Trinity Catholic woes mount
High school’s future to be decided this week amid news of enrollment drop
STAMFORD — A Thursday meeting will decide the fate of Trinity Catholic High School.
The private school, which has battled declining enrollment and years of deficits, got some bad news last week as only 19 freshman students have committed to the school for the 2020-21 school year, well below school expectations.
To discuss the developments, a board of directors meeting was scheduled for Wednesday night, followed by a finance council meeting. The board is to make a decision on the school’s future on Thursday.
Brian Wallace, director of communications for the Diocese of Bridgeport, said the school faces “very serious challenges.”
“We’re going to have some difficult choices and decisions to make,” Wallace said.
Preliminary enrollment numbers for next year indicate a dire situation, as the amount of freshman sign-ups has been disappointing.
“They were lower than we had hoped,” said Wallace.
The concern is that with a graduating class of roughly 80 students leaving the school, the
freshman class of just 19 students, so far, will be unable to make up for the loss.
Because the school doesn’t have the ability to dip into the city’s taxes, it depends on tuition from parents, which is why enrollment is paramount. Yearly tuition at Trinity is $15,200.
Wallace said that at this rate, considering the expected enrollment next year, the school would run a $2.3 million deficit.
In the past, the diocese has had to pick up the cost of operation.
“Tuition doesn’t come close to paying for salaries and health benefits,” Wallace said.
Last year, the school was in danger of closing because of an “alarming” enrollment drop, but a push to increase enrollment kept the institution afloat.
Ray Field, whose son Evan is in his senior year at the school, said this week he is hopeful enrollment will increase given the fight to keep the school open last year.
But he said word of enrollment problems might actually have had the opposite effect, as parents might be hesitant to register their children at the school if the future of the institution is at risk.
“It’s really sad,” he said. “It’s such a good school … if it does close, it would be really, really tragic.”
His son will be attending Wesleyan University, and he credits his Trinity education for making that happen.
“They’ve done a great service for my son,” he said.