Mount Carmel High School Announces Decision To Remain All Male

CHICAGO – There will be no girls climbing aboard the Mount Carmel High School Caravan this fall. After weeks of listening sessions, surveys and email this summer from students, parents, employees, alumni and donors, school leaders announced that the Catholic high school will remain all male.

“I support the school’s decision that they made today, and I one-hundred-percent agree with it, said Mark Santana, a class of 2017 alumnus. "I’m a proud MC alum. It gave me the opportunity to create my own legacy.”

In late June, Mount Carmel leaders asked their stakeholders whether the boys high school should consider admitting female students to the freshman class this fall. “The review was prompted by downward elementary and high school enrollment trends, a responsibility to keep Mount Carmel thriving into the future, and a desire to be proactive in its decision-making from a position of strength,” school officials said in a news release.

A decision whether to make the high school coed was to have been decided next week by the Mount Carmel High School Board of Directors, and the Board of Members, comprised of Carmelite priests and brothers. Approval was needed from both boards to make the high school coeducational.

Feedback gathered this summer made it “overwhelmingly clear” that Mount Carmel’s all-male tradition would continue and that changing it was not in the best interest of the school. School officials also admitted that attracting female students to Mount Carmel would be “a daunting challenge.”

After completing all stakeholder information and listening sessions and assessing the feedback, the board decided to inform current Mount Carmel families of the decision to remain all-male now, rather than making them wait. Because the decision to remain all male has been made, the Carmelites will not have to consider it.

“It is time to look ahead to a bright future,” Mount Carmel High School Board Chair, Don Barry, said. “As we move forward, it is our goal to continue to ensure the brightest possible future for our young men.”

While demographics for enrollment are challenging for Catholic high schools, particularly for all-boys schools, “Mount Carmel has the advantage of addressing its needs before becoming victim to those demographics.”

“We are confident that together we will succeed,” said Mount Carmel High School Principal Scott Tabernacki. “We firmly believe, and our stakeholders have made it clear that they, too, believe, that Mount Carmel will continue to evolve to successfully meet the challenges ahead.”

Mount Carmel High School has served Chicago's South and Southeast Side neighborhoods since 1900, building a legacy of educating young men from a wide variety of backgrounds, including sons of laborers, steelworkers, executives and professionals. Over the past several decades, diversified ethnically, religiously, racially and economically.