ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS – Mother Teresa Regional School, which serves students in pre-kindergarten through 8th grade, will close its doors on June 30 due to declining enrollment and financial difficulties, the Diocese of Trenton announced Sunday.
Parents and faculty were informed by a letter from JoAnn Tier, the diocese’s moderator of Catholic education and superintendent of schools.
This was just one more blow for many Bayshore families still reeling from Super Storm Sandy, and a Catholic community still getting used to the merging of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Highlands and St. Agnes into a single Our Lady of Perpetual Help/St. Agnes Parish.
Mother Teresa School opened 10 years ago after the parishes merged. It was supported by the newly joined parish in Highlands and this borough, as well as by Holy Family in Union Beach, St. Catherine’s in North Middletown, and St. Ann’s in Keansburg – all former Catholic elementary schools which have since closed.
Principal Thomas Sorci is the school’s second principal. He expressed his own disappointment at the school closure news, but conceded it was not a complete surprise.
“When I was hired three years ago, I knew we had trouble facing us, based on a sustainability study which had been done by the diocese,” Sorci said. “We were one of 10 schools in jeopardy, so we knew what we had to do.”
The principal noted the school’s situation created a vicious cycle, because, “We needed the parents to enroll their children in order to keep the school thriving, yet we knew families were hesitant to send their children to a school that might be closing.”
As a result, some parents choosing a Catholic education sent their children to the two parochial schools in Middletown: St. Leo the Great or St. Mary’s Elementary.
Sorci said enrollment has been declining at Mother Teresa at the rate of approximately 20 students per year, so it is understandable the diocese “had to stop the bleeding.” Currently, there are 96 tuition-paying students in grades K through 8, with another 30 children in the school’s pre-K programs.
The public school district serves 900 students in the towns of Atlantic Highlands and Highlands and students in grades seven through twelve. It stands ready to accommodate Highlands and Atlantic Highlands students, said Henry Hudson Regional School principal Lenore Kingsmore. “Not only do we have the capacity, but we will warmly welcome every student who wants to come,” she said. She noted students enjoy small class sizes and middle school students get their own personal computers.
Sorci said the parochial schools in the area are offering open house visits to acquaint parents with what their schools have to offer, and will make additional accommodations for Mother Teresa students if necessary.
Although the diocese sent a press release to the media saying the school closure would be announced at all the masses in the five churches involved last Sunday, there were no announcements made at either the Highlands or Atlantic Highlands churches.
The Mother Teresa Regional School Open House planned for noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, with a tour of the facility and games, crafts and demonstrations showing what the school offers “with excellence and faith” has been cancelled.
Cookbooks, featuring 150 recipes from school families, are being sold. Send $10 to the school, 55 South Avenue, Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716, or e-mail mtrsrrc@gmail.com for further information.
