Parents Furious At Plans To Close East Village Catholic School

EAST VILLAGE, NY – An historic Catholic school in the East Village is among seven that will be shuttered by the Archdiocese of New York. St. Brigid School on East 7th St. will close at the end of this school year.

The news was broken to parents via a letter from Archdiocese Superintendent Timothy McNiff that was sent home in kids' backpacks, according to a tweet from @BrigidSave.

"We understand these are challenging times for many families, and we will work with all students who are seeking to continue their Catholic education to find a seat at another excellent school in the Archdiocese," McNiff said in a statement.

Six other Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of New York will also close in June, including St. Rose of Lima Elementary School in Washington Heights.

Parents of children at St. Brigid quickly rallied on Tuesday morning, posting "save our school" signs and distributing fliers. The school at Tompkins Square Park dates back to the 1850s.

"We, parents and family members of the St. Brigid School Community, are heartbroken at the unilateral decision to close our school," wrote St. Brigid parents Amanda and Matthew Daloisio in a letter Monday night to McNiff. "We are also angry at the process which kept families completely in the dark until decisions were made, decisions that have a huge impact on our lives and the lives of our children."

The Superintendent's office cited financial difficulties in keeping the schools open, particularly because the buildings are underutilized or need improvements.

"You know, I'd rather be opening some new ones instead of closing some of the gems that we've got, but reality sets in," Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, said in a video on Twitter. "If we had 10 percent more kids in each of those schools, they wouldn't be closing."

Matthew Daloisio, the parent of a St. Brigid sixth-grader, told Patch parents would have liked to have known higher enrollment was needed to keep the school open before the closure was announced.

"Don't tell us that after you've closed it," Daloisio said. "Tell us that and let us work on it."

Dolan encouraged parents to tell neighbors to consider sending their kids to Catholic school and said the "injustice continues" due to lack of government funding.

Dolan also falsely claimed that a "glimmer" of good news is that no Catholic schools in the Archdiocese have closed in the past five years — though nearly two years ago six school closures were announced in New York.

McNiff's statement on the 2017 school closures was identical to the one he released Monday, ABC7 NY reported at the time. In October 2017, McNiff said no schools would close for at least two years, Staten Island Live reported at the time.

In addition to St. Brigid, the following Catholic schools will also close in June:

Manhattan
St. Rose of Lima Elementary School

Staten Island
Our Lady Help of Christians Elementary School

Bronx
St. Nicholas of Tolentine Elementary School
St. Joseph Elementary School

Dutchess
St. Mary Elementary School-Wappingers Falls, NY
St. Peter's Regional School-Liberty, NY

Lead image via @brigidsave, used with permission