Survey probing interest in new Glens Falls high

By PAUL QUIRINI- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

There hasn't been a Catholic high school in Glens Falls since St. Mary's Academy closed in 1988, but that could change, depending on the results of a survey among the parishes that currently send students to St. Mary's-St. Alphonsus Regional Catholic School.

"There does seem to be some interest in reviving the high school," said Roger Marcy, principal. "A lot of the people you talk to are graduates of St. Mary's, and they're saying, 'Get that school open again for my kids and grandkids.'"

A questionnaire seeking input on the demand for a Catholic high school in Glens Falls began appearing in parish bulletins earlier this month. Nearly a dozen Catholic parishes and some non-Catholic churches are participating in the survey, which should be completed in a month.

Discussion stage

The closing of St. Mary's Academy in 1988 left Saratoga Central Catholic as the only Catholic high school between Albany and Glens Falls, but there has been talk in recent years of establishing a complete secondary program of study and reopening the high school.

"We've been talking about it for a couple of years, and a committee and I talked to the Diocesan School Board," Mr. Marcy said. "They gave us permission to conduct a survey, come back and go from there."

The questionnaire in parish bulletins asks parishioners: the ages of their children and what schools they attend; their interest in sending their children to a regional Catholic high school; their ranking of such components of Catholic education as a competitive sports program, honors and advanced placement classes, strong Catholic identity, and technology program; and their willingness to pay about $4,000 tuition per year, which is comparable to the average tuition of other Catholic high schools in the Diocese.

Commitment?

While Catholics in the Glens Falls area seem interested in reopening a Catholic high school, the survey will measure their seriousness in moving forward, Mr. Marcy said.

"It's easy for somebody to stop you in the grocery store and say, 'When are you going to open a high school?' But when you hit them with a tuition bill, it becomes something else," he said. "That was the major purpose of the survey -- to find out if there was some degree of sincerity out there."

A Catholic high school seems within reach from a structural standpoint because the former St. Mary's Academy is now home to St. Mary's-St. Alphonsus.

"We've got the facility. It would need some upgrading, but we're more than halfway there as far as location," Mr. Marcy said. "We're waiting to tally the results, and that will dictate to us whether to go forward with vigor, or accept rejection."

(01-27-00) [[In-content Ad]]