Parents, Alumni of OLPH School Holding Rally Sunday

Parents, students and alumni of in Lindenhurst are mobilizing this for a rally at 10 a.m. in front of the 99-year-old school in an effort to save it.

The school is on the list of six Catholic schools that the plans to this June.

The Diocese's was announced in early December, much to the dismay of many , students, faculty, and alumni of OLPH School.

"We announced the rally [earlier this week], and support is quickly growing. We expect a significant turnout given the overwhelming support of the school on various social-networking sites. Students, alumni, faculty and residents will be coming out in support," Maggie Gallagher-Lilly, an organizer of the rally, told Lindenhurst Patch on Thursday.

Gallagher-Lilly is a Lindenhurst native who lives in Manhattan now, and is one of eight kids who graduated from the school. Her parents are still parishioners at the church.

She started a Facebook page this past week - Friends of O.L.P.H. - Save Our School - to help mobilize those upset about the closure and who want to try to keep it open.

"We're frustrated by the lack of transparency and communication by the Diocese surrounding [OLPH School's] closing. Alumni, students, parents and faculty are prepared to do whatever it takes to save this historic and esteemed school,"  she continued.

Gallagher-Lilly contends that she and many other alumni were never contacted to give back financially to help keep the school open.

"It didn't need to get this far. Many alumni I've spoken to like myself would've been and still are happy to help keep the school open. We would give back," she explained. "We asked: Why didn't they call us? They said they did, but we didn't know. No one asked us for help."

Lack of Response
So Gallagher-Lilly put a call into the Diocese and spoke briefly with Sister Kerry Handal. She asked the Sister what it would take for the school to stay open.

However, the Sister's only response, according to Gallagher, was, "The Diocese is not open to a meeting" with supporters of the school, and that the Diocese is "comfortable with its decision."

Other than that, Gallagher-Lilly said that despite the letters and calls by parents and alumni to Bishop Murphy and Reverend John S. Dunne wanting answers from the Diocese as to why it's closing and what could be done to prevent what seems to be inevitable, the Diocese has been tight-lipped - always referring back to its Strategic Plan, she said.

The plan's purpose, according to the Diocese, was to chart a future for Catholic education on Long Island, and the criteria used to measure each school in its purview were enrollment, the age of students in the area, the financial situation of the school and reviews of each school building, its technology and other programs offered.

And according to Father Anthony Trapani, pastor of , since 2000 the school's enrollment has declined 75 percent. Currently, it has 194 students; 157 of which are enrolled in kindergarten to eighth grade with the balance of students in pre-K and nursery school.

"But once a school drops below 200, it's in trouble," the pastor Patch the day after the Diocese's decision was announced. "And you need 225 just to break even."

Despite those numbers, Gallagher-Lilly contends that based on conversations she's had with alumni and involved parents since the closure was announced on December 6 that the school seemed to be operating successfully until 2007.

"All Catholic schools struggle, but what I've consistently been told is that when Monsignor Hamilton was there, enrollment was up, new programs were put in place, the school was operating in the black and there was a surplus right up until 2007. Afterward it seemed to be the opposite," Gallagher-Lilly said.

Monsignor Hamilton was the pastor up until 2007 when he retired. Father Trapani took over the reins at OLPH that same year.

Father Trapani has said the school's closure was sad, but not surprising given the financial trouble he back to Patch in December.

He also said that he and the parish worked with the school, the Parents' Association (school board) and the principal, Carmela Lubrano, to boost enrollment and raise funds - even contacting alumni - but the efforts didn't not produce as expected given the tough economic climate.

However, Gallagher-Lilly, speaking on behalf of fellow alumni, still contends they weren't contacted - and had they been, alumni are sure they could've turned things around.

She also said parents have told her that ideas for fundraising seemed to be met with a cool attitude, making efforts to raise money for the school in the past couple of years hard.

And while many might've have speculated that the school might close under those conditions, no one was prepared to hear that OLPH School would actually shut its doors. Hence, the rally on January 15.

Seeking Answers
"We want clarity, transparency. That's the goal. We want people to know about this, and we want answers. We want to show that you don't close a school that's been open for 99 years," Gallagher-Lilly said.

"This would be a huge blow to Lindenhurst, the Catholic community and those currently attending or employed by the school if it closes," she added.

The OLPH School protesters will be joined on Sunday, according to the Facebook page, by those from the five other Catholic Schools slated to close - many of whom have already had rallies at their schools, such as in and in .

And Gallagher-Lilly said that a rally is being planned by reps from all of the schools on the Diocese closure list.

She didn't have details to share yet, but according to the Rally to Save Prince of Peace Regional Catholic School, Sayville Facebook page on Thursday, a Rally to Save Catholic Education is set for at the in Rockville Centre.