Parents Appeal Closing Of Braintree Catholic School

BRAINTREE, MA — Parents have filed an appeal to the Boston Archdiocese to keep a Braintree Catholic school from closing.

On June 2, Father Paul Clifford sent a letter to families and staff at St. Francis of Assisi School saying the school was closing because of the economic devastation from the coronavirus pandemic. Clifford said the pandemic negatively affected enrollment, which has seen a steady decline over the last few years. He did not provide enrollment numbers.

"It is my sad duty to inform you that St. Francis of Assisi School in Braintree will be closing its doors at the end of this academic year," Clifford's letter reads. "The realities presented by COVID-19 have had a disastrous impact on the school's financial situation and make it impossible for us to provide the safe, excellent, and value-based education you expect and deserve from our school going forward."

But a group of parents expressed frustration over the decision. They argued they should have been made aware the school was having problems with enrollment before the pandemic so they could have tried to address the issue.

A group of parents led by Kate Herbst filed an appeal to Cardinal Sean O'Malley of the Boston Archdiocese, requesting he rescind, suspend or reconsider the closing of St. Francis.

"It is beyond comprehension to us why SFA school has been targeted," the appeal reads. "The reasons given to us are an insult to the entire school community.

"If parents were given a real role in the governance and funding of SFA school instead of top-down diktats, the strong financial record of the school over several years, and the high enrollment rate for 2020-21 in the midst of the pandemic, is evidence that the school would continue to prosper in the future."

>>>Read the appeal.

Patch reached out to Thomas Carroll, the school superintendent for the Archdiocese of Boston for comment, and will update if we hear back.

Parents said they felt blindsided by the announcement. Some said that if they had known about enrollment problems at St. Francis before COVID-19, they would have raised money to help the school keep going.

"If we had another year, we could have come up with a plan," parent Joanne Hernandez said. "We could have thought of other ways to create income."

Parent Serenity Belo agreed.

"If you have given us a heads up and said, 'We're struggling,' we could have walked away and still failed, but we could have said we tried," Belo said.

As of Friday afternoon, more than 2,000 people have signed a petition to save the school.
Herbst said the closing could not have come at a worse time. She's now in a difficult position where she has to find a new school for her children in the midst of a global pandemic.

"We have to find a new school we can't even go to because of the pandemic," Herbst told Patch. "Some aren't even calling back."

Kathy Mears, the CEO for the National Catholic Education Association and the former school superintendent for the Boston Archdiocese, said she sympathizes with the frustrations of these St. Francis families. But she also acknowledged declining enrollment at Catholic schools have been a nationwide trend for decades.

"Braintree is not unique in that respect at all," Mears said. "Every day for the last four or five weeks, there's been at least one school closing."

The Archdiocese of Boston has 30 days to approve or deny the appeal. Parents said they will consider further legal actions if their appeal is denied.