AKRON, Ohio — After just over seven decades teaching students, one of Akron's eight Catholic elementary schools is preparing to close its doors for the last time.
The Diocese of Cleveland announced Wednesday that St. Matthew Parish School in the Ellet neighborhood will shut down at the end of the academic year. Officials said the decision was necessary due to "a serious shortfall in operating revenue" brought on by rising costs and declining enrollment.
The kindergarten through eighth grade school opened in 1949, six years after St. Matthew Parish was first established. It expanded multiple times (including adding Pre-K in 2006), but according to Private School Review just 261 students remain.
Parents were made aware of the closure earlier this week, and the parish itself seems to be unaffected. In a statement, the diocese said, in part:
"While there is a true sense of sadness at the closing of St. Matthew School, a school that prepared students to be life-long learners and instilled in them the importance of striving for excellence, its continued operation became unsustainable due to a range of factors also affecting other area public and private school systems. We commend the administrators, teachers, parents, and alumni of St. Matthew School for working so hard to support the high-quality environment of formation despite these challenges."
The closure of St. Matthew comes on the heals of the saga surrounding St. Thomas Aquinas School in Cleveland: The Diocese previously announced weeks ago that that elementary school would shut down at the end of 2019-20 year, but later reversed the decision and is now accepting new students after an "incredible" financial gift by an anonymous donor. It is not known if a similar last-minute move could also save St. Matthew.
The diocese says it will be working with current St. Matthew students to get them properly placed into new schools. Other Catholic elementary institutions in the city of Akron include:
- Julie Billiart - Mineola Avenua
- Our Lady of the Elms - West Exchange Street
- St. Anthony of Padua - East York Street
- St. Francis de Sales - Manchester Road
- St. Mary - South Main Street
- St. Sebastian - Elmdale Avenue
- St. Vincent de Paul - South Maple Street
