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Holy Cross Parents Seek School's Salvation on YouTube

By DNAinfo Staff on February 8, 2011 2:22pm

By Tara Kyle

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

HELL'S KITCHEN — Students at the Sacred Heart of Jesus School saw a happy ending after pouring out their love for the school online — and now, parents at neighboring Holy Cross are following in their footsteps.

In December, Sacred Heart of Jesus School launched a heartfelt campaign to save their school via appeals on Facebook and home-made movies on YouTube. It worked. The Archdiocese of New York announced in January that Sacred Heart of Jesus School, listed as 'at-risk of closing' in the fall, would live on thanks to a merger with Holy Cross at 332 W. 43rd St.

That neighboring school, some nine blocks south, sees the merger as a closure, because they would lose their building, beloved principal, parish priest and some teachers.

To publicize their plight, concerned parents of Holy Cross launched their own YouTube campaign over the weekend. On Monday night, parent Eva Leclercq e-mailed supporters, saying that the clip needed to go viral.

"There was no script, we just stuck the camera in people's faces," Leclercq, a mother of four, said of the five-minute video. "We wanted it to be honest."

Now, even though the Archdiocese has described the decision as final, parents are organized and fighting for a chance to propose a financially sound alternative to the merger.

On Friday, a contingent of about 20 parents delivered a petition to the Archdiocese and requested a meeting with Superintendent Timothy McNiff. They have also pleaded their case to Community Board 4 and will be uploading more videos through their Facebook page, beginning Tuesday night.

The current video, shot and edited last week by one student's godfather, features some highlights of the school's long history and emphasizes academic successes, such as the approximately $250,000 in scholarships that the 2011 graduating class earned toward elite Catholic high schools, including the one at St. Francis Xavier.

On camera personalities in the video include eighth grader Joshua Mesfin, one of the miniature advocates who asked for help from CB4 last week, and Leclercq's first grade son, Dylan.

"I wish Holy Cross didn't close," Dylan said in the video. "It's the saddest thing."

Snapshot from the opening of the Holy Cross parents' video.
Snapshot from the opening of the Holy Cross parents' video.
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YouTube/circtvblog