”A lot of the parents are shell shocked,” said Carolyn Colon, a mom of a seventh grade son who also runs the parish Scouting program. But as the student population plummeted during COVID, she moved to Epiphany for her daughters Tara, who is now in fourth grade and Erin who is in seventh grade.” “The reason I kept the kids at Immaculate was because the principal was so hardworking and dedicated,” said O’Halloran. “She was really dedicated,” said O’Halloran who said she felt that the parish could have done more to support the school with fundraisers and other activities. She said the Immaculate Conception school principal, Mary Barry, had been there for a decade and a half as a principal. called Mary O’s that had been involved in fundraising for the school over the years. Brigid’s,” said O’Halloran, who also runs a popular restaurant on Avenue A and Third St. “I saw the same thing happening at Immaculate that I saw at St. When that closed she moved them to Immaculate Conception, but said she pulled them out a year ago and sent them to the Epiphany School. She had initially sent two of her kids to St. “I feel bad for the kids who have been there since kindergarten,” said Mary O’Halloran, who lives in Stuyvesant Town. And Our Lady of Pompeii in Little Italy closed at the start of the pandemic. Brigid’s which was another nearby Catholic school had closed in 2018. There is now only one other Catholic elementary school in Manhattan south of 14th Street, Transfiguration in Chinatown. But keeping the school open would have put the entire parish, which was bankrolling the losses, in a financial bind, he said. ![]() “We could have sustained it with 250 students,” he said. “It’s a sad day of course,” he told Our Town Downtown. Today, according to Immaculate Conception pastor Father Nelan, there are only 135 students enrolled in the K- 8th grade school. The pastor of the adjoining Immaculate Conception Church, Father Kevin Nelan, said the school has operated with nearly a $900,00 deficit over the past two years that included $400,000 last year and an estimated $500,000 this year.Īt one point in the mid-19th century, fueled by the explosive growth of immigrant families mostly of Irish and Italian background, the parish that started in 1854 had close to 20,000 parishioners and the school that traces it roots to its founding in 1864 had 2,100 students. The Archdiocese cited financial problems for the closure of Immaculate Conception, four other schools in Manhattan, six more in The Bronx and one on Staten Island. One drawback: Epiphany’s tuition is $12,000 a year-nearly double the $6,000 to $7,000 a year she was paying at Immaculate. She had looked at Epiphany School which has a lower level school on 22nd St. “It’s going to be a hard journey to find a new school,” she said. 16, the day after the closure announcement after dropping off her son in the fourth grade. ![]() “It’s hard to grasp,” said one mom as she emerged from the school on Feb. For nearly 160 years, there has been an Immaculate Conception School on the lower East Side of Manhattan, but at the end of the current school year, the Archdiocese of New York said it will shut down permanently.
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