NEWS AND VIEWS: The closing of St. John's School in Newark (02/22/04)

NEWS AND VIEWS: The closing of St. John's School in Newark

by the Rev. Bohdan Lukie

St. John's School in Newark, one of the 26 Ukrainian Catholic educational institutions that once thrived in the Philadelphia Archeparchy, proudly boasted of its wonderful academic record. Gradually, most of these Ukrainian schools, because of lack enrollment and escalating costs, sadly closed their doors and became part of our illustrious Ukrainian American past.

St. John's, against all odds, struggled valiantly to perpetuate its pages in the annals of history. St. John's also painfully suffered from an ever-diminishing enrollment and, therefore, was on the verge of closing its doors last June 2003.

Parents and parishioners strongly rallied around this precious school that was on a life-support system for many years. With sheer determination and strong conviction, fund-raisers were organized and sufficient monies were raised to ensure another year of caring for our "little ones" and to inject another year of life. Seventy children were happily registered for 2003-2004 and have thus profited much from the continuation of the school.

A St. John's School Advisory Board was established to create a future vision and direction for this Ukrainian school. Many meetings, much time and energy were expended striving to increase the enrollment and raise future funds. Much thanks and praise must be given to the generous efforts of the members of the board and the parents.

However, because of the constantly changing demographics of St. John's Parish, fewer and fewer families with children have remained within the reach of St. John's School. Pre-registration for the 2004-2005 academic year took place in the second week of January and, unfortunately, only 49 children were registered. The possibility of many more children was also very limited.

The projected budget for the upcoming year would hover around $390,000, with tuition of approximately $150,000 covering only a portion of these costs. In light of all the fund-raisers for special Ukrainian projects in the New Jersey area, the need to raise $240,000 is overwhelming and virtually impossible.

These disturbing facts were submitted to all the parishioners of St. John's Parish, to the metropolitan-archbishop of Philadelphia and to the Archdiocese of Newark School Board.

On February 16, at the Parish Council meeting in St. John's Church, the trustees and Father Bohdan Lukie, the pastor, painfully announced that St. John's Parish is withdrawing its support and its blessing. St. John's School will close its doors as of this June.

Metropolitan Stefan Soroka, aware of the crucial circumstances and the lack of any hopeful information to the contrary, concurred with their decision and also sadly must announce the closing of another Ukrainian Catholic school, leaving only five schools left in the archeparchy.

The superintendent of the Archdiocese of Newark Catholic School System, which provides each Catholic school with New Jersey state accreditation, will also withdraw our charter as a Catholic school and the archdiocese's blessing as of June.

Some of the parish families and many of the teaching staff realistically have assessed the future of St. John's School and have made or are making alternative plans for next year, and we sincerely wish them well.

We thank the School Advisory Board for helping St. John's School to function for this academic year, we thank all those who generously donated much-needed funds to cover all the expenses, and we especially wish to thank all our teachers and sisters who dedicated so much time and energy at personal cost to educate our Ukrainian parish children.

Finally, we are most grateful to all the Ukrainian American community who believed in St. John's School and over the 65 years of its glorious academic history supported it with much love, much sacrifice and much generosity.

| Home Page |