Park Slope's St. Francis Of Xavier School To Close This Year

PARK SLOPE, NY — A Catholic elementary school will shutter after more than 100 years in Park Slope at the end of the school year and merge with a Fort Greene one because of dwindling admission numbers, officials said.

St. Francis Xavier School plans to stop its kindergarten through eighth grade classes at its 763 President St. building and merge with Queen of All Saints Catholic Academy, at 300 Vanderbilt Ave., in September, the Diocese of Brooklyn said.

"It was just an inevitable thing in order to protect the future of Catholic education," said Carolyn Erstad, spokeswoman for the diocese. "It was a decision that had to be made."

Both schools have recently suffered from years of decreased admission numbers and the diocese said it would've had to close both in 2019 if the merger didn't go through.

Despite an effort to increase the numbers, St. Francis Xavier had only seven new students register for the 2018-2019 year. Officials decided to merge it with Queen of All Saints because the majority of that facility's students lived the school. Park Slope's attendees were spread among several areas, according to the diocese.

Parents were notified of the merger on Monday at a meeting at the school and a notice was posted on its website about it. Many were blindsided by the news and took to Facebook to mourn the loss of St. Francis Xavier, which has been in the neighborhood since 1914.

"This news is so heartbreaking," April Rose, who said she attended the school herself before her son went there, wrote on Facebook. "The neighborhood has changed as well as the values and sense of nostalgia is vacant."

"I am proud to say I attended SFX from K to 8 as did my children," Debbie McCabe wrote on Facebook. "We all had a great educational experience and foundation. So sad to hear it will be closing its doors."

Some parents complained that they were given very short notice of the merging, but Erstad said officials let them know as soon as the decision was finalized.

About 112 students could move from St. Francis Xavier to Queen of All Saints if their parents enroll and the diocese plans to open up admissions on Thursday. The diocese will offer a one-time tuition grant of $1,000 to students who move to Queen of All Saints and $500 if they go to a different Catholic school in the borough, Erstad said.

The universal pre-kindergarten program will remain at St. Francis Xavier and the diocese plans to use the rest of the school building for parish events and other religious education.

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