Parent asks bishop for reprieve on school closing
Guest Column • Tamara Notarcola-Graham

(Open letter to Bishop John M. Smith of the Diocese of Trenton)

Iam deeply saddened, hurt and stunned by the decision made by the leaders of our Catholic education system, including our bishop.

I know I share these feelings with hundreds around me, and the more I try to reason with this, the more I find reason to give us a chance. I get lost in trying to understand why the lives of so many hardworking and caring parents and their children, so happy at St. Joseph's School (SJS) in Keyport, have just gotten their lives turned upside down.

Here we have a school with a growing enrollment with a superior leader who in less than six months has spread her enthusiasm. She also has created a positive momentum in everything she touches, including the growing number of people choosing SJS for their family.

How in less than six months is her challenge over? She hasn't even gotten a fair chance. How in this time of economic hardship are you finding peace with this decision and adding to the long list of people who are losing their jobs? How is that helping? What about our teachers? Have you thought this through?

St. Joseph's School has been open for over 120 years. [There is] much history here for me. My grandparents attended school here; my mom, my mother-in-law and father in-law, my husband, my sister, his sister and I graduated from St. Joseph's, and now I want the same for my children.

Why are you taking that from my family and the others around me here? What were those reasons that after 120 years we are not even given a two-year window, given to other area Catholic schools when they faced difficulty? Why not us?

Please give us, Sister Marie Agnes Connolly and the staff the chance to show that there is great interest in our area for Catholic education. If you look and see, the other local Catholic schools, St. Benedict and St. Mary, are at full capacity. So where are our children going to go?

Are you comfortable knowing … that many students are now having to be fed through the public education system instead of a Catholic one? I think that this is in contradiction to the message you really want to send.

Look at our great nation. We are going through a time of many difficulties, many areas that need improvement or "extra loving care."

We recently had a shift in power, a positive one, we pray. Just as our country needs to give some time for President Barack Obama to settle in, so should that respect be given to Sister Marie and SJS.

In times of great difficulties, as President Obama himself said, are we going to falter and give up? No, we "pick ourselves up, dust

ourselves off" and look to a brighter future. Thank goodness we do not have that giving-up attitude on our country, or we would really be in for it. Although, I do

feel as if we are in for it. By we, I mean the entire SJS family, from teachers, to students, to parents, because we have been declared shipwrecked, although our sails are now beginning to receive those thrustful gusts of wind.

No disrespect intended, but I question the Catholic diocese for not seeing the big picture and for presenting this decision in the way it was delivered: on the opening weekend of Catholic Schools Week and open enrollment. The timing could not have been worse!

My family was bringing two families to register, each with two children. They were so excited to be entering the SJS family. That was four new students from just our family. How many more are being turned away? Their question is like ours, Where will our kids go to school this coming September?

At SJS, the enrollment has increased since July 2008 and more families are interested. We are growing!

Although we are a single grade school, we have many extracurricular activities (sports, homework help, academic leagues, etc.). We are happy, so how will we explain this to our children? Please do not take our school from us for no good reason. Is this what Jesus would do? Please let us use what He taught us.

We need just a little extra loving care and patience. A two-year grace period would be fair. Is that too much to ask? "Like those who came before us, our hope gives us the desire to do something about these challenges today. In this way, it is now our time to be the light of hope," as quoted from Bishop John M. Smith.

In our challenge, we are asking that you, Bishop, be the light of our hope, to do the right thing, to at least extend a hand and give us an opportunity to show you how brightly SJS can shine. We cannot give up without brainstorming alternative ideas, and I am sure, Bishop, that you agree that this is something worth fighting for. You have many, many "little worlds" in your hands. Please do not drop them.

Tamara Notarcola-Graham is a resident of Keyport, a St. Joseph parishioner and an SJS parent and graduate.