Decision to close IND was not taken lightly

As a School Sister of Notre Dame who finished 34 years of teaching English at Institute of Notre Dame in 2019, I feel impelled to respond to Dan Rodricks’ commentary on the closing of the school (“Alumnae organize to save the shuttered Institute of Notre Dame. ‘We will find a way,’ they say.” Aug. 7). Ordinarily, I admire his writing, but I was disappointed and surprised by the tone of his commentary. He states that the School Sisters are “not interested” in saving the school and that the decision was “cold and hard.” In fact, The School Sisters of Notre Dame and IND’s governing board came to this decision after much study and with great pain. Many sisters lived at 901 Aisquith St. during the first years of their religious formation; a number of them are IND alumnae. They, too, were devastated by the decision.

For our sisters, the site and the building are a holy place where our founder first came to the United States from Bavaria to meet the needs of German immigrants. All of us are proud of the 173-year tradition that we have been able to keep alive, providing a quality education in Baltimore for young women.

This decision was heartbreaking for us, too, but necessary.

The Saving IND group, which Mr. Rodricks highlights, has not been living with the reality that administration, faculty, staff and the SSND province have lived with for the past 15 years: steep financial hurdles, support from only a small percentage of alumnae and a severe decline in enrollment, exacerbated by the 90% of students requesting financial aid. Our province had already contributed several million dollars to keep IND up and running in the past few years, but donations alone could not fill seats in the classroom.

Finally, I need to emphasize that any reference to Notre Dame Prep as our school “in the valley” and IND our school “in the alley” is hurtful to many alums. We had hoped that this insulting reference had been buried long ago. I also taught for 13 years at NDP, and I know that neither school is well-served by that comparison.

In addition, the phrase intensifies the stereotype that our city school is for poor and minority students only, a label no one wants to hear in the current environment of struggle for racial equity in education.

Sister Jane Cayer, Towson