HARLINGEN — Students attending Saint Paul Lutheran Academy will have to look elsewhere for their school lessons next year.
On Sunday evening, the Voter’s Assembly of St. Paul Lutheran Church voted to close the K-8 parochial school they have supported since 1948.
Church and school officials said this was not a decision entered into lightly and one in which many ideas, stories of changed lives, and tears were shed.
Budget constraints and the loss of student enrolment over the years were key factors in the decision to close the school.
“We feel very, very proud to be part of Harlingen education for so long,” said Ryan Busse, Saint Paul Lutheran Church board of director’s chairman. “We are a part of this community.”
A statement issued by the board of directors yesterday suggested the church will work closely with parents and students who were enrolled for next school year to locate and set up alternative educational opportunities in partnership with other schools.
The days leading up to the decision caught students, teachers and families by surprise.
Six staff positions will be cut but the church plans to assist those employees in finding new jobs.
Church members, school and church staff, and school parents and children attended two nights of listening sessions in an effort to find solutions to keep the school open.
But at the Sunday special meeting, the St. Paul Board of Directors outlined the economic struggles, low enrollment, changes in education expectations, and staffing challenges as the key factors motivating the decision to close the school.
Busse said, over the years, the student body consisted of nearly 150 students per year and it had fallen to 69 this school year.
He said the board was unable to satisfactorily resolve all of the challenges discussed, thus the decision to close.
The voters approved a budget enough to complete the K-8 ministry of the St. Paul Academy to the end of this 2016-17 school year.
“For 68 years, this school has been affecting the lives of thousands of youth throughout the city,” Busse said. “We will continue to be active in the community.”
Busse said the Church will continue to operate Great Beginnings Early Childhood Center for children six weeks old through preschool with the plans of adding additional prekindergarten classrooms that will provide a safe, Christ-centered, nurturing and developmentally appropriate environment on the campus of St. Paul Lutheran Church.
“We know that the school has made an incredible impact in the lives of the students and families who have been a part of the ministry through the years,” Busse said.
