Efforts to Save St. Paul’s School -Yonkers Continue–Archdiocese Says $3 Million is needed in three weeks
By Dan Murphy
One of the major issues that parents and students of two Yonkers Catholic schools that are set to close this fall, (St. Paul’s and St. Ann’s) have with the decision by the Archdiocese of NY and Cardinal Dolan is that they were not consulted on the decision, nor given a chance or opportunity to try and save the school or perhaps merge with each other.
This has been the case with closures of Catholic schools and churches in the Archdiocese of NY for many years. An announcement is made with no explanation or financial details, and students, parents and parishoners are left with no choices but to pick up the pieces of their lives and move on.
The St. Paul’s community in Yonkers has fought back, with public pressure, rallys at Yonkers City Hall, and some great reporting and support from the IrishCentral.com–IrishVoice.com.
Finally, the St. Paul’s community was given a figure to save their school. According to IrishCentral, $3 Million would have to be raised to save the school for 3 years, and $1.5-$2 Million would have to be raised in three weeks to save the school for the upcoming 2020-21 school year.
Cardinal Dolan is also falling under criticism for not meeting with the parishoners of St. Paul’s to discuss the schools closure.
Dolan tried to explain the financial difficulties of the Catholic Church in a letter that only seemed to raise more questions and point more criticism at him. Dolan attempted to explain how the archdiocese spent more than $28 Million fromt he Federal Paycheck Protection Program.
“Without assistance from the PPP, many of our employers would have had no choice but to lay-off their employees, reducing the church’s ability to assist people in need, and forcing our people to seek unemployment. That means your parish’s secretary, or the teachers in your child’s school, for instance, could easily have lost their jobs,” Dolan wrote, but without explaining how the PPP money didn’t help save the jobs or schools in Yonkers.
“Well, the funding must not have stretched up to McLean Avenue in Yonkers, or any of the other schools with newly closed doors. And the cold, calculating attitude from the archdiocese is unacceptable,” wrote IrishCentral.com in an editorial demanding that Dolan have the decency to meet with the staff, parents and students.
Prior to the school closure announcements, Dolan has a special relationship with Catholics in Yonkers, making numerous visits to different parishes and culminating in his selection as Grand Marshall of the Yonkers Saint Patrick’s Day Parade just a few years ago.
RJ Puma, the longtime co-chair of the parade, posted on Facebook his thoughts to the Cardinal. “Timothy Cardinal Dolan, I graduated from St. Paul’s in the St Paul the Apostle’s Class of 1985. Most of us are still in touch with each other, at least by one degree of separation. All of my three younger sisters, Marisa, Julianna and Dina, also attended St. Paul’s and they too are in touch with many of their friends from this amazing school. That is what you call a true community school. One that the people never forget where they came from. In that long narrow hallway, those classrooms were where we studied and prepared for our first holy communions and confirmations. Some of us even had our wedding vows and yes, last rites and funerals in the church connected to the school. This is what a true neighborhood school is. You’re not just taking away another catholic school, you are about to hurt an amazing neighborhood full of wonderful people. We selected you as our Grand Marshal of the Yonkers St. Patrick’s Day Parade on McLean Avenue because we thought we knew what this neighborhood meant to you, but it seems we were mistaken. This neighborhood has been putting up a great fight to keep the school and all they get are generic letters, emails and numbers that don’t make any sense. There must be a better way then a single donor to save the school, unless you and the archdiocese already have other plans for it. Instead of directly speaking to the large numbers trying to save the school which includes the faculty, neighborhood, parents, merchants and politicians, you have others speak on your behalf. Very disappointing.”
Now that a figure has been presented, more questions are being asked. The Savestpauls community has called the $1.5 -$2 Million amount “an outlandish deal.” What the actual dollar amount is required to save the school is unknown.
Another question that should be asked is how much money it would cost to place each student at St. Paul’s and St. Ann’s schools in the Yonkers Public Schools. At an estimated cost of $20,000 per pupil, 100 students would cost $2 Million. Can we then surmise that by keeping these two Catholic schools in Yonkers open, it will save the taxpayers in Yonkers and New York State, $2 Million in public education costs?
Perhaps that is one reason why State Senator Shelley Mayer is attempting to intervene on behalf of the community.
