Hard hit by pandemic, St. Pius X Montessori Catholic School will close after current school year

Facing declining enrollment and financial difficulties, St. Pius X Montessori Catholic School in Rodgers Forge will close at the end of the 2020-21 school year, parish and school officials announced March 26.

The school was already struggling to attract students when the pandemic hit, the officials said.

“The daily operating costs and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have made the sustainability of our school impossible without going further into substantial debt and jeopardizing our ability to provide the quality Catholic education that our parents expect and our students deserve,” Father Jose “Jojo” Opalda, pastor of St. Pius X and St. Mary of the Assumption in Govans, wrote in a letter to parents.

Father Opalda said the school was operating at only 25 percent of capacity and had a deficit of more than $100,000 for the year, despite support from the parish.

Father Opalda praised the teachers and staff who quickly transitioned to a remote-learning format for months during the pandemic.

St. Pius X Elementary School moved to gradually become a Montessori school in 2011. In 2019, the school had fully transitioned to the Montessori format, which emphasizes independent learning, nontraditional grading and small classes with mixed age groups.

While other local schools follow the Montessori method, St. Pius X is the only Catholic Montessori school in the state. Italian physician Maria Montessori developed the teaching method in 1907.

In a 2019 interview with the Catholic Review, Donna Hargens, superintendent of Catholic schools for the archdiocese, called the Montessori school a success. But the Montessori format’s smaller class sizes made the school more susceptible to disruption from the coronavirus pandemic.

Montessori schools feature specially designed classrooms and emphasize that students work in small groups. Many of these Montessori methods have been inhibited by social-distancing practices brought on by the pandemic. 

Father Opalda said school officials would work to place existing students in other schools in the coming months. The official will hold a meeting for parents March 29 at 6 p.m. in the school gym. The meeting will be livestreamed on Zoom as well.

Across the country, more than 150 Catholic schools have been forced to close because of the unique challenges of the pandemic, according to a report in the New York Times last fall. In Baltimore, the Institute of Notre Dame closed its doors after 174 years last spring.

St. Jane Frances de Chantal School in Pasadena closed its school last year, converting into a pre-school. School officials there announced this year that the pre-school will also close at the end of this academic year.

This story will be updated. 

Email Tim Swift at tswift@CatholicReview.org

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