St. Catherine Laboure Catholic School in Wheaton to Close

St. Catherine Labouré School, a Catholic parochial elementary school in Wheaton, is closing at the end of this school year due to declining enrollment and financial problems, church and school officials announced last week.

The school, which is affiliated with the Archdiocese of Washington, was founded in 1953, according to its website.

Rev. Michael Salah, the pastor at St. Catherine Labouré, sent home a letter to parents on March 21 explaining why the school was closing:

Over the past three years, parishioners, school parents, faculty, staff and alumni have worked very hard to find a solution for the financial challenges facing St. Catherine Labouré School. Though many have stepped forward to help raise funds, and significant archdiocesan tuition assistance was awarded, our financial losses continued to rise. Despite hiring outside consulting services to help us market our school, the enrollment numbers did not increase sufficiently to cover projected costs. St. Catherine Labouré parish can no longer support its school mission and assume or guarantee the school’s growing deficit and the necessary upgrades to the aging school building.

Currently, 210 students are enrolled at the school, according to the Archdiocese of Washington.

The school and the archdiocese will be working with students to help place them at other Catholic schools in the area, such as St. Andrew Apostle School, Holy Redeemer, St. Jude and St. John the Evangelist School.