AVONDALE — St. Hyacinth parents slammed the Archdiocese of Chicago on Monday, claiming they weren't given any warning before the archdiocese publicly announced it would close the Avondale school.
"I'm [ticked]," said Gloria Finnelly, who has daughters in the sixth and eighth grades. "You know how I found out? I came to school and saw Channel 5 news vans.
"Why didn't they say anything before, so we could've had a chance to try and see what we could do to save the school — sign petitions, raise some money?"
Cardinal Francis George announced last week that six Catholic schools across the city would close at the end of the school year. Among them is St. Hyacinth Basilica School, a 120-year-old elementary school at 3540 W. Wolfram St.
Church officials met with parents Monday night at a heated community meeting. Amid tears and shouts, parents demanded to know why they weren't informed sooner — and whether the decision could be reversed.
A DNAinfo Chicago reporter tried to attend the meeting, but was kicked out after 15 minutes. School officials argued it was a closed meeting on private property. Several parents yelled that they wanted the reporter to stay, and asked church officials why they were hiding from the media.
"I promise you [the reporter] will know everything that happens here," said Mike Heneghan, a St. Hyacinth alum whose sons attend the school.
After the meeting, which ran more than two hours, several parents said they felt angry and disrespected.
"They wasted our time," said Jim Kiolbassa, who has five children — three who graduated from St. Hyacinth and two who currently attend the school. "They came to tell us it's over. It can't be reversed. There's no options to fix it."
Debbie Sullivan from the Office of Catholic Schools told parents Monday night that St. Hyacinth had been struggling with finances and low enrollment for some time.
She said church officials met with the St. Hyacinth administration and several parents in May to discuss a possible closure. The school was one of 30 the archdiocese looked at, she said.
Parents on Monday said they were livid a possible closure had been in the works since spring and they were only told in October.
"If we were informed sooner, we could've fought this," Heneghan said. "I think there's much more to save here than just a school. The ideals we're expected to teach our children are going to die because they're not even giving us the decency to fight."
According to Julie Bronski, an alum who attended Monday's meeting, church officials said they didn't publicly discuss the impending closure because it could've hurt already low enrollment. Who would send their kids to a school that's about to close, she asked.
When news of the closure broke last week, parents jumped on Facebook to create a "Save St. Hyacinth School" page. It had 500 "likes" within hours.
And on Sunday, Bronski launched an online fundraiser hoping to raise $175,000 to help keep the school afloat.
Parents said they planned to rally in coming weeks to raise money and appeal to incoming Archbishop Blase Cupich. They pointed out that nearby Catholic schools cost significantly more than St. Hyacinth, and most parents said they didn't like local public school options.
"I want this school," Finnelly said. My kids "were here since preschool. I got married here. My daughter got married here.
"I was raised in the city and went to a public school," she continued, "and I did a lot of bad things. Here, I don't see them doing that. They have a better upbringing ... and more one-on-one contact with their teachers. They know their teachers on a first-name basis. They have their emails. They have their phone numbers. They care."
According to Bronski, church officials said they'd help parents find education alternatives by setting up open houses, meeting with principals and trying to match tuition prices.
But parents and alumni said they weren't giving up the fight to save St. Hyacinth anytime soon.
"It's going to take a lot of work, but I think we can do it. It happened for Our Lady of Victory," Bronski said, referencing a Portage Park school that saved itself from the chopping block earlier this year by raising $750,000.
"This is not a school," Finnelly said. "This is a family. I want to stay with my family and try to make it work. That's what you do."
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