"I knew they were supposed to hear something around noon, so I waited until 12:15," Haley said. "I texted to Jim, 'Any word?' He texted back, 'Both closed.'
"I texted him again, but there was no response. I figured he was just like me - very upset. . . . I was angry, and crying. It was hitting my sister even harder because her kids were also losing their grade school (Annunciation BVM, in Havertown). Of course, I knew the rumors were out there about Bonner and Prendie, but I just did not think it would actually happen.
"I thought, maybe, they would merge the schools. And I would have been OK with that. The way the enrollments are now, you could have put everybody in one building and had enough room to keep the single-sex approach. All of my family members have always loved that. Cuts down on the high-school drama."
Rose Haley (nee Moran) and her husband, Dan, have 10 children. The three oldest - Dan, Ryan and Mike - are Bonner grads while Joe, a senior, and Jim, a junior, are currently enrolled. Bridget is a freshman at Prendie.
Nine of Rose's nieces and nephews are also part of the two schools, and 41 family members, including Rose and 12 of her brothers/sisters, own diplomas.
Her two oldest siblings do not, but don't think a snub occurred. The family was formerly based in West Philly, and those two attended West Catholic (also not long for this world).
Haley's sons are more than students. They're also quality athletes and Jim, a quarterback/defensive back, last fall earned first team Daily News All-City honors (at the latter position).
At some point, Jim will be ready to comment on the devastation and what might be coming next. For now . . .
"It's been a rough weekend," Rose said last night. "A couple other difficult things have happened in the last four weeks and then to have this . . . he's still trying to digest everything. His phone has been going nonstop. It took only 10 minutes for him to get the first call asking, 'Where are you going next?'
