By Mark Scott
Buffalo, NY – Mount St. Joseph Academy will open for the new school year next month. Trustees say funding commitments from four anonymous donors will close a $100,000 budget deficit.
When the Sisters of St. Joseph announced in June that they were closing Mount St. Joseph Academy, a parents group mobilized to save the independent Catholic school. They obtained an academic charter and set an enrollment target of just over 100 students. But with just 80 students enrolled for the year, Trustee Steve Boyd said they began the day Thursday trying to close a $100,000 deficit.
"In less than 24 hours, Mount St. Joseph Academy has raised commitments of just over $100,000," Boyd said. "We will be opening on September 7th for the 115th time."
Boyd said the contributions came from four donors who wish to remain anonymous. Laurie is the parent of a seventh grader attending Mount St. Joe's. With the start of the new school year less than three weeks away, Kostrzewski admits she took a leap of faith by not enrolling her son elsewhere.
"It might have been difficult for myself and other parents to find another school," Kostrzewski said. "But I had faith everything would turn out fine."
Now that trustees have committed to opening the school for the coming year, Steve Boyd said he's hoping families who have been sitting on the fence will now enroll their children. If they make it through this year, Boyd is predicting a long and successful future for Mount St. Joseph Academy.