ST. LOUIS — In south St. Louis, one historic school is settling into a new school year with a completely new administrative structure.
St. Mary’s was disenfranchised from the Catholic Archdiocese last year, and this is the first school year they’ve begun on their own.
The president of the new St. Mary’s South Side Catholic, Mike England, said the first thing they did was set a goal of raising $ 12 million. He said they’ve raised more than $ 5 million already. Then, they were able to find new sponsorship and put together a salary and benefits structure.
And they did all that in very short order.
“Very short order,” repeated England for emphasis. “I mean, this has been truly God’s hand. I said in the beginning, 'If God wants St. Mary’s to make it, St. Mary’s will make it.'”
St. Mary’s is a boys-only high school that teaches grades nine through 12. A former archdiocesan school, England said St. Louis Catholic Archdiocese officials made a decision in September of last year to close St. Mary’s.
That meant a loss of more than one million dollars a year.
St. Mary’s officials responded by saying the school is too important to the young men they serve and the neighborhood. Then they began a movement to become a school independent of the Catholic Archdiocese. Advocates solicited sponsorship.
The Marianists stepped in and took over sponsorship.
England said enrollment this year is 210 students, and the school welcomed 75 freshmen. It’s the largest freshmen class in the last 5 years.
It’s ironic St. Mary’s would have a large enrollment in light of recent events.
“It is, but it’s not,” England said. “Because I think for the last four years, we’ve had a cloud over the school. The cloud four years ago was COVID, then the cloud for the last two years was All Things New, and the rumors that came along with that – that they were going to close us in a year. So, now that we’ve moved beyond that, the cloud has been lifted, and I think there’s a sense of confidence about the future of school, the quality, and all of the good things that we’re doing. We are adding on to our curriculum.”
England said the school had to develop a business model and rally supporters.
“85% of faculty and staff returned,” England said. “We raised teacher salaries eight percent. Benefits are as good as anything we ever had with the archdiocese. We have the same retirement program we had with the archdiocese. Our goal when we started this - and we said this to our faculty and staff – we’re not going to go backwards. My promise to you is you’ll have at least what you had when we were an Archdiocesan school, and what we would have had this year if we had still been with the archdiocese. I’m happy to report what we have this year is better than what we would have had.”
England said nearby Cleveland High School sits empty and so does Scruggs Elementary School. He said south St. Louis cannot afford to lose St. Mary’s High School.
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