WHITESTONE – The Day School of the Holy Cross parish has closed, according to a letter sent to parents on June 28. The letter is signed by Parish Council President Fotini Karalekas and Principal; Theodore Kousoulas. They cited low enrollment for the 2017-18 academic year as the reason for the closing.
Holy Cross becomes the sixth community parish Day School to close in the last few years during the Archbishopric ministry of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios Geron of America. Out of the 12 day Schools that existed, 6 of them closed, in Whitestone and at the following other parishes: Transfiguration in Corona, St. Demetrios in Jamaica, Three Hierarchs in Brooklyn, Koimisis tis Theotokou in Brooklyn, and St. Spyridon in Washington Heights.
Archbishop Demetrios told TNH “I do not have the necessary information to comment on this case.” The parish’s presiding priest, Archimandrite Dionysios Anagnostopoulos, did not respond to TNH’s request for comment. TNH was informed by the Archdiocese that he was at the camp of the First Archdiocesan District, where the counseled children and heard their confessions. Also not responding to TNH’s request for comment were Kousoulas, Karalekas and Archdiocesan Direct District Director of Education Maria Macedon.
Archdiocese Director of Education Ioannis Eftymiopoulos told TNH that “I was not aware, until I heard it from you now,” and he emphasized that the school was “blossoming.” Dr. Eftymiopoulos’ extended comments are published at the end of this article.
He told TNH “it was a good school with magnificent progress and terrific pedagogical practice. I had the opportunity to visit the School many times and I considered it a prototype School. I am so sorry, I don’t know why, how and for what reason this (the closing) happened.”
He said he had visited the school last year, before the change in principal, and said he learned of that change through TNH as well. “No one informed us that the school was going to close. It was one of the exceptional schools at the top of the list of schools of this type.”
He said he didn’t want to think about how many community day schools have closed, as it “makes me sorrowful.” Even though he is director of education, he does not feel responsible for the closing because “I would have some degree of responsibility if they had come and discussed it with us to try to find solutions and not to learn about it at the last minute from The National Herald. This is our complaint. Consequently, why should I feel any responsibility for something that I wasn’t asked to contribute to and to try to help?”
THE LETTER
The June 29 letter follows:
Beloved Parents of Holy Cross School:
It is with profound sadness and great regret that we communicate with you on behalf of the Parish Council and the School Board to inform you that, due to financial restraints arising from insufficient student enrollment for the 2017-2018 academic year, (45 paid students have only enrolled), the School Board and Parish Council has decided to terminate all teacher contracts, effective the end of the current academic school year, specifically June 28, 2017.
This decision was the most difficult one to make. However, it is painfully obvious that operating the school with limited enrollment is impossible from a financial standpoint as well as detrimental to the proper operation and education of our dear children who would be left with minimal interaction with their peers.
As you have seen, an extensive enrollment campaign (including Open Houses, telephone calls, mailings, marketing & branding, surveys, etc.) was undertaken to promote and secure student registration for the 2017-2018 academic school year. Holy Cross School classes include nursery, pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, and first through fifth grades. However, all efforts proved unsuccessful, and at this juncture the limited student enrollment simply cannot justify the associated costs to run our school. As a result of our school’s insufficient enrollment of 81 students, our priest was not paid for 6 months at a time so we could meet teachers’ payroll, we borrowed money to meet our Archdiocesan obligations, or everyday utility bills would be late thus resulting in constant penalties, our Parish Council was incessantly soliciting for donations and in general our parish was literally crippled financially every single year.
Rest assured, however, that the efforts of Father Dionysios, Mr. Kousoulas, the Parish Council and the School Board to increase student registration to sustainable levels are ongoing and will continue for the foreseeable future. Assuming we are successful in increasing registration in individual classes, thus justifying the economic cost, it is our intention to renew individual teacher contracts by no later than August 15th, 2017. At this time however, we are only opening as an Early Childhood School, grades Nursery, Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten, in September, 2017.
Our beloved friends, we wish to reiterate that this decision has been reached after extensive and careful deliberations, despite our regret and disappointments. Despite classes under current enrollment being financially unsustainable, our stated goal remains to hold true. We once again make clear that we will continue to pursue increased enrollment and thus sustain the education our beloved Holy Cross Parochial School deserves.
We wish to profusely thank you for entrusting your children to our care all these years as it was our distinct honor and blessing to shape and nurture them to the best of our ability. We wish you and your loved ones a most restful and blessed summer. Please accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience this unfortunate closing of our school brings to your household.
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