Schools

St. Peter's Principal: School is 'Very Viable'

6 LI Catholic schools are slated to close, but not St. Peter's.

is not among the six Long Island Catholic schools that the Diocese of Rockville Centre will close at the end of the 2011-12 academic year. 

Although St Peter’s Principal Sean O’Connell concedes that enrollment did dip back in 2009, the school, looking forward, “is very, very solid; very viable,” he said.

Currently, 317 students attend St. Peter’s, with 274 enrolled in its K-8 program, he said. That's a marked difference from the schools that the Diocese of Rockville Centre slated for closing. Those six school have seen declining enrollments, with one school as low as 136 students this year, according to the Diocese of Rockville Centre.

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 The six schools to close include:

  • St. John Baptist de La Salle Regional School (Farmingdale)
  • St. Catherine of Sienna School (Franklin Square)
  • St. Ignatius Loyola School (Hicksville)
  • Sacred Heart School (North Merrick)
  • Our Lady of Perpetual Help School (Lindenhurst)
  • Prince of Peace Regional School (Sayville)

Diocese of Rockville Centre Bishop William Murphy said that the reasons for the closings include the "changing demographics and difficult national and local economic conditions."

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No word yet on plans from the Diocese of RVC for displaced students, though O’Connell said, “I would welcome them most certainly.”

News of the closings, O'Connell said, was upsetting. Yet the future of Catholic education for students at St. Peter’s looks bright. 

"The majority of students go on to attend Catholic high schools," O'Connell said, referring to local schools that include Chaminade High School in Mineola, Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead, and Kellenberg Memorial High School in Uniondale. And in his five year tenure as principal, O’Connell said three have been placed at Regis High School, a highly competitive, all-scholarship Jesuit school in Manhatttan.

Some students move on to Schreiber High School, and O’Connell said that St. Peter’s and Port Washington School District have a good relationship.

Pointing to St. Peter's growth, O'Connell said that this year the school expanded its programming to include a two-day program for two-year-olds, with an option for a third day.

What’s more, he said, the school’s Parents Club, which operates similarly to a public school’s PTA, is “fantastic,” adding, “they do a lot of fundraising.” 

The school has been a mainstay since 1923, O’Connell noted.

“We’re going to be around for a very long time,” he said.


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