St. Stephen's Academy Will Merge with Holy Cross School for 2011-2011  

The Diocesan School Office announced March 29 that classes for St. Stephen’s Academy and Holy Cross School for the 2010-11 school year will be held at Holy Cross School.

Interim School Superintendent Dr. Claude Sasso said that the recommendation to merge the two schools at one site was made two years ago during a study of northeast Kansas City parishes and schools spearheaded by Meitler Consultants.

“Given that Catholic schools are stabilizing forces for neighborhoods, diocesan leaders believed that this recommendation was premature and approved an alternate plan to allow the schools to address their financial and enrollment challenges,” Sasso said in a written statement.

“Despite dedicated efforts, the schools were not able to achieve the desired outcomes,” he said.

Enrollment at St. Stephen’s Academy had declined to 68 pupils for the 2009-10 school year, down from 96 in 2007-08, and from 146 in 2005-06.

Enrollment at Holy Cross School stood at 186 for the 2009-10 school year, down from 189 in 2007-08 and 216 in 2005-06.

The decision to use the Holy Cross campus for both schools was made because the size of that school, built in 1962, would accommodate the enrollments of both schools.

But it will also mark the end of a tradition of Catholic elementary school education at 11th and Bennington, site of the former St. Stephen Parish now called Our Lady of Peace, that dates to 1913.

Both St. Stephen’s Academy and Holy Cross School, located at 121 N. Quincy, receive funding as part of the Central City School Fund system, established in 1989 to support Catholic education in the urban core.

When the St. Stephen’s Academy building is closed at the end of 2009-10 school year, it will mark the seventh diocesan elementary school that has closed since the 2002-03 school year.

In addition to St. Stephen’s, three other Central City School Fund schools have also closed. They are St. Francis Xavier School in Kansas City, which was closed just days before the 2003-04 school year was to begin, and St. Monica School in Kansas City and St. Ann School in Independence, closed at the end of the 2007-08 school year.

In addition, St. Bernadette School in east Kansas City was closed at the end of the 2002-03 school year, St. Patrick School in St. Joseph was closed at the end of the 2006-07 school year, and Our Lady of Peace School in southeast Kansas City was closed at the end of the 2008-09 school year.

Our Lady of Peace School, a multi-parish school located at St. Catherine of Siena Parish, was not affiliated with Our Lady of Peace Parish. The former St. Stephen’s Parish was renamed Our Lady of Peace in a 1991 consolidation of parishes in northeast Kansas City.

The new consolidation will also be the second time in the history of St. Stephen’s Academy that the school has been part of a consolidation.

In 1970, a two-campus school called Northeast Consolidated Catholic School opened at Assumption Parish (now St. Anthony) and St. Stephen Parish to serve children from those two parishes as well as Holy Trinity, St. Michael and St. Stanislaus parishes.

Classes for lower grades were held at Assumption and classes for upper grades were held at St. Stephen.

The combined enrollment at both schools was 455, but by 1979, dwindling enrollment caused Assumption to leave the Northeast Consolidated Catholic School and join the St. John Tri-School consolidation, which closed in 1990.

The St. Stephen site was renamed St. Stephen’s Academy.

In a letter to parents of students at both schools, the pastors of Holy Cross and Our Lady of Peace and the principals of St. Stephen’s and Holy Cross said the merger of the two schools onto one campus is “the best way to serve our students.”

“We very much want your children to make this transition and will be working closely with each family to make this financially feasible,” said the letter, signed by Father Joseph Cisetti, Holy Cross pastor; Jean Ferrara, Holy Cross principal; Father Francisco Guinan, pastor of Our Lady of Peace, and Richard Soetaert, principal at St. Stephen’s.

Also pledging full support to the consolidation effort was Dan Ryan, executive director of the Central City School Fund.

This year, the fund provided a combined $500,000 in operating support and tuition assistance at both schools. Over the last six years, the fund’s partnerships of church, corporate and civic donors have provided more than $2.6 million combined to the two schools.

“The Central City School Fund exists to support Catholic schools in critical need,” Ryan said in a written statement. “We remain committed to that mission and believe that the unified school will not only survive, but thrive with our continued support.”

Sasso said the Diocesan School Office will also work to make the transition to one campus smooth, and is already planning a Unity Day to be held later this spring.

“Our plan is to bring both student bodies together at Holy Cross for special activities,” he said.

“Additionally, we will sponsor parent meetings to discuss program enhancements and plans for the coming school year,” he said.

For enrollment information, please contact Jean Ferrera at Holy Cross at 816-231-8874.

Please visit the Holy Cross Web site at:

http://www.holycrosscatholicschool.org/index.html

2010-2011 Supply List

http://www.holycrosscatholicschool.org/supply_list_2010-2011.pdf