Another one bites the dust

St. Joseph High School in Westchester, perhaps best known as the alma mater of Isaiah Thomas and the employer of legendary hoops coach Gene Pingatore who passed a couple of years back, has announced that it will close at the end of the current school year.  There's a Darwinian process going on in many private schools.  Many of them are experiencing death by a thousand cuts, and they don't have the financial resources and/or leadership acumen to stop the bleeding.  

Only the strongest will survive.

https://abc7chicago.com/st-joseph-high-school-westchester-joe-closing-illinois/10513009/

Do firefighters and police officers still have to live in the city they work in? As I recall, for years that was a source of students for a lot of private schools.

OldTitan wrote:Do firefighters and police officers still have to live in the city they work in? As I recall, for years that was a source of students for a lot of private schools.

Correct on both counts. Keep in mind, though, that your second statement was due in large part to the fact that, throughout the 1900s, many Irish Catholic immigrants, and their children, found their way into the city's fire and police departments...and also into other city agencies and in City Council.  In more recent years, Chicago governmental agencies have become far more diverse.

Most city Catholic schools, and a few of the close-in suburban schools like Niles ND and St. Laurence in Burbank, continue to see a lot of children of CPD and CFD parents, relative to their overall enrollments. But, as our society becomes more and more secular (https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx), the overall enrollments in many Catholic schools are falling.  Brother Rice, for example, is a shadow of its former self.  It used to have over 2,000 boys, and now it has 700.  A similar situation exists with its all-girls neighbor, Mother McAuley.

If a school starts with a high enrollment, it can absorb many years of gradual enrollment declines before things get critical.  In the case of St. Joe in Westchester, they were never a very large school to begin with.  Again, it's a Darwinian process.

To be fair, not all Catholic schools are experiencing tough times.  Some are thriving.  In rare cases like De Paul Prep and St. Laurence, some are even growing.  Sadly, though, most are either drowning or treading in very turbulent waters.

Its so damn expensive nowadays. The heavy hitters will survive (Loyola, Fenwick, Mt.Carmel, Br.Rice, Marist, etc...)

But the smaller ones are in real danger. Sad, but inevitable at this point.

ramblinman wrote:
Correct on both counts. Keep in mind, though, that your second statement was due in large part to the fact that, throughout the 1900s, many Irish Catholic immigrants, and their children, found their way into the city's fire and police departments...and also into other city agencies and in City Council.  In more recent years, Chicago governmental agencies have become far more diverse.

Most city Catholic schools, and a few of the close-in suburban schools like Niles ND and St. Laurence in Burbank, continue to see a lot of children of CPD and CFD parents, relative to their overall enrollments.  But, as our society becomes more and more secular (https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx), the overall enrollments in many Catholic schools are falling.  Brother Rice, for example, is a shadow of its former self.  It used to have over 2,000 boys, and now it has 700.  A similar situation exists with its all-girls neighbor, Mother McAuley.

If a school starts with a high enrollment, it can absorb many years of gradual enrollment declines before things get critical.  In the case of St. Joe in Westchester, they were never a very large school to begin with.  Again, it's a Darwinian process.

To be fair, not all Catholic schools are experiencing tough times.  Some are thriving.  In rare cases like De Paul Prep and St. Laurence, some are even growing.  Sadly, though, most are either drowning or treading in very turbulent waters.

Do you think the current situation with CPS will help improve the situation of any of these school or is it a non-factor because of economics?

Also, this is an issue that reachers further than just private schools. The size of many schools across the state are dropping enrollment rather quickly. My first year at Peotone we were pushing 700 and now they are around 500 Sandwich is another example, they were pushing 900 a few years ago and are now below 700. Every year there are rumblings about Bishop Mac being closed and they consolidated with their Catholic middle school to help both school survive.

I think we will continue to see numbers drop for the privates which will put them in the lower classes for post-season, which is happening next year anyway. It's not a far reach to say that all champions next year could be private schools. I think I saw IC will be 2A or 3A again, JCA 3A, Mac 2A, SHG 3A or 4A all because we did not have a season or post-season so they drop down to the class of their respective enrollment. Not sure how much truth there is to this but this is what I have heard from other coaches.

I was talking to a guy last week about this. In 2013 SHG had about 840 students and are around 600 now. Dropping to 4A is definitely a possibility. RM made some excellent points in his post. As enrollment declines some schools are forced to raise tuition which in turn exacerbates the declining enrollment situation.

dusty7 wrote:
Do you think the current situation with CPS will help improve the situation of any of these school or is it a non-factor because of economics?

Also, this is an issue that reachers further than just private schools.  The size of many schools across the state are dropping enrollment rather quickly.  My first year at Peotone we were pushing 700 and now they are around 500  Sandwich is another example, they were pushing 900 a few years ago and are now below 700. Every year there are rumblings about Bishop Mac being closed and they consolidated with their Catholic middle school to help both school survive.  

I think we will continue to see numbers drop for the privates which will put them in the lower classes for post-season, which is happening next year anyway.  It's not a far reach to say that all champions next year could be private schools.  I think I saw IC will be 2A or 3A again, JCA 3A, Mac 2A, SHG 3A or 4A all because we did not have a season or post-season so they drop down to the class of their respective enrollment. Not sure how much truth there is to this but this is what I have heard from other coaches.    

I don't think the current situation with CPS makes all that much difference. I think that, for the most part, city families that want (and have the means) to send their kids to private schools are already doing so. I doubt that the there will be many others in the city who are so fed up with free public education that they will consider going over to the dark side.

To your second point, I do understand that many public schools in Illinois are experiencing enrollment declines. Are they also experiencing tax revenue declines? I would assume so, but I don't know enough about that.

Herscher peaked out around 725 and is currently around 500.. but yet the finances have improved, few subdivisions with a lot of $300-$500K houses being built (which is a lot in Kankakee County) plus a a wind farm, tank farm and pipeline pumping facility have been built.. so fewer teachers needed, but more revenue coming in.. non-essential projects that were pushed back 10 years ago are now being built.. obviously would like to see the enrollment increase, but going to be tough in the current climate in the state..