Bishop McGann-Mercy To Close, Our Lady Of Mercy To Consolidate

RIVERHEAD, NY — Parents and students were devastated Monday to learn that Bishop McGann-Mercy High School in Riverhead will be closing its doors. The Diocese of Rockville Center, which made the announcement, said that as part of a long-term effort to revitalize and strengthen Catholic education on Long Island, it would consolidate two elementary schools and close the diocesan high school. The schools in question, the diocese said, are "no longer viable" due to decreased enrollment.

Moving forward, the diocese will combine Our Lady of Mercy Regional School in Cutchogue and St. Isidore School in Riverhead into a new nursery-through-Grade 8 school on the St. Isidore site that will be named St. John Paul II Regional School.

After Bishop McGann-Mercy Diocesan High School in Riverhead closes, the Diocese will offer students the opportunity to enroll at St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School in West Islip, a release said.

The diocese will provide transportation, guidance counseling and tuition grants to students who continue at a diocesan school.

"My children and I have not stopped crying"

Parents and students were heartbroken at the news. Dania Atkinson, a parent, said the students are devastated, with juniors unsure of how their senior year will unfold. "A whole school, which includes faculty, staff, kids and family, is losing its identity," she said. "My children and I have not stopped crying every time we think about it."

These three schools will close at the end of the current school year in June; St. John Paul II Regional School will open in September, 2018. The diocese said enrollment at the three, all located on the East End, has fallen 37 percent since 2011.

The high school alone was subsidized $16.3 million from 2007 through the last school year and is expected to require an additional $2.3 million in support for the school year, a release said. The enrollment decline partially reflects a 6.2 percent drop in the school-age population in Suffolk County between 2011 and 2016, a loss of 19,000 children, according to data from the 2016 U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, the diocese said.

The "graying of Long Island’s population has caused significant challenges for all schools — public, Catholic and private — reducing the available number of school-age children," the release said, adding that effects of the decline have been even more dramatic on the East End where the population is already more sparse.

“We recognize the pain and disruption that this decision causes for our beloved school families,” said Most Reverend John O. Barres, Bishop, Diocese of Rockville Centre. “It is a decision that is heartbreaking to our students, their parents and families, our dedicated faculty, administrators and staff, and of course our parishes that are impacted."

He added that the Diocese will support students, families and employees throughout the transition with spiritual and pastoral care, as well as with information.

“Our goal is that these measures will strengthen Catholic schools on Long Island. The sad truth is that it has become increasingly unfeasible to maintain these schools financially," he said. "As is often the case in these situations, the only real course of action is to combine our resources in new and creative ways so that we can provide a more robust and compelling educational experience across the entire system, in keeping with our mission to serve the people of Long Island.”

Bishop McGann-Mercy, with a total enrollment of 365 in Grade 7 to 12 and 312 students in Grades 9 to 12, expects to graduate 91 students in June and has registered only 55 students for the incoming freshman class of September 2018, the release said.

St. Isidore School, with 104 enrolled students in kindergarten through eighth grade, is expected to require a subsidy from the parish and diocese of about $475,000 for the current school year, the Diocese said. And at Our Lady of Mercy Regional, enrollment has declined to 53 students in kindergarten through sixth grade with just three students in the first grade; the school is anticipated to require a subsidy from the supporting parishes and diocese of approximately $600,000 for the current school year.

The Diocese has developed staffing and logistical plans and will be sharing details at informational meetings and open houses. In addition, the diocese has set up a hotline at 516-280-4124 and website to provide information.

Plans for St. John Paul II Regional School in Riverhead include an enhanced Early Childhood Education Center, a strengthened elementary education program and middle-school academy featuring a STREAM (Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Art and Math) curriculum.

“While we sincerely regret having to take these actions, we remain dedicated to the mission of Catholic education,” said Bishop Barres.

Patch file photo.