Read Press of AC article HERE
Snip:
NORTH WILDWOOD -- Wildwood Catholic High School is not closing, Principal Richard Turco said Thursday.
On Jan. 5, Turco announced to the school's 194 students that the Diocese of Camden, headed by Bishop Joseph Galante, planned to close the high school.
The diocese cited falling enrollment -- the school can hold as many as 400 students -- and falling revenues -- growing debt of more than $685,000 and annual deficits that are expected to top $500,000 this year and almost $900,000 next year -- as the reasons behind the closure.
Turco said he received word from Father Michael Field, pastor of St. Ann's parish, Thursday afternoon, just after the school's students had gone home for the day, that Galante approved a plan developed by the community and parish to keep the school open.
"We need to contact everyone and tell them there is no end," Turco said.
Diocese spokesman Andrew Walton said the bishop accepted the decision of the parish priest team, made up of Field, Father Joseph Wallace and Father Gustavo Agudelo, to keep the school open.
"Bishop is pleased that the plan has been developed and really
heartened by the community's response," Walton said. [In other words, those in power in the diocese have bigger fish to fry, it's a public relations nightmare, and for whatever reason don't feel like fighting anymore.]
He said the parish priest team presented its plan last week, and "Bishop Galante has accepted the decision of the priest team and believes they have developed a viable plan that would allow the school to open for the coming year."
The school falls under the purview of the diocese, but is supported financially by tuition and parishioners from the recently merged Notre Dame de la Mer Parish, created by merging St. Ann's in Wildwood and Assumption Church in Wildwood Crest.
Tuition is $6,280 for a family's first child...