St. Anthony School in Winsted to close

WINSTED — St. Anthony School, the longest continuously run school in the Archdiocese of Hartford, is closing in June after 155 years.

The closing was announced over the weekend by Rev. Bruce Czapla, the pastor of St. Joseph Church, and then posted on Facebook on Monday morning. The school, just up the street from the church at 55 Oak St., is a pre-kindergarten-through-grade-eight program. It was founded in 1865.

“It is with a heavy heart that I share with you that St. Anthony School will be permanently closing at the end of this 2019-20 school year,” Czapla posted. “As the longest running Catholic elementary school in the Archdiocese of Hartford, this decision did not come lightly.

“Upon thoughtful review of the financial statements, the expenses will continue to far exceed our revenue and the need to be fiscally responsible as a parish is essential,” he continued. “Despite the efforts of many, the financial status of the school just could not be sustained therefore making this heart-wrenching decision unavoidable.”

Answering a reporter’s questions by email, Czapla said he decided to close the school “upon the recommendation of the archdiocese and after consultation with our finance people here at St. Joseph’s.”

“Even though we end a school year ‘in the black,’ figuratively speaking having $1 is certainly different than having $100,000 left over,” he continued. “It won’t be long before expenses catch up to income and exceed it, no matter how responsible we were in spending and creative in staffing, etc.”

The decision was based on declining enrollment, he said.

“This decline in enrollment was relatively gradual but indicative of less money available, less children being born and less faith in people’s lives,” he said.

The school’s website states that the school’s enrollment is 163 students, but one parent of a student, Ellen Marino, said parents were told at a meeting on Friday, when the closure was first announced, that enrollment is down to 89 students.

“It’s a sad day,” Marino said. “But I can understand the economics of it.”

Tuition for one student is $4,600 plus $155 in fees, if paid by June 1.

The decision to close comes less than a year since former school Principal Louis F. Howe mutually reached an agreement with Czapla to step down after just two years on the job. Czapla did not hire Howe. Czapla, who was the St. Joseph pastor from 2001-09, returned to the job in the spring of 2018.

Czapla has said he and Howe had different “visions” for the direction of the school but otherwise considered Howe to be a “good man.” Howe was well-liked by parents, students and staff, and his selection for the principal’s job in 2017 by an eight-member search committee was unanimous.

Rev. Christopher Gaffrey, who was the pastor at the time, has said the committee thought Howe had “the vision and passion to lead the school after (Patricia) Devanney (Howe’s predecessor) retired. We were excited about both how it seems he will fit in well with our current school culture, and how he has the vision to help our school continue to grow and improve.”

After Howe left, several parents pulled their children out of St. Anthony’s and enrolled them in either the town’s public elementary school system or the Gilbert School, the town’s quasi-public junior-senior high school.

Public School Superintendent Melony Brady-Shanley said approximately 25 former St. Anthony students enrolled at either the Pearson School or Batcheller School this year. There are 47 students who live in town now that attend St. Anthony’s but she did not know how many of them will still be of elementary school-age for 2020-21.

“We’ll be able to accommodate them,” she said of the district’s capacity.

The current principal at St. Anthony’s is Karen Hicks. Marino, a graduate of St. Anthony’s, said Hicks has been at the school for 42 years and is also well-liked.

“She was my teacher in the fifth grade,” she said.

Mayor A. Candy Perez said the town is “sorry to see” the school close because it played such an important part in many people’s lives “that they must be heartbroken.” But, she said, for those students who transfer to the local schools she is confident “they will be well taken care of.”