Another New Jersy Catholic school announces closure blames low enrollment

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Jan 07, 2022 at 07:56

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Another New Jersy Catholic school announces closure blames low enrollment and COVID. Another Catholic grammar school in New Jersey is closing. A combination of low enrollment, financial issues, and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have forced the closure of Mother Seton Academy in Howell, which will be shutting its doors for good on June 30, the school’s co-directors announced Friday. In a statement released by the Diocese of Trenton, they called the closure a “sad, but unavoidable” reality.

“After careful analysis of enrollment and financial challenges; consultation with advisors at the parish and diocesan levels, and prayerful discernment of any available options, we must formally announce the closing of Mother Seton Academy at the end of the present school year,” the pastors of the school’s two sponsoring churches, Father John P. Bambrick of St. Aloysius Parish and Father Peter J. Alindogan of St. Veronica Parish, said in a letter to the school community.

Mother Seton Academy opened in 2019, after enrollment of St. Aloysius School in Jackson and St. Veronica School in Howell began to go over 300 students a year. Operating on one campus was expected to consolidate expenses and help to ensure the school’s future viability, the Diocese said.

But the schools’ merger led to a huge decline in enrollment and resources and now has reached a low of 126 children in grades 1-8, Catholic officials said.

As of September 2021, the school was in a deficit of $140,000, despite a subsidy from the Diocese of Trenton of more than $250,000 over the last two years and additional funding from the two sponsoring churches, the Diocese said.

As with a number of other Catholic schools across the state that have shuttered over the last two years, the Diocese said the coronavirus pandemic shared in the blame for the closure. The “shut-down of churches and the resulting loss of revenue for both parishes,” which rendered them unable to put more funding toward the running of the school, contributed to the decision to close, the release said.

“We acknowledge the disappointment that this news brings to our dedicated faculty, staff, children and families of the Academy,” the pastors’ letter said, while noting the churches will work with those affected to find “the best transition possible,” once the school closes.

The Diocese said it plans to help the Mother Seton Academy staff, and help provide connections with neighboring Catholic schools for students who wish to transfer in September.

People in New Jersey and other eastern states may be able to see a sounding rocket that is scheduled to be launched by NASA in early January 2022. The map above shows how many seconds after liftoff the rocket should be visible from different areas of the eastern U.S., assuming skies are clear.NASA

NASA is hoping to get back to the launching pad at the Wallops Flight Facility this weekend to shoot off a two-stage sounding rocket that may be visible from New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other eastern states.

The launch was postponed twice because of bad weather conditions at the flight center in eastern Virginia, but NASA will be trying again Saturday night, Jan. 8, sometime between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m.

NASA says the Black Brant IX rocket is part of a mission designed to study soft X-rays from space that regularly bombard the Earth.

Among the states that could get a glimpse of the rocket shortly after it takes off are Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia.

In case you are too far away or your view is blocked by clouds, the rocket launch can be seen on a live video stream on the Wallops YouTube site. Coverage is set to start at 10:40 p.m. Eastern time on the day of the launch.

Researchers from NASA and the University of Miami are hoping the mission will help them understand more about the sources and characteristics of soft X-rays in space.

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