Could the coronavirus crisis mean the end for some Catholic schools in N.J.? - NJ.com

The video posted on the website of Saint John Vianney High School in Holmdel promises the new school year will be all about choices.

Parents will be able to choose between having their kids attend classes at the Catholic school in person or stay home and participate in a real-time video chat. The promotional video shows images of a new virtual classroom set-up with masked students sitting in their Catholic school uniforms in widely spaces desks while a large television shows live shots of classmates working at home as their teacher writes on a smart board everyone can see.

“Education is no longer contained in four walls,” says Margaret Kane, the school’s principal.

It’s unclear how many of the nearly 1,000 students plan to return this fall to Saint John Vianney, one of the largest and best known Catholic schools in the state, where tuition will be $14,270 this year.

The high school is one of about 250 Catholic schools in New Jersey preparing to welcome back students for the 2020-2021 school year amid uncertainty about whether parents are comfortable sending their kids to in-person classes or have the ability to continue paying private school tuition during the coronavirus crisis.

New Jersey’s five Catholic dioceses -- the Archdiocese of Newark and the dioceses of Trenton, Camden, Metuchen and Paterson -- all declined to say if enrollment is up or down for the upcoming school year.

The Catholic schools are “still enrolling for fall, so it is difficult to say for certain how enrollment will be impacted as a result of the pandemic,” said Anthony Kearns 3rd, a spokesman and chancellor for the Diocese of Metuchen.

But church officials said the stakes are high as the COVID-19 crisis intensifies the challenges many Catholic schools were already facing with declining enrollment and financial uncertainty. Most Catholic schools, which typically offer numerous scholarships and aid to help students cover tuition, have promised to try to assist families if parents have lost jobs due to the pandemic.

”This is a crucial time for the sustainability and success of our archdiocesan Catholic schools ministry,” said Maria Margiotta, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Newark, which has nearly 100 Catholic schools in Essex, Union, Hudson and Bergen counties.

“It is important to recognize that the ongoing COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated a number of challenges and certain schools continue to face declining student enrollment and growing financial hardship despite subsidy from the archdiocese,” Margiotta said.

At least 14 New Jersey Catholic schools will not reopen this fall. Another two will be merged. The announcements include:

--The Diocese of Camden has closed three schools: Good Shepherd Regional Elementary School in Collingswood, along with Saint Joseph Regional Elementary School and football powerhouse Saint Joseph High School, both in Hammonton. Wildwood Catholic High School and Cape Trinity Catholic Elementary School, which were originally slated to close, will be merged into Wildwood Catholic Academy in Wildwood.

--The Archdiocese of Newark has closed nine schools: Academy of St. Therese of Lisieux, in Cresskill; St. Anne School, in Fair Lawn; Trinity Academy, in Caldwell; Good Shepherd Academy, in Irvington; Our Lady Help of Christians School, in East Orange; St. James the Apostle School, in Springfield; Holy Spirit School, in Union; St. Genevieve School, in Elizabeth; and Cristo Rey Newark High School. A last-minute donation campaign saved the Academy of Our Lady of Peace, in New Providence, which was previously on the closure list.

--The Diocese of Trenton has closed two schools: Our Lady of Perpetual Help, in Maple Shade, and Pope John Paul II Regional, in Willingboro.

Some of the schools were on the path to closure, due to low enrollment, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, church officials said. Others lost the fight to stay open when it became clear they would be too much in the red as tuition revenue and donations declined during the statewide shut down.

The temporary suspension of church services in New Jersey dramatically reduced weekly collection plate donations at Catholic churches, but it is difficult to gauge how severe the financial blow has been for schools.

Most local Catholic schools are supported by a mix of tuition money and subsidies from their parishes and the diocese. But maintaining enrollment remains the key to schools remaining in the black. In the Dioceses of Camden, for example, tuition and fees paid by families typically cover about 70% of an elementary school’s budget and 90% of a high school’s budget, officials said.

In New Jersey, all five of the Catholic dioceses received federal taxpayer-funded loans to help pay their employees through a federal program designed to help keep small businesses afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.

The dioceses would not say how much they received, but all said the forgivable loans granted through the federal Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, helped pay employees in the Catholic schools and others who may have lost their jobs without the infusion of emergency cash.

“The suspension of in-person Masses at our parishes has resulted in a challenges for our parishes and institutions financially and the PPP was a great assistance to those who were approved,” said Kearns, the Diocese of Metuchen chancellor.

Nationwide, Catholic school enrollment has been falling for decades. Enrollment peaked in the early 1960s when there were more than 5.2 million students in almost 13,000 Catholic schools around the nation, and began to fall sharply in the 70s and 80s, according to the National Catholic Education Association.

Last year, there were 1.7 million students in 6,183 Catholic schools nationwide. (By comparison, New Jersey alone has 1.4 million public schools students.) About 20 percent of Catholic school students nationwide come from non-Catholic families.

Nearly 100 Catholic schools closed nationwide last year, the association said. The coronavirus-related closures this summer are likely to increase that number this year.

Most New Jersey Catholic schools are planning now for reopening in late August or early September. The state released guidelines in June, called “The Road Back,” outlining how New Jersey’s public schools should reopen with social distancing in the classroom, masks for teachers and the option of having students attend school on alternating days or weeks to keep the number of people in school buildings low.

Though the state guidelines were written for public schools, most Catholic schools say they are using the advice, along with federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on reopening schools.

“Each school has been given guidelines from the diocese and they are all working with their own task forces to build a local, custom plan,” said Rayanne Bennett, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Trenton, which has nearly 50 schools in Burlington, Monmouth, Ocean, and Mercer counties.

Some supporters are viewing the coronavirus pandemic as a way for religious institutions to reach out to new families who may have never considered sending their kids to Catholic schools. Families frustrated with the public school options -- which will likely not include five days a week of in-person classes in most New Jersey school districts this fall due to space limitations -- might be attracted to the smaller class sizes and flexible distance learning plans available at many Catholic institutions.

“We do plan to resume a five-day schedule in our schools, with access to remote learning for students who are unable to attend school in person,” said Mary Beth Peabody, a spokeswoman for the Diocese of Camden’s schools in Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem counties.

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Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com.

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