Parent explores funding alternatives for St. Joseph School

Norwich - A business owner and parent of a St. Joseph School student is reaching out to businesses and families seeking pledges to cover the cost of tuition for new students to try to reverse the Diocese of Norwich's decision to close the school.

Parent Christine Baker, owner of QC Home Care Solutions, pledged $3,200 to fund the tuition of one new student who would attend St. Joseph next school year if the diocese agreed to reverse the closure decision. She is soliciting similar pledges from other local businesses in an effort to raise enough tuition to boost enrollment by 60 students.

"This guarantee is only valid if the Diocese of Norwich revokes its decision to close the school and allows the school a five-year period to become financially independent," Baker's letter to Principal Sister Mary Mark said.

According to the diocese, with 113 students, St. Joseph doesn't have the enrollment to cover operating expenses and its estimated $500,000 school debt. Diocese spokesman Michael Strammiello said the school would need another 50 students.

Baker said Wednesday she knows the plan is a "long shot," but felt she had to try one last time to save the school.

"I don't know if they would consider it," she said. "I thought I would try it and see what I could come up with."

Mark received Baker's letter Wednesday, but said she does not endorse the plan. Mark said school staff and families are grieving, but are coming to accept the decision that the school will close.

Most families have registered their children at one of the four local Catholic schools - St. Patrick Cathedral and Sacred Heart in Norwich and St. Bernard Middle School in Montville. St. John's School in Old Saybrook asked to come to St. Joseph to market that school to parents, Mark said.

Strammiello said 10 first-graders, the most difficult grade to place, have not yet been enrolled in other schools, and the diocese is trying to accommodate those families.

Strammiello said Baker's proposal would have to be reviewed by the parish. The decision to close St. Joseph was made for financial reasons. He agreed with Baker's target number of new students, but also expressed concern that the "new" students who would seek the tuition pledge would come from the region's other Catholic schools, possibly hurting those schools.

"The fact that we have a viable system with more than 5,000 students is a tribute to all the Catholic faithful throughout the diocese," Strammiello said. "I think that came into play here, where there is immediate capacity to handle the students."

c.bessette@theday.com