The 16-member commission, which spent a year studying the future of Catholic education in the region, is expected to call for closing from 30 to 40 elementary schools and replacing them with regional schools; changing how those schools are governed; and closing four or five high schools. The move is aimed at dealing with sharply declining enrollment, which has dropped more than 30 percent in 10 years.
The archdiocese will present the commission's findings to school administrators, pastors, and religious-education directors at a closed-door meeting at 10 a.m. Friday at Neumann University in Aston. The day's events will culminate with a 4 p.m. news conference at the archdiocese's headquarters in Center City that will be streamed live at http://archphila.org
In between, administrators are to return to their schools shortly after noon to tell teachers, staff, and students their school's fate. Many schools will follow special half-day schedules and dismiss students at 1 p.m.
Parents, students, and alumni worry that schools that have been cherished for decades and have anchored neighborhoods will be shuttered. And hundreds of teachers and staff, who are paid far less than their public school counterparts, fear they will lose their jobs in June.
Elementary and high school teachers who did not want to be named, saying they were concerned about reprisals, described the atmosphere in the schools as somber and depressed. They said conversations with colleagues have focused on sharing rumors and speculation.
"Everybody is upset," one teaching veteran said.
Another said that when Friday's special schedule was announced, it created panic among students and staff that the school was closing. Then they learned all 17 high schools would follow the same schedule.
"I don't appreciate all the secrecy and drama," the teacher said.
