By Pete Stidman
News Editor

The kids are still happy, still clowning in the hallways and still doing their homework, but come June, the doors of St. Peter and St. Kevin schools are destined to close for good, according to the Archdiocese of Boston's 2010 Initiative school reorganization plan announced Nov. 29. The plan also calls for Blessed Mother Teresa School on Savin Hill Ave. to be "moved" to the former St. Margaret School on Columbia Road.

In place of seven of the Archdiocese's Dorchester and Mattapan's Catholic grammar schools - not counting St. Brendan School in Cedar Grove which opted out of the plan in October - one new school, the Pope John Paul II Academy, will emerge, with five campuses at the current locations of the St. Mark, St. Ann, St. Gregory, St. Angela and former St. Margaret schools.

"As wonderful as this plan is for the students, Cardinal O'Malley has turned his back on the poor and immigrants in Dorchester," said Theresa McNeil, a St. Peter 5th grade teacher, after hearing about the plan in St. Gregory School's auditorium last week.

Some teachers seemed hopeful for the changes, while others commented or walked by with tears streaming down their faces. One, who identified herself only as "from one of them that closed," said, "It stinks. Twenty-eight years and this is what you get?"

Opinion givers on the plan generally fall into two classes: those who believe the Cardinal has given up on the poor, and those who believe the system could not have survived without getting savvy to the bottom line&emdash;economic sustainability. As one from the latter group put it: "There aren't enough nuns to do the teaching for free anymore."

The St. Peter, Blessed Mother Theresa and St. Kevin schools do serve the poorest neighborhoods among the seven in the 2010 Initiative along with St. Angela in Mattapan, according to 2000 U.S. census household income data. And the three also have the first, second and fourth highest percentages of subsidized students of the seven, according to the Archdiocese's own data. Mattapan's St. Angela has the third highest percentage, with 61 percent of enrolled student's tuitions subsidized.

Ultimately, the plan will affect students in all seven schools.

The Archdiocese originally intended to announce a plan on Tuesday, Nov. 27, but cancelled a series of meetings they had scheduled to show it to elected officials, pastors, administrators and teachers. A source close to the process later told the Reporter that a final decision was reached the following Wednesday, and then on Thursday, a series of meetings outlined the decision.

The Pope John Paul II Academy plan

In phase one, "The Cornerstone," St. Ann school on Neponset Ave. will be demolished as early as next summer, and its pupils relocated. A new $11 million, 340-student facility will rise in time to welcome students for the fall of 2009.

The 2008-2009 location for St. Ann's is "to be determined over the next months, but families will know well in advance of next school year," said Archdiocese spokesperson Terrence Donilon in an e-mail. "This is one of the issues we wish to manage with sensitivity to the preferences and needs of students and families. We are currently assessing availability and suitability of space at several locations."

Before back-to-school 2008, St. Margaret school on Columbia Road will be open with a new cafeteria and a new gym. The 2010 consultant team is considering demolishing the parish rectory to make way for the new facilities.

And, in an overture to the violence-weary Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood that will lose St. Peter School, the Archdiocese is also spending $4 million to revamp Paulo De Barros' successful Teen Center and K-6 after-school program on that campus. Nicole O'Brien, who runs the after school program, is skeptical her program will last long without the school, however. The majority of the program's children simply clamber down to the program's home in the school basement after they're dismissed from St. Peter upstairs. "The after-school was created by the parents of St. Peter's for here," O'Brien said. "If there isn't a here anymore, I don't know what that means for us." De Barros is currently visiting family in Cape Verde.

In phase II, "The Beacon," St. Mark students will relocate to an as-of-yet undetermined spot for the 2009-2010 school year to allow construction of a new $11 million, 292-student building. St. Angela will be renovated over the summer of 2009, eventually receiving a new cafeteria and a new gym. St. Gregory will get a new cafeteria also along with a renovation slated for summer 2010.

Overall, the capacity of the new system will be nearly 1,700 students, roughly 200 more than are enrolled in the system this year.

The Shift

The 2010 team is predicting that all St. Kevin's and half of St Peter's students will enroll at St. Margaret, and the other half of St. Peter's kids would go to St. Mark. The unspoken assumption is that all Blessed Mother Theresa students will also go to St. Margaret, which will have a total capacity of 418.

Transportation and subsidy plans are still being determined for those who need it, but many parents at St. Peter have said they would have trouble transitioning to a school farther away. There are three public elementary schools in the surrounding neighborhood that are closer than St. Margaret or St. Mark, some note.

"I am very worried because this is the best school in the neighborhood right here," said Maria Andrade after school on Tuesday. She has four grandchildren in the school and one daughter who graduated from it years ago. After school, Andrade takes care of her grandchildren while her daughter works. "I live two blocks away. It will be difficult for me to help with my daughter's kids now. Here it's easy."

In an attempt to fill the vacuum, Mayor Thomas Menino fired off a press release promoting Boston's public schools on Nov. 30. The release noted that 400 current BPS students were in Catholic schools last year, and invited uprooted Catholic school students to enroll in public schools.

"We want parents to know that the Boston Public Schools are prepared to welcome them with excellent educational options."

Convincing St. Peter and St. Kevin parents to consider BPS might not be easy. "This neighborhood needs St. Peter School," said parent Bernadette Richardson in a call to the Reporter. "We know they're getting an education because when the kids come home, they read. We can't say this for most of the public schools."

The Staff

Part of the end of the old way and the beginning of the new way is a complete reshuffling of the administration and teaching staff. Both groups will have to apply for jobs in the new system; no one is guaranteed to stay.

Some of the current principals, such as Ed Butler of St. Mark and Claire Sheridan of Blessed Mother Theresa, are said to be jockeying for the regional director position, while others, such as Mary Lou Amrhein at St. Peter, are not re-applying.

Applications are due for principal positions in December and the final decisions will be made in February. The regional director will be chosen sooner. Teacher's applications are due in December and January and the hires will be notified in March and April and asked to sign one-year contracts.

"Some [teachers] close to retirement will retire a little earlier than they thought," said Ruth DeBesse, a teacher at St. Kevin. "Most of the schools now have one class per grade. In the new schools there will be two classes, so there will be jobs available."

The Buildings

One of the ongoing stories of the school closings will be the fate of the three vacated buildings post-June 2008. In view of the difficulties Viet-AID has gone through getting plans for condos on the former St. Williams site on Dorchester Avenue approved by abutters, the process for redevelopment at the three spots has the potential to be rough-going. Elected officials across the neighborhood will have an eye on the process, and any use outside of a school could draw in the Boston Redevelopment Authority and a slew of red tape.

"It would be best if the mayor and the Cardinal came to some agreement where the BRA would pre-plan whatever the use should be and then go out to a developer," said Ed Grimes, an alumnus of St. Kevin School who is executive director of Uphams Corner Health Center. "I would not like to see what is happening with the St. William property now… going back and forth with the community on how it should be used after the fact."

"I am assured by the Cardinal and his team that the community and elected officials will be fully engaged in a discussion about the future of these buildings and their surrounding properties," said state Rep. Linda Dorcena Forry in a prepared statement.

According to Donilon, local pastors will have some say in the disposition of the buildings, including possibly using them for their own parish's purposes. Any sale or lease would involve the approval of the Archdiocese.

The powerpoint presentation shown to principals, faculty and elected officials can be viewed at the Archdiocese of Boston website.

Bill and Ed Forry contributed to this report.

LINKS TO EARLIER STORIES ON THE 2010 INITIATIVE

St. Peter's parents weigh prospects of school closing 11.21.07

St. Brendan's opts out of 2010 school initiative11.1.07
Parents weigh Catholic schools fate in meetings 10.25.07

Publisher's Note: An apology to Saint Mark's parishioners
& an explanation on our role in covering this story 10.25.07

Editorial: Tough decisions need to be made, bring great anxiety 10.25.07

Catholic church briefs parents on regional school plan 6.14.07

Church promises to "slow down" school consolidation process 2.21.07
Editorial: We Stand By Our Story 2.22.07

Archdiocese eyes closure of four Catholic grammar schools 2.14.07