PAWTUCKET — Following consultation with parish trustees, auditors, finance council and school parents, the pastor of St. Mary Church has announced that his request to merge St. Mary School students with nearby Woodlawn Catholic Regional at the end of this school year has been approved by Bishop Thomas J. Tobin.
Declining enrollment, budget deficits and the financially strapped parish’s inability to subsidize the school’s deficits contributed to the merger. Each child attending St. Mary School is guaranteed a place at Woodlawn Catholic which will hold a special open house for St. Mary families on March 1.
Since 1999, enrollment at St, Mary School has plummeted from 235 to 139 students as costs increased and the economy worsened. Additionally, the 154-year-old building is in need of capital improvements to ensure the continued safety of the students and staff.
Three Catholic elementary schools will remain in the City of Pawtucket after the merger.
“As a priest, this is by far one of the most difficult decisions I have made. However, I am confident that this was the best solution to ensure that the children are provided with an affordable and viable Catholic education,” said Father Ledoux, pastor of St. Mary Church.
“Declining enrollment, increased costs to run the school, the economic crisis and the parish’s limited financial resources left us with no other option but to merge the students with Woodlawn Catholic, creating a stronger, more viable school community. The commitment of our parish to Catholic education will continue through this stronger entity.”
The merger will create a stronger school with stabilized tuition rates given the dramatic increase in enrollment should St. Mary students enroll at Woodlawn Catholic Regional, which has frozen its tuition rates for next year as a welcoming gesture to St. Mary’s students and to provide some assistance to families during these challenging economic times. The Woodlawn administration will provide three seats on its board to St. Mary Parish.
On January 21, St. Mary School parents were invited to a meeting at the parish to discuss the many challenges facing the school as well as different proposals for the future of the school. Two days later, parents were informed of the decision to merge the students with nearby Woodlawn Catholic Regional School; the parishioners who for many years supported the school financially heard the news from Father Ledoux at Masses this past weekend.
There are no immediate plans for the St. Mary School building, which opened in 1855. Should the school building be sold, after paying a $300,000 loan to the diocese that was borrowed to keep the school open, a portion of the proceeds will be made available for scholarships for St. Mary parishioners who attend Woodlawn.
Teachers displaced by the merger will be provided priority placement at other Catholic schools in the Diocese of Providence and will be the first to be hired should any positions become available at Woodlawn. The decision was announced earlier than usual to provide the teachers and other staff ample time to begin searching for a new position.
“I would again like to express my sincere gratitude to all whose support and efforts have enabled the school to provide a Catholic education to children for 154 years,” added Father Ledoux. “I am hopeful that St. Mary’s parents will see the wonderful value of Woodlawn Catholic Regional and enroll their children in this wonderful school that is going to great lengths to welcome the students of Saint Mary’s School.”
