By ERIN CALABRESE and YOAV GONEN
June 20, 2008
For one lifelong Bronx resident, the Archdiocese of New York isn't just shutting down a 95-year-old parochial school today- it's undoing a family tradition.
Diana Santana graduated from St. Pius V School in The Bronx in 1971 and sent all five of her kids and two of her grandchildren there.
She planned on enrolling a third until she received notice in March that it would be one of six city Catholic schools closing down for good this year.
"This is affecting me in a way I couldn't imagine," said Santana, 51. "It's not fair to the kids - they know everybody in their classes and they know all the staff. It's hard."
St. Pius, along with five Diocese of Brooklyn schools, are closing due to declining enrollment, increasing costs and shifting demographics, church officials said.
They include the 102-year-old St. Cecilia, St. Fortunata and St. Finbar schools in Brooklyn, and St. Gerard Majella and Our Lady of the Cenacle schools in Queens.
Fifth-year principal Rosina Katsoulis said of St. Finbar's closure earlier this week, "Saying goodbye to my kids was probably one of the most difficult things in my life."
