Backers vow to fight closing of Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Syosset

Parents, alumnae and students are banding together to fight the closing of Our Lady of Mercy Academy in Syosset, insisting the nearly-century old, all-girls school is still viable.

At the same time, Catholic education leaders said Wednesday the closing of the school is an “outlier,” and they believe Long Island’s eight remaining Catholic high schools are in no immediate danger of shuttering.

About 30 supporters of the academy, most of them alumnae, gathered outside the facility Wednesday night to protest the closing and call for efforts to keep it open. Meanwhile, other academy backers, including parents and students, filed in for a meeting with school officials.

Protesters held signs that read "Proud to be a Mercy girl "and "Second generation Mercy girl!"

They also chanted "Don't let Mercy go" and "Save our School."

'A complete shock'

Kristy Munro, a Massapequa resident whose two daughters currently attend the academy, said the announcement of the closing "was a complete shock. "

"I feel like we were just left in the dark" about the problems the school was experiencing, she said at the demonstration.

Natalia Kawochka, 17, a senior who is vice president of the student council, said at the protest: "It's absolutely devastating to see what is happening to our beloved Our Lady of Mercy Academy. The sense of family here is absolutely amazing. "

Others have questioned how enrollment could plummet so quickly after years of stability.

“There’s a lot of passionate people who are willing to fight,” Jeannette Miller, an alumna of the school who is organizing a change.org petition drive that has attracted 5,200 signatures, said before the protest. Her daughter is a junior at Our Lady of Mercy.

The academy “held their numbers solid for 95 years,” Miller said. “Question: What has happened in the last four years?”

The academy said in a statement Wednesday that “this difficult decision was made because of changing demographics and lower enrollment, which has decreased by 45 percent in the past ten years.”

It came, the statement continued, “as a result of extensive deliberations by the school’s leadership and governing boards: OLMA Board of Directors, Mercy Education Board of Directors, and the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy.”

The school, which opened in 1928 on a bucolic 96-acre campus, is scheduled to close in June, academy leaders announced Tuesday.

Other schools thriving

Miller questioned how other Catholic high schools on Long Island could be stable or even thriving, while the academy saw its enrollment drop to 37 in this year’s freshman class. As recently as 2018, the ninth through 12th grade school had more than 400 students and had undergone a recent $2.5 million upgrade.

“There’s a lot of confusion,” Miller said.

The closing would leave Long Island with only one all-girls high school, Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead, and one all-boys high school, Chaminade in Mineola.

Those and other Catholic high schools on Long Island said Wednesday they are doing well, and were saddened by the academy’s closing.

“Enrollment is great at Kellenberg. We are very pleased with the numbers we have,” said Brother Kenneth Hoagland, principal of Kellenberg High School, which is run by the Marianist Brothers in Uniondale.

“We always have a good applicant pool,” Hoagland said.

Kellenberg, along with an adjacent middle school, is at capacity enrollment with a record 2,700 students, he said.

Hoagland said he was “a little surprised” by the closing of Mercy Academy, which he praised as a “great school” in a “beautiful location.” He said it was an “outlier” on Long Island, since most other Catholic high schools are stable.

'Not a trend'

The closing “is not a trend,” he said. “There is a lot of interest in Catholic schools. I think there are a lot of parents looking for that for their children.”

Another school run by the Marianists, Chaminade, said it has a waiting list to get in.

Brother Thomas Cleary, the school’s president, said he doesn’t take the strong enrollment for granted.

“We are constantly asking ourselves, 'What can we do better?' Our new state-of-the-art science center, expansive AP course offerings, and robust alumni network all make Chaminade an appealing option for the young men in our area,” Cleary said in a statement.

“With the recent evolution of demographics on Long Island, we have put considerable effort into our admissions outreach, focusing on the five boroughs and tri-state area,” he added. “These efforts have proven to be incredibly successful, as we now have students commuting from Manhattan, Westchester, Brooklyn, Queens, New Jersey, and Connecticut.”

St. Anthony’s High School in Huntington said its enrollment is strong at 2,450 students. Chris Farrell, dean of admissions, said part of the school’s success comes from the presence of the Franciscan Brothers who run it and their “charism of hospitality.”

Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead, which may take in students from the shuttered Mercy Academy, said its enrollment is “solid” at 672 students.

Sacred Heart “is in a position of strength and growth,” the school said in a statement.

Long Island has seen the loss of two other Catholic high schools in the last 14 years. The coed McGann-Mercy High School in Riverhead, the only Catholic high school on the East End, shut down in 2018.

In Brentwood, the all-girls Academy of St. Joseph closed in 2009. Both schools cited declining enrollment as the principal cause.

Costs of education

Education experts say Catholic and all private schools on Long Island must compete with good public schools in the region for students. Plus, unlike in public schools, parents must pay tuition. The academy was charging $15,000 a year.

The number of school-age children is also declining on Long Island, making the overall pool of students smaller, experts said.

Requiring parents to pay both taxes for public school and tuition for private school is hurting Catholic and private schools’ ability to attract and retain students said James Cultrara, co-chair of the New York State Coalition for Independent & Religious Schools.

The number of Catholic grammar and high schools in New York State has dropped from a high of about 1,500 in the 1960s to about 400 in 2024, Cultrara said.

He called on elected officials to allow vouchers or a similar program so parents can afford to send their children to Catholic or other private schools.