{"id":130717,"date":"2026-02-12T00:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T00:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/130717\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T00:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T00:34:11","slug":"7-catholic-elementary-schools-to-close-in-brooklyn-queens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/130717\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Catholic elementary schools to close in Brooklyn, Queens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parents at Saint Thomas the Apostle Catholic Academy say they are processing the news that their kids\u2019 Catholic elementary school is one of the seven that will close<\/a> at the end of the school year.<\/p>\n

Nitesh Singh has two children enrolled in the school.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

Seven Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens will close by the end of the school year due to declining enrollment and fiscal challenges, according to the Diocese of Brooklyn
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The schools are operating with deficits totaling millions of dollars
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The diocese will\u00a0support staff with resources and assist families with placement to its other 50+ elementary Catholic schools throughout Brooklyn and Queens
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All school activities and events will continue as planned through the rest of the academic year<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m still kind of in a state of shock,” Singh tells NY1. “So it’s sad. For this to be happening because it’s like, my daughter’s been with the same group of kids since Pre-K. So I know all the parents, it’s just really sad for, and so abrupt also too. We just got the letter yesterday. So that means everybody’s, I think, still in shock and awe for the most part.”<\/p>\n

The Diocese of Brooklyn says declining enrollment<\/a> and fiscal challenges forced the decision.<\/p>\n

“People have to decide what they are going to spend their money on and we have some people who have decided; are they going to pay their rent or are they going to be able to go to a Catholic school? That\u2019s really not a choice,” Kevin McCormack, the superintendent of schools for the diocese tells NY1. “The $6,000 to $8,000 that we charge for tuition, it costs much more than that to educate the child. So right away, the parents are getting a discount, but it doesn’t feel like it because you still have those bills to pay.”<\/p>\n

The diocese says enrollment numbers have dropped<\/a> at those schools between 2019 to 2025. Sacred Heart in Cambria Heights went from 225 students to 134; St. Nicholas of Tolentine went from 320 students to 144, and St. Thomas the Apostle in Woodhaven went from 182 students to 105.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The seven schools are operating with deficits totaling millions of dollars, creating an unsustainable financial situation, according to the diocese.<\/p>\n

McCormack says this is an extraordinarily difficult moment, writing in a statement, “these schools have served generations of families with dedication and faith. The decision to close them was made only after careful consideration and with great sorrow.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

The schools are no longer able to operate in a pastoral and fiscally responsible manner, according to the diocese. But McCormack says he does not think the closures have to do with religiosity.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think it’s really the religious aspect, per se,” McCormack says. “The people who are being attracted to our churches right now tend to be a younger demographic, people in their 20s, and they don’t have kids yet.”<\/p>\n

The diocese says it will support staff with resources and assist families with placement to its other 50+ elementary Catholic schools throughout Brooklyn and Queens. As for Singh, he has to figure out what comes next for his family.<\/p>\n

“I’m gonna find something, look maybe closer by my house,” Singh says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All activities and events will continue as planned through the rest of the academic year, according to the diocese.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parents at Saint Thomas the Apostle Catholic Academy say they are processing the news that their kids\u2019 Catholic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[2476,203,25,98,2025,67,3691,9,24,12,63,122,124,123,27],"class_list":{"0":"post-130717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-app-community","9":"tag-app-education","10":"tag-app-top-stories","11":"tag-brooklyn","12":"tag-community-news","13":"tag-education","14":"tag-emma-barnett","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-queens","20":"tag-queens-headlines","21":"tag-queens-news","22":"tag-top-stories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}