South Phila neighbors rally to save their schools

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA - February 23, 2012

The suspense is unbearable Thursday night at St. Hubert, Conwell Egan and Monsignor Bonner, Archbishop Prendergast. West Catholic did not appeal.

Meanwhile, members of another school community were hoping against hope that their passionate pleas can still make a difference.

The South Philadelphia neighborhood is slated to lose both of its Catholic Elementary Schools. One is a few blocks up 3rd Street; the other is four blocks in the other direction. So they met in the middle for a very large rally.

It was the largest "Save our Schools" rally ever since the Philadelphia Archdiocese made the decision to close and merge dozens of schools.

Thursday night, an estimated 2000 students and parents of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Sacred Heart of Jesus rallied from one end of the block to the other on 3rd Street in South Philadelphia.

The Archdiocese's Blue Ribbon Commission plans to shut down the Elementary Schools.

"My brother just graduated last year, and I want to do the same thing as him," said Dean Bergmann, a student at Our lady of Mount Carmel. "It was really devastating because my little sister, it's her first year here, and I wanted her to graduate same thing."

The closure list is supposed to be a done deal, but the crowd is praying that there will be a change of heart.

"We are Catholic based, we are faith based. We are the Irish, the German, the Polish, and everybody in between. We just want our fair share, let us keep one school," said parent Dan Stevenson.

Mount Carmel and Sacred Heart are just a few blocks away from each other on South 3rd Street so they came up with a plan to merge. They lost their appeal, and now students will either be bused or forced to walk to Epiphany of Our Lord School, which is about two miles away.

"Their education is my main concern, their safety and I just believe it should stay in our neighborhood," said parent Marci Figueroa.

Rallies are full of passion, and the one help Thursday night was no different. Councilmen Jim Kenney and Mark Squilla spoke up for the community and the children.

"We're fighting together," said Councilman Mark Squilla. "We're fighting together for our neighbor and our community to have a school right here."

The Archdiocese delayed decision on the high schools because they received information last week about potential donors.

The decision could come as early as Friday.

Sports practice went on as usual Thursday afternoon, but the athletes and other students at Monsignor Bonner and Archbishop Prendergast high schools are all wondering which school colors they'll be wearing next year. The school was in the archdiocese initial closure list. But administrators and alumni raised money and made a presentation to change their minds.

They thought a decision would come last Thursday.

"Just the anticipation, not knowing what's going to happen, I want to know. Last week it was going to happen, but they told us like at 11, it wasn't going to happen," Bonner junior Michael Roman said.

The archdiocese said a decision would take at least a week, meaning a decision could come tomorrow, but that's not set in stone, leaving everyone in limbo, especially the juniors.

"It affected us a lot because they were going to tell us last week then they delayed it another week cause I guess new information came in," Bonner junior Devin Young said.

"It's really hard because we're supposed to be looking at colleges right now and instead we have to look at high schools. It's really hard for all of us, we don't know if we're going to be together our senior year," Prendie junior Emily Markus said.

Annmarie Montgomery, whose son is a junior, has been praying the school gets a reprieve.

"It's understandable with how complicated things got that it would've been impractical to stay on the timetable that was originally put forth, but it doesn't make it any less emotional or easier to go through the wait," Montgomery said.

The school president, Father Olson, says the staff has multiple reaction plans which they'll put into play depending on when the decision comes down and what it is.