Diocese’s merger of 2 schools shapes up

The student body will decide the school’s colors and mascot.

By Jon Moffett

AUSTINTOWN — With no official school colors, mascot or dress code, it may appear as if the new Catholic school here is behind schedule.

But Dr. Michael Skube, superintendent of the Diocese of Youngstown schools, says everything is going as planned for the St. Joseph and Immaculate Heart of Mary School to open Aug. 24.

He said the decision to enter the academic year without colors or a mascot was done to instill a sense of togetherness. By doing so, he hopes the students and teachers will come together and create an environment of pride at the new school.

“We really want the students to be in the school and part of the decision,” Skube said. “They’re really looking forward to that.”

It was announced in January that St. Joseph School and Immaculate Heart of Mary would merge for the upcoming school year. Declining enrollment and economical concerns were among the reasons given, but Skube said enrollment for the fall is better than expected.

“The enrollment, as of now, is 264, and we’re expecting that to grow,” he said. “That’s actually more than we had projected.”

He added that he anticipated about 240 children to make up the school’s initial student body.

The new school will be on Norquest Boulevard, the site of the former Immaculate Heart of Mary building. The diocese conducted a professional evaluation that determined the Immaculate Heart of Mary facility to be more structurally sound and better suited to house the students.

Skube said that to preserve the identities of both schools, the names of both were combined. Since the Immaculate Heart of Mary site was chosen, the St. Joseph name was placed first.

“That’s why we wanted to put St. Joseph’s first, so that we can show that we’re all in this together,” he said. “Although it is here at the Immaculate Heart of Mary site, it’s a combination of both schools.”

With a name in place, the focus has been shifted to official school colors and a mascot, Skube said. For now, the school will operate with blue and white as the temporary colors and no mascot.

Skube said he hopes input from parents and students will make the process quick and easy and added that colors and a mascot could be implemented as early as this year once they are determined.

Once colors and a mascot are in place, the school can then address how those items will be correlated into the dress code for the 2010-11 school year.

“I would say the transition will be fairly flawless,” Skube said. “There has been some repainting in the building, and the materials that we’re looking at that are really needed are some desks and equipment, which will be transferred from the old St. Joseph’s School. We’re really using the best of what’s available from both facilities.”

John Rozzo was named principal of the new school. He had the same position at St. Joseph, which officially closed June 6.

He said the goal should be to look at the merger as a positive.

“We look at it with a sense of positivism for this new experience,” Rozzo said. “We’re one of the first ones to merge, so we may be paving the way for other schools in our diocese.”

jmoffett@vindy.com