-20 school year, the parish is anticipated to provide at least $400,000 in operating subsidy and the diocese is expected to provide approximately $200,000 in core contribution. According to Dolan, this level of financial dependence on the parish and diocese is not sustainable.

According to the diocese, students from Our Lady of Mercy will be welcomed into any Catholic elementary school in the Diocese of Rockville Centre. There are a number of neighboring parish Catholic elementary schools that are prepared to welcome Our Lady of Mercy students into their communities, the diocese said. These schools include: Holy Family School in Hicksville, St. Edward the Confessor School in Syosset, and St. Patrick’s School in Huntington.

Our Lady of Mercy School is just the latest Long Island Catholic school to close in recent years.

SEE ALSO:

• 2 Long Island Catholic Schools To Close In 2019
• Our Lady of Lourdes School Is Closing: Diocese
• Holy Angels Regional Spared From Catholic School Closings
• Our Lady of Peace Reacts to Catholic School Closings