Diocese: Mount Carmel is closing

The school’s supporters were shocked by the announcement of the closing.

NILES — The 2006-07 school year at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School is now its final one, according to an announcement Friday by the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown.

Reactions from Linda Rappach, president of Mount Carmel Parent-Teacher Organization, and Gil Blair, co-chairman of an oversight committee to keep the school open, were ones of shock.

Both said they had heard nothing from the school, church or diocese; calls made by The Vindicator seeking comment were the first they heard of the decision. No one was available for comment from the church and diocese.

“It bugs me that it hits the media before the parents are notified. We waited all week,” Blair said, referring to a June 18 deadline on enrollment.

A previous Vindicator story reported that Bishop George V. Murry had asked the Office of Catholic Schools to review enrollment and finances, and conditions were set to allow the school to remain open.

In the e-mail news release sent to the newspaper Friday afternoon, the diocese announced that those terms were not met. Rappach and Blair dispute that.

The conditions

The diocese said conditions were that a minimum of 72 pupils be enrolled by June 18 and that each registration be accompanied by the required $300 deposit. In the news release, the diocese said the deposit was a “sign of commitment to sending their children to the school for the 2007-08 school year.” Though 74 pupils were enrolled, 19 pupils did not meet the criteria of the required deposit.

Because of that, the diocese has reaffirmed the recommendation of the pastor, the Rev. Lawrence Frient; the parish and finance councils; and the Office of Catholic Schools that the school be closed.

Rappach and Blair said they do not agree with the diocese about the payment and commitment of families. “We had met the criteria. There should be no question of those 19 students. We have the money to help out,” Rappach said.

Blair said alumni had made donations toward the required deposits. He said the alumni association did not pay all of the required deposits in full.

“But two-thirds of those 19 students [in question] had been enrolled at the school and committed,” he said, noting they would continue to attend. He noted that deposits from some families had been returned when the diocese first announced the school’s closing, and the families had intended to resubmit the deposit.

Blair said he would be talking to parents and committee members. “I don’t know what the next step will be,” he said.