BURBANK — St. Laurence High School in south suburban Burbank mourned the impeding closure of neighboring Queen of Peace High School Wednesday while also making a pair of statements about its own future.
Principal James Muting Jr. said that the all-boys Catholic school at 5556 W. 77th St. would not be going coed in the wake of the announcement by the adjacent all-girls Catholic school as some had speculated.
Muting also reaffirmed to parents, students, alumni and others that St. Laurence is on solid ground with 530 students enrolled this year. He added that enrollment has increased steadily in each of the last four years.
Dwindling enrollment was cited as one of the primary reasons for Queen of Peace's closure.
The biggest enrollment jump came at St. Laurence last year, when the numbers surged 14 percent. Muting expects the same number of new students to enter the school next year, judging by the crowd taking the school's entrance exam earlier this month.
He declined to provide specifics, but a parent whose son took the test said 180 incoming freshman were given the exam. She also reiterated the school's previously stated goal of having 600 students in the near future.
"We are fine. We are committed to providing a quality Catholic education," said Muting, adding that Queen of Peace president Anne O'Malley informed him of the closure Tuesday evening.
The girls school founded in the hallways of St. Laurence in 1962 has just 288 students this year. A poor showing at the entrance exam along with the inability to raise the $1 million annually to cover the shortfall doomed Queen of Peace, officials said.
"We have analyzed the data from every direction and evaluated many potential scenarios. The simple truth is beyond this school year, we are not financially able to continue to provide the quality education and supportive environment your daughter deserves and you expect from Queen of Peace," O'Malley wrote in a letter to parents.
Meanwhile, St. Laurence issued an open letter of its own Wednesday saying the entire school is "deeply saddened" by the news regarding Queen of Peace. The letter thanked the school for being a good neighbor and partner over the years.
"It is an unfortunate realization that this is the climate of Catholic education at the moment, as grade schools and high schools are witnessing closings and declines in enrollment," the St. Laurence letter reads.
Muting added that there are no plans for St. Laurence to take advantage of the newly available school buildings next year. He also credited longtime feeder parishes such as St. Daniel The Prophet in Garfield Ridge, St. Bede The Venerable in Ashburn and others for keeping his school viable.
Muting added that St. Laurence has also made an effort to recruit students as far away as south suburban Crete, Lemont and Naperville, too.
James P. Antos is the principal of Brother Rice High School in Mount Greenwood. Both Brother Rice and St. Laurence were founded by the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers, but there has never been any talk of merging the two schools, he said.
"We are stable. St. Laurence is stable," said Antos, adding that he worked at St. Laurence ahead of joining Brother Rice in 1979.
Back then, Rice had 1,700 students and about 40 religious brothers who mostly worked at the school for free. As times have changed, salaried laypeople have taken on many of these roles, driving up the cost of Catholic education and thus tuition.
Still, Antos said Brother Rice isn't worried about closing anytime soon either. The school has 727 students this year and saw an increase of 35 students taking its entrance exam this month compared to the previous year.
"We hope, like anything else, that they all register," he said.
