Private school in Spring to close
Budget deficits and dwindling enrollment cause shutdown
Northwoods Catholic School is closing its doors at the end of May.
Northwoods Catholic School, a private and independently-run school that serves pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade pupils in Spring, is closing its doors at the end of May after 17 years.
Parents, students and employees were alerted on May 4 of the decision to close the school, which is located off Gosling Road and FM 2920 in Spring.
The school was battling budget deficits and dwindling student enrollment before the decision was made to shutter the school.
“We have to keep in perspective that private Catholic schools are always a challenge. It’s a very tough thing economically. In the 75 years that we’ve operated, it’s always been a financial battle,” said Jim Fair, the Legionaries of Christ director of communications and public relations for North America.
Student enrollment this year at the school is 268, but only a projected 160 students were expected to enroll for 2016-17. Private Catholic schools are dependent on the communities they live in to sustain funding. “It really got to the point that we had a deficit this year, and we were projecting bigger deficits for next year, and there was no way to make that up. We tried with parents and benefactors, neighbors, friends and everyone we could, but there was no way to do it,” Fair said.
At Northwoods, administrators are transitioning parents and students to nearby schools. “Right now we’re busy trying to take care of our students,” said Kathy Graff, admissions director at Northwoods Catholic School.
The Northwoods community may transfer to nearby schools such as St. Anne Catholic School in Tomball, St. Edward Catholic School in Spring, St. Anthony of Padua Catholic School in The Woodlands, Sacred Heart Catholic School in Conroe or St. Mary Magdalene Catholic School in Humble.
For those graduating to high school, Frassati Catholic High School in Spring which is undergoing expansion, is an option. Other Christian schools include The Woodlands Christian Academy, New Life Community Christian School in Spring, Founders Christian School in Spring and Light House Christian Academy in Spring.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of GalvestonHouston sent out a memo to all its affiliated schools notifying them of Northwoods’ closure, confirmed Jonah Dycus director of the secretariat for communications at the archdiocese. Area catholic schools hope to open their arms to help the Northwoods community through enrollment and job opportunities.
Parents are quickly trying to enroll their children in nearby Catholic schools. At St. Edward Catholic School off Spring Stuebner Road, calls have quickly streamed in.
St. Edward, a pre-K through eighth-grade parochial school in the Galveston-Houston archdiocese, is set on 15 acres and has an enrollment of 351 students. “We’ve had a lot of phone calls, and several families came and picked up applications,” said St. Edward Catholic School Principal Patrick Clark.
Northwoods Catholic School is not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of GalvestonHouston, and its curriculum follows a method developed by the Legionaries of Christ, a Catholic congregation.