Closing of the school
title:
Closing of the school
publisher:
Women and Leadership Archives
creator:
A Lerner Newspaper
date:
1981
description:
The Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary announce the closing of the school. February 14th, 1981
format:
8.5 x 11"
subject:
women's education; high schools; articles;
relation:
Immaculata High School
description:
Closing of the School, 1978-1981
type:
articles;
rights:
This image is issued by the Women and Leadership Archives. Use of the image requires written permission from the Director of the Women and Leadership Archives. It may not be sold or redistributed, copied or distributed as a photograph, electronic file, or any other media. The image should not be significantly altered through conventional or electronic means. Images altered beyond standard cropping and resizing require further negotiation with the Director. The user is responsible for all issues of copyright. Please Credit: Women and Leadership Archives, Loyola University Chicago.
coverage:
Chicago, Illinois; Immaculata High School
description:
School closes <z^c./^i /ft> i Immaculata lacked students By JESS CARLOS Staff Writer . DECLINING ENROLLMENTS and increasing operating costs have been cited as the chief reasons for the closing of Immaculata High School, 640 W. Irving Park Rd;, this June. In 1963-64, enrollment at the Catholic girls school peaked at 1,225 students. Since then, however, there has been a persistent decline now down to 59 percent with 500 students, according to Sister Mary Frances Shafer, president of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the religious congregation that owns and operates the lakefront facility. In contrast, the Chicago Archdiocese's elementary and high schools registered this year a three-tenths of one percent increase in school populations. A study by the congregation has convinced Immaculata officials that the numerical decline there is "apparently irreversible" and that the enrollment would again decrease by 10 percent this fall. THE OTHER reason given is the decrease in the number of teaching nuns who are paid much less than lay teachers. Added to rising building maintenance and repair costs, the projected deficit leaves the school "no other choice," according to Sister Diane O'Donne-. 11, principal. • She also said that "every effort will be made" to help placement of current students in other schools for next year. An administrative team also will assist each teacher to locate his/her best opportunities this fall. The congregation is currently studying alternative uses for the four-story school building built in 1921-22 and now included in the National Register of Historic Sites. THE VERY Rev. Richard Ehrens, vicar for Catholic education, said, "Although we have agreed to the Immaculata closing, we are greatly saddened by it. We will be working hard to place students in other conveniently located Catholic high schools for next year." Immaculata was opened in 1921 by a small group of the congregation to meet the educational needs of young women on the North Side, according to O'Donn- ell. At the time, it touched the shores of Lake Michigan and faced an empty lot on the south. The facility was expanded westward to accommodate more students in the 1950s. It has been drawing students from all parts of the city as well as from foreign countries, representing a variety of racial groups. Some notable persons have attended, worked or visited Immaculata including Sister Mary Justitia Coffey, the first principal and co- founder of Mundelein College, and the Paris-born British author Hillaire Belloc. OFFICIALS AT IMMACULATA High School, 640 W. Irving Park Rd., announced that the school would close permanently in June after 60 years of operation by the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The building, constructed of brown tapestry brick, features a red tile roof with copper dormers. It was designedly Chicago architect Barry Byrne, a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright. (Photo'by Laurel Ross)
identifier:
37.jp2