January 23, 2010
Diocese announces closure of John Paul II School in south Sacramento
By Julie sly
Herald editor
Students enter John Paul II School to begin class Jan. 15 at the campus on 13th Avenue in south Sacramento. Diocesan officials announced Jan. 14 that they will close the school at the end of the academic year. Cathy Joyce/Herald photo
As part of the consolidation of south Sacramento Catholic schools, Diocese of Sacramento officials announced Jan. 14 that they will close John Paul II School at the end of the current academic year.
The K-8 school, located at 5700 13th Ave., which was formed in 2005 from the merger of All Hallows and St. Peter schools, is the latest school to close as part of the diocese’s plan to replace the schools with a regional campus.
All of the 159 students at John Paul II will be offered places at St. Patrick’s SUCCEED Academy, a new regional school located at 5945 Franklin Blvd., which Bishop Jaime Soto announced plans for last February.
Four former elementary schools in the diocese will be consolidated at the new academy, which will be headed by Laura Allen, current principal of St. Mary School in Sacramento, and open in August.
Students from John Paul II who choose to attend the regional academy will join students who formerly attended parish schools at Immaculate Conception, which closed in 2002, St. Anne, which closed this year after enrollment had dropped to 92 students, and St. Patrick School, which has a current enrollment of 157 students.
“Change worries people and I know a lot of students and families will be disappointed because they wanted their school to stay open,” said Dom Puglisi, superintendent of schools for the diocese.
“But instead of dissipating our resources and straining to provide a quality education to students at four different schools, consolidation will allow us to nurture and promote a successful new campus and pave the way for a new model of Catholic education in the diocese.”
Puglisi informed students of John Paul II School and their families at a parents’ meeting at adjacent All Hallows Church Jan. 14, after faculty and staff were informed earlier that day on campus.
The closure of the school will affect 12 faculty and staff members, he said, including some members of the Sisters Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, who have been teaching at the school since its merger. The vice provincial of the community of women religious has yet to determine whether the sisters will remain in Sacramento or be involved with St. Patrick’s SUCCEED Academy, Puglisi said.
In February 2009, Bishop Soto outlined the beginning of a pilot program designed to bring new investment and test new models for opening and operating Catholic schools, he said.
St. Patrick’s SUCCEED Academy consolidates the closed south Sacramento schools into a regional diocesan K-8 school at the site of the St. Patrick School campus and places the governance of the school under a board of directors that reports directly to Bishop Soto.
The diocese has recently invested $500,000 for upgrading the facilities at St. Patrick’s, including remodeling classrooms and athletic fields. Over the next year, the diocese expects to invest up to $2 million more in improvements. A fundraising effort is anticipated to fully fund the improvements to the campus.
“Our goal is to focus our resources and carry out the vision of providing a well-funded, quality educational experience to students of all income levels in south Sacramento,” Bishop Soto said in a press statement. “And we’re excited about what’s to come.”
