The survival of the schools really was about a community answering a call.
It was a call developer Brian O'Neill put out to organize donors, but gave the credit to his brother, Mike and the Archbishop and anyone involved in saving the schools. He says after the major announcement, many of them sat in a room together and watched the joyous response from the students and cried. "Close to $20,000 in financial donations have come in from everyday working lay people. These people believe in Catholic education and want to fight to make our schools healthy again," said Archbishop Charles Chaput.In a decision announced during a 3:00 news conference Friday, it was revealed that Saint Hubert's, Conwell-Egan and West Catholic High Schools will remain open and operating as usual. Monsignor Bonner-Archbishop Prendergast will merge into one facility.
On Jan. 6 the Archdiocese announced the possible closure of the high schools due to low enrollment.
That's when the donations started pouring in. Nearly 12 million was raised so far, and the Archdiocese hopes for $100 million in the next five years.
The list of donors has not been released but Action News has learned that local developer Brian O'Neill was able to secure funding for all the schools for several years.
"If our elected officials and the wider donor community support us I believe we can help these high schools survive and thrive. In doing that we will be serving the need of the whole community," said Archbishop Chaput.
The money will be managed by a new independent foundation focused on fundraising, marketing and recruitment.
After news that the schools would remain open, parents, students and teachers alike hugged and shed tears of joy in relief.
It was the news that students at Monsignor Bonner-Archbishop Prendergast were waiting to hear for months.
"I'm so excited that everyone came together as a family to show what Prendie is. I graduated here, my sisters and my brothers did, and it means the world to me," said Dawn Boyle, a former Archbishop Prendergast student.
The euphoria was echoed at St. Hubert's, another school that lobbied hard and won a reprieve.
"I think he made the right decision. I think it was the best decision they ever made, we're so happy," said student Erin Tomes.
The decision was a reason enough to dance at Bonner-Prendergast Friday night. "When we found out the news that our school was safe, it was just the cherry on top of the cake, it was just perfect," said Vanessa Fattizzo. Dances at Bonner-Prendi and West Catholic were on the calendar months before the schools thought they would be closed. But once all of them learned Friday that they would remain open, the party on the dance floor took on new meaning. "Everybody was just so sad, and it was like tearing us apart and just to know we are going to say open is just wonderful news," said Tamera Samuel. While students and parents celebrate, the man who helped save the schools is rejoicing. Local developer Brian O'Neill spoke exclusively with Action News about how he and a group are now responsible for raising at least $100 million. He is quick to point out he wasn't the largest donor, saying he was just the quarterback who got the team together. "The guys who got together to do this just didn't do it to save schools, they did it to build a world class system of tomorrow," said O'Neill. O'Neill left his Catholic High School early and got a GED, but he remembers his experience fondly, and stepped in because of the successful graduation rates of Catholic Schools. O'Neill is pushing for a piece of state legislation that will allow parents to use vouchers to put their children into higher performing schools. "Tens of thousands of people in Philadelphia alone are getting robbed of an education, so our view was, it was just so worthwhile that we had to get involved," O'Neill said. O'Neill says his team is trying to make the Catholic School system more innovative with better classroom programs and technology. And he says from the lady in the dry cleaners who gave $10 to billionaire who gave so much more, nearly $12 million has been raised so far for the high schools.
