14 MARCH 15, 2018 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Rego Park Catholic academy closing due to big defi cit
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
Another Queens Catholic academy
is about to close its doors
for good.
The Diocese of Brooklyn announced
on March 10 that Our Lady of the Angelus
Catholic Academy in Rego Park and
Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Academy
in Queens Village are shutting
down as a result of steep enrollment
drops and “severe budget defi cits.”
According to the diocese, the numbers
simply didn’t add up to keep both
academies going. The student population
at Our Lady of the Angelus (98-05
63rd Dr.) fell from 226 in 2012 to 130
this school year. That resulted in a
budget defi cit exceeding $440,000.
That brings the total number of
Catholic schools and academies closing
in Queens this June to four. Earlier this
year, St. Pancras School in Glendale
announced it would close in June after
more than a century of educating
young students. The student population
at the start of the 2017-18 school
year was just 105, or about half of the
enrollment it had six years ago.
Divine Wisdom Catholic Academy also
announced it was closing its Bayside
campus, operated out of the former St.
Robert Bellarmine parish school, and
moving all of their remaining students
to the Douglaston campus, the former
St. Anastasia School, in September.
Catholic schools across Brooklyn
and Queens have been grappling with
falling enrollment and resulting fi nancial
turmoil for years. The Diocese of
Brooklyn previously closed dozens of
parish schools in 2005 and 2009, and
embarked on a system-wide “Preserving
the Vision” reorganization program
designed to keep Catholic education
fi nancially sound for years to come.
Our Lady of the Angelus and Our
Lady of Lourdes, along with most
other Catholic schools in the diocese,
were converted into Academies,
each of which have a two-tiered
governance system: a “board of
members” comprised of clergy and
other staff members which serves
as the school’s spiritual council; and
a “board of directors” comprised of
lay people who work with the school
principal to oversee the day-to-day
operations and raises funds for the
academy.
The diocese is off ering parents at
both closing academies a one-time,
$500 tuition assistance grant to re-enroll
their children at another Catholic
academy near them for September.
Catholic academies close to Our Lady
of the Angelus include the following:
• Resurrection Ascension Catholic
Academy, 85-25 61st Rd., Rego Park;
• St. Leo Catholic Academy, 104-19
49th Ave., Corona;
• Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Catholic
Academy, 72-55 Austin St., Forest
Hills;
• Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Academy,
70-25 Kessel St., Forest Hills;
• St. Adalbert Catholic Academy, 52-17
83rd St., Elmhurst;
• Our Lady of Hope Catholic Academy,
61-21 71st St., Middle Village; and
• St. Margaret Catholic Academy, 66-
10 80th St., Middle Village.
At Our Lady of Lourdes (92-80
220th St.), enrollment fell from 302 in
2012 to 170 students this year, leaving
the school with a $219,000 projected
budget gap. The problems at Our
Lady of Lourdes are even deeper,
the diocese noted; there’s $120,000
in unpaid tuition payments owed by
parents, and the school building is
in need of more than $1.5 million in
vital repairs.
Photo via Google Maps
Our Lady of the Angelus Catholic Academy in Rego Park.
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