Brooklyn school closings to come after 'monumental' enrollment slide

Published: 2004-11-02

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (CNS) -- The top education official of the Brooklyn Diocese said some Catholic elementary schools in the diocese will have to close next year after successive enrollment drops of nearly 4,000 and 3,000 over the past two years. "This is a problem of monumental proportions," said Msgr. Michael J. Hardiman, diocesan vicar for education. According to statistics he released in late October, the 2004-05 enrollment in pre-kindergarten to eighth grade in the 147 schools in the diocese is 44,753. The enrollment loss of nearly 7,000 in two years represents nearly one out of every seven students. "I can say, sadly but with certainty, that we will not have 147 elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens this time next year," Msgr. Hardiman said, referring to the two New York boroughs that form the diocese.

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