Nazareth Regional High School will keep its doors open for at least four years (Denis Gostev)
Nazareth has been saved.
School principal Providencia Quiles announced at a press conference Wednesday that the board of trustees voted unanimously to keep the Brooklyn Catholic high school open for at least the next four years. In February, the school was slated for closure due to declining enrollment.
Due to public and inner outcry about the loss of an inner-city school that graduates 98 percent of its students and sends 96 percent of them to college, the board agreed to give Nazareth a second chance. The administration had to meet three criteria in order to bring the board to another vote – an enrollment of 80 students for next year, $700,000 in fundraising money and a strategic plan to keep the school running for the near future.
Nazareth met 99 percent of those benchmarks, enrolling 81 students, raising $690,000 and formulating an approved financial plan. The board of trustees voted Friday to keep the school open. In recent years, Rice, St. Peter’s High School for Girls, Stella Maris and St. Michael Academy all closed due to declining enrollment and money woes.
“It’s the love, the caring and the family environment you feel here,” Quiles said. “If you break up a family, it’s a lot harder than [saying], ‘You have to go to another school.’”
Sharon Patrick, the former COO of Martha Stewart Living, loaned Nazareth $500,000, donated $20,000 toward registration fees for incoming students and was a part of the day-to-day operations of the save-the-school campaign. Her nephew, David Paul, is a history teacher at the East Flatbush school. When she went there to help him move into his classroom in September, she was taken aback by the family atmosphere and the success of its students – including the nationally ranked girls basketball team.
As part of the deal, Patrick will now be a member of Nazareth’s board of trustees and work closely with Quiles and the staff on finance and development.
“I thought that this is a school that has a lot to teach other schools,” Patrick said. “This was not a failing school. This was just a school that had to settle some debts from the past. … Other than that, this school is a beacon. It has stunning academics.”
The basketball teams brought the spotlight onto Naz’s battle all winter. The girls team won the CHSAA Class AA state championship for the second straight year. The boys team took home the CHSAA Class B city title, its first crown since 1989, and then added the Class B city title, too. Both teams represented the league at the New York State Federation tournament in Albany.
“You can see how much I’m smiling – I’m so happy,” star boys basketball player Samson Usilo said. “During the season, all we were thinking of was the school closing. Right now it’s like everything came out to be good.”
For the girls, hearing the school closing was like déjà vu. Two years ago, Apache Paschall’s program was at St. Michael Academy when it shut its doors for good. Junior guard Shanice Woodson would have had to switch schools twice after closures. The winter was already devastating enough because of Paschall’s untimely death in January due to cardiac arrest.
“There’s really a lot of people in this school and this community that really do care,” girls basketball junior guard Sadie Edwards said. “I think the school has been extremely successful compared to other schools in the area. Sending 96 percent of your students to college is just amazing. People here just have so much heart and determination. They didn’t want to let it go.”
Added girls hoops co-coach Ron Kelley: “I really believe we’re here for a reason.”
Quiles said the most difficult part of the whole process was thinking that some of these students might not graduate from high school at all if Nazareth was no longer around. She credited people like guidance counselor Nancy Roberts and teacher Kerri Mulqueen, who will be promoted to assistant principal next year, for putting in countless hours on a daily basis.
Quiles also said it couldn’t have been done without Patrick, who she dubbed “our angel.” Patrick, in turn, said it worked because of Quiles.
“There are no words to describe her true grit and talent,” Patrick said.
In her address to the audience, Patrick said that the diocese has agreed to keep the school “open forever” as long as it remains Catholic and solvent financially. She credited local politicians and also Sen. Chuck Schumer for their part in the save-the-school campaign.
“If all these people didn’t have the intestinal fortitude to keep this place open, it wouldn’t be open,” said boys basketball coach Todd Jamison, who has been at Nazareth for 17 years. “I’m speechless.”