Fifteen-year old Shalique Boyd was sitting in the gymnasium of Hudson Catholic Regional High School on Wednesday night with his mother Sharonda and his grandmother Pat, all three anxiously awaiting to hear whether his high school would stay open.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark had announced that the school, on Bergen Avenue, was slated to close on June 30.
But they rose to their feet and cheered when Kevin Hanbury, superintendent of schools for the archdiocese, announced the school will remain open.
The school’s students, parents, alums, and other supporters have worked since April 11 to save the big orange building that has been in the McGinley Square area since it opened in 1964. They raised enough money to close most of the school’s estimated $650,000 budget deficit.
“I didn’t want this school to close,” said Boyd, a sophomore. “This place is like a home to me.”What is Hudson Catholic?
Hudson Catholic Regional High School has an enrollment of about 400 students, 130 of whom will graduate on May 31.
The students don’t just come from Jersey City – they come from all over North Jersey and even New York. The yearly tuition is $7,200.
The school has 42 faculty members who teach a variety of courses including honors classes.
Notable alumni include Police Chief Thomas Comey, former Mayor and current Board of Education member Gerald McCann, former NBA players Mike O’Koren and Jim Sparnarkel, and noted criminal attorney Brian Neary.
It’s also a school that recently found itself at the brink of closing, according to Jim Goodness, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Newark.
The school had informed the Archdiocese in April of a $650,000 deficit that would hover over the school come September, as well as the fact that incoming freshman class would only be 65 boys.
But Goodness said the students and alumni did a great job of raising money and awareness of Hudson Catholic’s situation. In fact, the students held a walkout two weeks ago that got much publicity.
Goodness said the Archdiocese would kick in $100,000 whether or not the school met the goal of raising $400,000 by Wednesday. Lower costs, girls, and more bragging
By Wednesday night, the fund-raising goal was not only met, but was exceeded.
According to Tom Bender, a 1969 graduate of the school, over $500,000 was raised, and more donations were to come.
With alumni and notable supporters standing behind him, Bender and Gary Ferrari, a 1973 graduate, spoke about steps to avoid any future closing of the school.
Those steps include forming a new advisory board with different committees to oversee the various elements of the school, from fund-raising to labor relations.
Also, there will be a further study of options to increase student enrollment such as the school accepting female students as soon as the fall of 2009, and lowering tuition. Deposits returned
Bender also announced that the school’s alumni association would reimburse the deposit money that parents put down to enroll their children in other schools for the upcoming year.
Also eager to move the school forward is Jersey City Police Inspector Hugh Donaghue, a 1979 graduate.
“I’ll do whatever I can to make people know about this wonderful school I attended,” Donaghue said. “One thing the Christian Brothers never taught us was how to brag.”
And then there are the current students.
Sophomore Olliver Kirby, a Hoboken resident, along with his classmate Rahul Kochar, a Jersey City resident, and others created the online Save Hudson Catholic Petition to Archdiocese.
“I may have been one of five students that did not apply anywhere else,” Kirby said. “I was confident this school would stay opened.”
Terrence Matthews, the school’s dean of students who has taught at the school since 1985, called what happened Wednesday night “The Miracle on McGinley Square.” New prez
Also Wednesday night, Hanberry, the superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Newark, announced that Warren Hall, a 1981 graduate of the high school who is an ordained priest and educator, will be the new president of the school this fall.
Hall will replacing outgoing president Dr. Paul Ward. Comments on this article can be sent to rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.