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“I’m sad. I cried,” Stella Maris seventh-grader Jason Burris, of Sixth and Johnston streets, said following last Thursday’s dismissal.
Burris, 13, and his classmates were slated to graduate from Stella Maris next year. Instead, that final year has come early as they scurry to find a new school.
“I don’t know yet,” classmate Wence Vargas, 13, of Eighth and Bigler streets, said of which school he will attend.
“I’m really sad,” he added. “It really affected me. It really shocked me. I’m going to miss the teachers.”
While Vargas was one of the 69 registrants at the school who was scheduled to receive a refund since the announcement, some did not even bother to sign up, including seventh-grader Gary Carlile, 12, of Ninth and Johnston streets, whose mother registered him at Holy Spirit prior to the official closing of Stella Maris.
A mother of a third grader, who chose not to give her name, picked Holy Spirit, 1845 Hartranft St., for her daughter too.
“I registered at Holy Spirit, who has a lot more to offer than this school and the priest gets along with all the kids,” the resident of 11th Street and Oregon Avenue said.
However, Stella Maris will only provide a tuition subsidy to two of the neighborhood schools.
“Children who attend either Epiphany [of Our Lord, 1248 Jackson St.,] or St. Monica [1720 Ritner St.] will have a portion of their tuition paid through the generosity of their fellow parishioners at Stella Maris,” Donna Farrell, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, said via e-mail. “The amount will help to bridge the gap between what the parent would be expected to pay and what it costs the receiving school to educate the child.”
However, the lack of a subsidy does not bother the third-grade mother, as Holy Spirit is about $30 cheaper a month already and provides busing, she said.
While the students are able to register at any school they wish with permission from Pastor Peter J. DiMaria, the two schools were chosen to prevent separating the current Stella Maris students as much as possible, Farrell said.
“It is to continue the sense of community for the parish, keeping the children together at fewer schools; for example, so that they come together for the Sacraments,” she said. “Often, it is only one school that is designated.”
Parents who have not yet registered their children will be able to do so Tuesday night at Stella Maris where parents will be able to sign up for one of the two designated schools, she added.
Although some parents and parishioners have pointed their fingers at DiMaria for the closure, he did propose that Stella Maris become the site of a regional school, Farrell said.
“The other parishes in the area were not ready to move to that model,” she said. “In a letter to parents, Father DiMaria said that he has requested and been assured that there will be no consideration for alternative use of the school buildings and property at this time. Stella Maris will continue to be part of the regional planning to ensure quality Catholic education in South Philadelphia.”
A meeting was planned for Feb. 18 to discuss options and the — at that time — possible closure, but it was soon cancelled due to a death in the vicar’s family. The archdiocese did not provide a reason for it not being rescheduled as of press time.
The third grade mother said, DiMaria chased a lot of parishioners out as fundraising options were declined and tuition was raised.
“Money, money, money you’re giving to God,” she said. “God is in here – in your heart.”
While fundraisers do help fund the school, they are not enough to keep the school afloat, Farrell said, adding that tuition and parish support typically funds the schools.
“That is for the needs of the parish,” she said of parishioner’s weekly donation. “Now the parish might decide that its needs include helping to support the school.”
Claims from parents that the rectory had been renovated and a new organ had been purchased for the church were not confirmed by the archdiocese by press time.
With the funds not at the level needed, Stella Maris students and their parents were saddened to hear the official announcement of the school’s closing by Cardinal Justin Rigali April 9. The recommendation from DiMaria to the archdiocese came in February before alerting the parish and the student body, which resulted in some losing faith in the school staying open past this year.
“When he sent out the initial letter stating he was recommending it to close, he lost everyone right there,” another mother of a third-grader, who also did not wish to give her name, said.
Now her two sons (the younger would have started pre-kindergarten next year at Stella Maris) are in limbo.
“I still don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said.
The school currently has 181 students enrolled with 27 set to graduate in June. However, it only enrolled 69 for next year before the March 30 deadline – well below 175 needed to remain open, according to the archdiocese.
She had not even bothered signing up her kids at Stella Maris for next year as the school requested a $250 deposit by the deadline, the mother said. While $200 of that would go toward next year’s tuition, the amount was on top of the monthly $270 tuition payment she owed, which was too much money for her to come up with in three weeks, she said. She asked for an extension, but it was not granted.
“He’s unreasonable,” she said of DiMaria. “He doesn’t work with anyone. I won’t even attend his Mass.”
Now, her oldest son will enter the fourth grade at a new school.
“He’s sad because now all his friends will be broken up,” she said. “He’s been with them since pre-k. It’s the saddest part.”
But the closure hasn’t only affected the students. Principal Sister Lawrence Elizabeth is equally upset, the parent said.
“She couldn’t even have a conversation with me,” she said of the principal. “She broke down.”
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