Schools
Parents, Students Hold Vigil for St. Anthony-St. Joseph Elementary School
After hearing about merger plans for St. Anthony-St. Joseph Elementary School with two other schools, families at the Ambler-based Catholic elementary school on Friday night.
Many parents of students at (SA-SJ) learned of the with St. Catherine of Siena in Horsham and St. Alphonsus in Maple Glen, at the Maple Glen site originally through Facebook on Friday.
The school did send out a notification regarding the merger to parents by the afternoon.
Families gathered Friday night in front of the school held a vigil to show support for their school and the school family.
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During the vigil, students chanted, “SA-SJ! We want to stay!”
Kristen Ostendorf, parent of a nursery student at SASJ said the school and has done everything they could possibly do to keep the school.
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Ostendorf said she is concerned what will happen to the nursery program when the schools are merged. Currently St. Alphonsus does not offer a nursery or pre-K program and there is no current discussions on whether one will be started.
She added that many pre-K and nursery programs in the area are already full for next year and there are very few Catholic nursery programs in the area.
She said her daughter is very confused about what is going on.
Denise Sabia, a parent who has children in 1st grade, kindergarten and in the nursery program said she also found out about the merger on Facebook.
Sabia said the plan looks good and makes sense on paper but was created by people who don’t know the communities.
She added, that she doesn’t believe 100 percent of the Horsham and Ambler families are going to go to St. Alphonsus. She said, “It’s a small percentage that’s going to do what they tell us to do.”
Maureen Stanek, a parent of students in SA-SJ said, “It’s heartbreaking.” Adding that she is most worried about the students at the school.
Parent Jennifer Sowden wrote on Facebook when she told her son about the school's merging. "He [her son] said, 'Why is our school closing?' and 'I don't want to go to a different schoo'" and he began to cry."
Editors Correction: Originally this article quoted Lisa Ricchezza, who was misnamed. The correct mother of three children at SA-SJ is Maureen Stanek.
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