Riordan High will become coed campus starting in fall

San Francisco’s only allboys Catholic high school will begin accepting female students next school year as enrollment in Catholic schools falls, the administration announced this week.

Archbishop Riordan High School President Andrew Currier announced the decision after the school’s Board of Trustees voted 144 on Tuesday in favor of becoming coeducational.

“While admitting young women represents a new direction after 70 years of exclusively educating young men, school leadership has looked at this change from many angles and believes this decision is in the best interest for the longterm vitality of the school and to build an even stronger school community,” Currier wrote.

Deliberation began weeks ago after Mercy High School, an allgirls Catholic institution, announced it will close at the end of this school year due to financial woes and declining enrollment.

Riordan said its goal is to maintain singlegender core classes for freshmen and sophomores.

The school’s administrators have not determined how much the transition will cost, but said expenses will include immediate construction, personnel, financial aid and professional development.

The school, which adheres to Marianist tradition, is located at 175 Frida Kahlo Way in the Ingleside neighborhood, across from the main San Francisco City College campus.

Riordan opened in 1949.

Catholic education has declined nationwide in the past decade. The number of schools decreased 13.2% and the number of students decreased 18.4%, according to the National Catholic Educational Association.

Enrollment in San Francisco’s Catholic primary schools was down 30% from 2015 to 2020, according to Riordan. Star of the Sea, a K8 Catholic school in the city’s Inner Richmond, closed last year.