MOUNT GREENWOOD — Top administrators at Marist and Mother McAuley high schools both lamented the loss of Queen of Peace High School and said their doors are open to students interested in transferring.
Queen of Peace, an all-girls Catholic school in suburban Burbank, announced Tuesday that it would close in June. Administrators for the school at 7659 S. Linder Ave. blamed declining enrollment and insufficient fundraising as the main factors in the decision.
"It will be difficult for everyone to say good bye," Queen of Peace president Anne O'Malley wrote in a letter to parents.
Queen of Peace has 288 students this year, compared to Marist which is coed and has roughly 1,700 students. Mother McAuley, an all-girls Catholic school at 3737 W. 99th St., has 973 students.
O'Malley said Queen of Peace will host a pair of informational fairs for its students looking to transfer, as nearby St. Laurence High School, an all-boys Catholic school, said Wednesday it has no plans to become coed.
Marist opened in 1963 — a year after Queen of Peace. It was originally an all-boys school but switched to coed in 2002. Admissions staffers are prepared to talk to Queen of Peace students about making the same transition, said Brother Hank Hammer, Marist's president.
"Every time a Catholic school closes, we all suffer because we are losing one more school dedicated to passing on our faith and educating young people in the Catholic tradition,” said Hammer, adding that school officials also worked closely with students at Mount Assisi Academy after that all-girls school closed in 2014.
Mother McAuley at 3737 W. 99th St. in Mount Greenwood would seem to benefit from the closure of Queen of Peace as it is now the only remaining all-girls school directly serving students on the Far Southwest Side.
But school President Mary Acker Klingenberger said Wednesday that the closure cuts both ways as some may question the future of all-girls schooling with yet another closure. That said, she remains a strong advocate for the approach.
"It's a sad day for Catholic education. It's a sad day for single-gender education," she said.
Klingenberger graduated from Mother McAuley in 1975 and credited the sisterhood at the school for her confidence as she entered the world of corporate banking — then a heavily male-dominated industry.
"I, myself, felt fearless leaving Mother McAuley," she said.
She still firmly believes that the all-girls approach is "more important than ever" but also admitted that more Catholic schools going coed increases the options for girls. The rising cost of Mother McAuley and other private high schools can also be a struggle.
Still another factor is demographics, as many families have fewer children. And families are also significantly more mobile, often moving to areas near top public schools or willing to travel a great distance to get to school, Klingenberger said.
Mostly though, she said her heart goes out to the Queen of Peace graduates who always envisioned their daughters graduating from their alma mater.
"It breaks my heart, and I am very, very sorry," she said.
