NEWS

Most Catholic schools in Tri-State see slight drop in enrollment

By Sherry Greenfield and Amber South
Herald Mail Media & Public Opinion

Private Catholic schools in the Tri-State area, for the most part, have seen a slight drop in enrollment this school year, school representatives said.

But at least one school in the region says it has seen an increase in enrollment, and most others say the future looks bright for next year's classes.

Victoria Craver attends class Tuesday at St. Maria Goretti Catholic School

"We're experiencing enrollment that is lower due to COVID, but we're seeing a huge interest for next year," said Interim President Tom Burnford of St. Maria Goretti Catholic High School in Hagerstown. "Applications are up for next year. There's a lot of interest in Catholic education."

Goretti has 160 students this year, a little lower than the roughly 200 it typically has, Burnford said.

"We had nervousness among parents in March, April and May," he said, around the start of lockdowns meant to slow the spread of COVID-19.

As Washington County Public Schools moved cautiously from online to in-person learning on Tuesday, private Catholic schools across the region have been open to all students and staff since the start of fall classes. That includes Goretti and St. Mary Catholic School in Washington County, St. Joseph School in Martinsburg, W.Va., and Corpus Christi Catholic School in Chambersburg, Pa.

Some of the private schools said that, despite concerns over contracting COVID-19, families should know that the health measures the schools have instituted are working.

Burnford said Goretti staff prepared for months to open their building safely for both students and staff.

"We're open for business," he said. 

St. Joseph School

"We're a little down, but it's not really that bad," Principal Patrick Blanc said of St. Joseph School on East Stephen Street in Martinsburg, W.Va. "Our enrollment was down by 79 children. At the end of the (2020) school year we had 290 students."

However, enrollment has been growing.

"We started with 224 students in September," Blanc said of the pre-K through eighth-grade school. "We now have 276 students. We're certainly ticking back up throughout the school year, and we're excited about that."

Blanc said the school was forced to reduce office staff in some areas because of the drop in enrollment, but that could be temporary.

"It's getting pretty full, so we might have to add teachers, and may bring staff back," he said. "We're following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines when it comes to preventing COVID-19. 

"Initially, we had 21 students learning online," he said. "We now have 12 students. I think definitely there was a lot of parents that didn't want to pay for online learning."

The school also operates a daycare and expanded services.

"We don't charge parents since they're already paying tuition," he said. "Seventy parents took advantage of that."

Blanc said all students are wearing masks throughout the day, in classrooms and in the building. They're also practicing social distancing. 

"We've moved church to the gym, and are spread out throughout the cafeteria," he said. "We expanded (lunch periods) from two to four, with three students to a table."

St. Mary

St. Mary in Hagerstown has also seen a slight drop in enrollment.

"It's a little down, but not really bad," Principal Frank Nicely said. "It's down, but in general it hasn't been a real big hit for us."

Enrollment this school year is 180 in pre-K through eighth grade. That's down from 190 last year, but Nicely said he doesn't attribute the drop in enrollment entirely to COVID.

"A majority are not related to COVID," he said. "A majority of the students moved away (from the area)."

Just 10% of the students are learning virtually.

"We've had a lot of inquires and applications that are in progress. … The best marketing is word of mouth," Nicely said. "We're thriving by the grace of God."

CDC-endorsed safety protocols have been implemented to fight the coronavirus, he said, and surfaces have been treated with special cleaning products.

"We couldn't be more in line with distance-learning protocols, and mask protocols," he said. "The classroom desks are 6 feet apart, and with masks on they can be 3 feet apart.

"COVID will not get us down."

Corpus Christi

While enrollment has dropped in recent years at Corpus Christi in Chambersburg, it's jumped this school year and next. Principal Loretta Witkowski said that is due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Current enrollment is 196 students at the pre-K through eight school. In a normal year, it is typically between 130 and 150.

The school had 124 students when the building closed in March due to the coronavirus lockdown, Witkowski said.

However, the school received "constant calls" about new student enrollment from March to September, she said, and the school has been had in-person schooling all year.

The majority of new students came from the Chambersburg Area School District. A handful came from Greencastle and Shippensburg in Pennsylvania.

Currently, 210 students are enrolled for next year, with families on a waiting list. Every family with a student in school this year has a student enrolled next year, Witkowski said.

In normal times, the classroom is 20 students max. That had to be lowered this school year in some classes to accommodate spacing of desks, Witkowski said. Last year, every grade, kindergarten through eight, had one classroom. This year, kindergarten, first, second and third grades are broken into two classrooms.

There were extra classrooms to accommodate the changes, Witkowski said. Years ago, Corpus Christi was "thriving" and had two classes per grade. The school had about 300 students at the height of the its enrollment.

Families can choose virtual, but can come back to in-person at any time. Twenty kids were in virtual instruction at the start of the year. Now there are five.