Two Catholic parish grade schools in the St. Louis area and one in Kansas City, Kansas will close at the end of the spring semester
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that St. Roch Catholic School in St. Louis and Little Flower Catholic School in Richmond Heights do not have an adequate number of staff or students to operate in the fall.
In Kansas City, Kansas, Christ the King Elementary will close when this school year ends,The Kansas City Star reports.
The Archdiocese of St. Louis says Little Flower school had only 80 students this year, down from 138 four years ago. Only eight students had enrolled for the upcoming school year, and 11 staff members including the principal had planned to leave.
St. Roch has 130 students this year, and 74 enrolled for the 2024-25 school year. Keeping the school open would be "an unsustainable financial investment for the foreseeable future" with a projected shortfall of $500,000 this year, the Archdiocese said.
In a letter to Christ the King families, In a letter sent to families, Rev. John Nicholas Blaha said that donations, fundraising and other contributions from the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas were not enough to provide the financial support needed to continue the school’s operations.
The school has served the community for 79 years and enrolls about 200 students in grades pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.
Three schools in the St. Louis Archdiocese closed last year because of low enrollment: Good Shepherd in Hillsboro, St. Mark in south St. Louis County and St. Rose in Florissant. Another two grade schools in the Diocese of Belleville will close this year - Notre Dame Academy in Belleville and St. Ann in Nashville.
